16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Hey everyone. The fact that I'm NOT seeing them everywhere is what's gotten me nervous that it may be something else. Maybe mine are just sneaky? I just went out this evening and squished two, but that's all that I saw.

Would you suggest pyrethrin for stink bugs? Or just a search and destroy approach?

For as few as your seeing, search and destroy seems right. But the spots on the tomatoes, if it is stink bugs, looks like more than just a few. As you know, every place they stick their needle and suck out the juice leaves a little white spot. Normally on my tomatoes there are larger white spots where a bug will work over an area for a while. The speckled nature of your tomatoes makes me think it's not stink bugs. I would definitely spray with Sevin or at least some type of bug spray anyway.

Thanks,

I just filled a 4" pot with spoil and transplanted the plant there. We'll see what happens. ;P

Really looks like a pepper. Is that a possibility?

Definitely have hubby cut some more bamboo to use as
stakes. Then you could tie them together for better
structural integrity. Tie the vines to the stakes.

Same principal I use for my PVC cages. But if you have
lots of bamboo that size, I'd use those.

Here's a tip to pound those stakes into the ground. Get
a piece of pipe big enough to go over the stakes. Put
a cap on one end. Then slide the open end over the bamboo
and pound away. Mark them so you know when you've a foot
or so into the ground. Works like a charm with my PVC.

I'd also cut the bottom of the bamboo on an angