16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Late Blight only over winters on live tissue (like the potatoes themselves) not garden debris. So if it is late blight that is your answer.
If it is something else, which is far more likely, then garden debris can become an issue. It can always be well tilled in for the winter and fresh mulch applied in the spring.
Whether composting garden debris is sufficient to destroy pathogens is heavily debated and how effective it is all depends on how and how well the composting is done - active and hot or passive and cold. Lots of reading on this over on the Composting forum here since it isn't tomatoes related.
Personally I belong to the active and hot composting school and find little problem with well composted garden debris. JMO
As to digging the potatoes - nothing is gained by digging them now and long term storage would be lost. But it is basically your choice. On the off chance that you do have LB just don't sell or plan to use any of them as seed potatoes and plan to rip out any resprouts.
Dave
Marion is my grow every year tomato. I know it will produce well if nothing else does! My Dad started growing them when they were released in 1960.
He grew them every year of his life, until he couldn't garden any more. But I still planted and harvested them for him in the last 3 years of his life, he died in August 2010 at 88 years old!
They produce 6 to 8 ounce fruit, not big, so it's a two or three slicer on a sandwich. Kind of acidic, which I like.
They taste great to me fresh, frozen, and canned. They are excellent in homemade veggie soup and sauces.
I have never had many problems with disease, a few cases of BER but not very often, Zero BER this year. I have had BER on everything but Marion some years.
From Bonnie's website:
"Marion tomato was developed in the South and released in 1960 to meet the challenges that heat and humidity that create, plant diseases and cracked fruit."
Here is a link that might be useful: Bonnie
The reason lots of tomatoes peter out is because they run out of nutrients mid season.It's possible your plants are short on nutrients and for this reason not fruiting. More or less water won't help in this case. They probably are not setting fruit due to the current high temps. If you continue to water and not prune the healthy part (do remove dead lower leaves)they will set fruit and produce, with a little luck until early November. Try some compost tea and continuing your watering regimen. Also mulch to lower soil temps. Are you watering sufficiently that the soil in general has adequate moisture?
The ready to use is already at the correct dilution to be used and shouldn't be further watered down.
(You shouldn't water down the ready to use Daconil. The active ingredient (chlorothalonil) needs to be at 29.6% to be effective.)
Rob, we agree on not diluting the ready to use but I'd like to restate what you said above.
Daconil concentrate is 29.6% chlorothalonil but I'd like to add that that's the concentrate that DOES need to be diluted, per the label instructions.
I think some here may misinterpret what you said when you said that Daconil needs to be 29.6% in order to be effective, without saying that it's the concentrate which does need to be diluted.
Carolyn
I'm just worried the critters are going to get them - the 2 tomatoes on it so far are outside the fence and I just had to throw out a nice BW that the turkeys got to. Oh well, plenty of blossoms on MY side of the fence!
(Though I did put in a gladiolus stem ring/stake and re-tie my baling twine to pull some big CP away from the fence a bit more after seeing the BW damage. Nothing to do about the cherries growing wild through the fence.)
If you read this forum much you will learn that there is no such thing as a "sucker". Whether you leave it on should depend on where you are located. Up here in WI I doubt if there is enough time for a new stalk to produce fruit, but if it is as tall as the main stalk then by all means leave it on.
There's great advice on this thread. Keep in mind that disease and growing conditions are linked. Stress from bad conditions opens the door for disease. Then people try to fight the disease, instead of the bad conditions. Human health is not much different :)
Try getting a kiddie pool or trough and setting the containers in that. Put a few inches of water in the pool, let the plants soak it up for several minutes. If you leave them for too long in too much water, the roots will rot, so pump/bail/drain the water out of the pool after the root ball has become soaked. This is basically flood & drain hydroponics. You can set up pumps and timer to do it automatically if it gets to be too much work to do by hand.
Hey, I'm a relative newb here. Here's my question: From looking at the pics you can see lots of weeds in her container...which I agree is a very small pot. Also the dirt level is only like 1/2 of capacity......is it ever too late to add more soil....fill it up to the rim ( after weeding of course ).
Looking good. No reason to put the pea gravel in the bottom.But dont worry about it ,it just doesn't help anything.
You should cut back to watering when needed. Easy way to check is lift the container. Keep leaves trimmed so they arent touching the dirt .(picking up soil borne diseases)
I would add some water soluble tomato fertilizer now ,then every couple of weeks.
A Squirrel broke a main branch on one of my plants about 2/3rds in half, just 1/3rd of the branch supplying water to it.
It has managed to stay alive with fruit on it for about 3-4 weeks now, the heat hits it hard and it wilts but comes right back over night.
Just last night I had 2 of the best remaining branches on my other plant snapped in half by a damn raccoon.
They were too far gone so I just ripped them off the plant.
So to answer your question it can survive as long as there is at least 1/3rd of the branch left supplying water.
A Squirrel broke a main branch on one of my plants about 2/3rds in half, just 1/3rd of the branch supplying water to it.
Train A, traveling 70 miles per hour (mph), leaves Westford heading toward Eastford, 260 miles away. At the same time Train B, traveling 60 mph, leaves Eastford heading toward Westford.....
Sorry, that's just what came to mind. I mean no offense.
You might want to prune the dead leaves out. If it is a pest problem, there are eco-friendly solutions. Has there been a drought in your area?
Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Vegetable Garden Site
Hello winchesterva,
To be able to suggest what might be wrong with your plant, it would be helpful to know more about the environment it is in.
How often do you water and how much? Have you checked the moisture of the soil 3-5" below the surface before watering? Is it dry, just right, or soggy? Are you feeding the plant? How often? What are the NPK values of any fertilizers you are using to feed it? What has the weather been like in your area?
Everything certainly looks wet in your pictures. I can't say for sure, but the leaf yellowing looks like the classic symptoms of overwatering. I noticed what I think is a drip line in the 3rd photo, have you checked the output of the drippers/emmitters at that plant. Sometimes they clog and don't put out the expected amounnt of water (it seems like I come close to losing a plant or three to lack of water every year, I just replace the dripper). Sometimes the hose begins to leak around the dripper causing it to over water and I've even had a hose chewed open by a thirsty critter, probably a mouse.
Betsy
Hey Betsy,
Thank you for your response. I'm certain it is not overwatering, I have been watering once a week since we have not had any rain (fortunately yesterday we got about 3/4 of an inch!!!!). That is not a drip line, it is a watering system that has spouts about every third tomato plant that sprays a light mist at the base of the plant. Additionally, it is the only tomato plant out of 17 that is doing this.
The soil has been heavily amended with manure and compost (at the start of the season) and since planting I have fertilized them with MG once and sprayed and watered with compost tea once.
I read online this could be a nutrient problem:
http://5e.plantphys.net/article.php?ch=t&id=289
"Nitrogen. The chlorotic symptoms (see Web Figure 5.1.D) shown by this leaf resulted from nitrogen deficiency. A light red cast can also be seen on the veins and petioles. Under nitrogen deficiency, the older mature leaves gradually change from their normal characteristic green appearance to a much paler green. As the deficiency progresses these older leaves become uniformly yellow (chlorotic). Leaves approach a yellowish white color under extreme deficiency. The young leaves at the top of the plant maintain a green but paler color and tend to become smaller in size. Branching is reduced in nitrogen deficient plants resulting in short, spindly plants. The yellowing in nitrogen deficiency is uniform over the entire leaf including the veins. However in some instances, an interveinal necrosis replaces the chlorosis commonly found in many plants. In some plants the underside of the leaves and/or the petioles and midribs develop traces of a reddish or purple color. In some plants this coloration can be quite bright. As the deficiency progresses, the older leaves also show more of a tendency to wilt under mild water stress and become senescent much earlier than usual. Recovery of deficient plants to applied nitrogen is immediate (days) and spectacular."
So, I will try using a fertilizer that can supply a heavier dose of nitrogen and see what happens, at this point I don't think I have anything to lose.
BTW, these Sungolds are awesome!
I wil take any additional thoughts you have on this!!
Thanks,
Mary
My yellow pear tomato did the same exact thing. Meanwhile the 2 Celebrity plants next to it are giving me some of the biggest best tomatoes I have ever grown. This despite drought and severe heat here for the last month. I can't figure it out. I agree with edweather, yank it up and get rid of it.
First of all, your other plants look ok, although they look a little under-supported. Your cages might have to go higher to get the kind of production you are looking for.
Second, what are you fertilizing with, and on what kind of a schedule? And how often are you watering?
I have mulched my tomatoes for the first time this year with hay, and I have never had better tomatoes. I put in two jobes fertilizer spikes per plant this spring, and I have been watering only 1 inch per week. With the mulch I am not losing as much moisture to surface evaporation, and I think that the water is staying more even throughout the soil profile.
The whole key to tomatoes is consistency. A lot of the things about gardening we can't control, but some of the things we can. If it has been raining a lot and has just let up, water a few days after it dries to keep the soil levels more even, and ween the tomatoes off of heavy rainfall, unless more is expected.
Try and add mulch to keep the soil temperature levels more even, bare dirt spikes in temperature at the heat of the day, and bakes like you wouldn't believe, taking precious moisture with it.
With those two factors under my control, and one of the worst droughts in 50 years here in Illinois, I have had one of my best tomato crops. Tonight alone I brought in two five gallon buckets of tomatoes (from 15 plants), and this was my 3rd picking. I have really been impressed with the performance of the fertilizer spikes.
Here is a link that might be useful: My Garden
Doesn't look like it. I'm assuming it's the lower foilage. Just remove the bad foliage. I'd probably use the Daconil soon. My Black Cherry went in the first week in May also and I just got my first red/black ones a few days ago. It's been hot here too. Just use the Daconil and keep them watered. You should have tomatoes soon.
Yes, it is the lower leaves. If this is not late blight, what is it? Whatever it is, it's moving at a quick pace on this one plant. I just took another 3 or 4 limbs off today (so 8 limbs in 24 hrs.) It is moving UP the plant. The interesting things to note: no stem lesions, no fruit lesions, just harvested first blushing fruit today (3 of them). I have gone 3 days without watering it (which is longer than normal) to see if it could tolerate it as I will be gone for 9 days and was trying to see if these plants could go 3 days without water. Could this just be water/drought stress? I am going to water it tonight (with an overhead sprinkler, bad I know) and see if that improves the limbs that look bad but not bad enough to pull. The small suckers starting (about 8-12" high) do not seem to be affected. So the lower limbs are affected but not the sucker limbs at the same level. I'm considering pulling this plant and just need to know if it can be saved at this point or not as I do not want it to stay in the bed if it could spread to my other plants. Thank you!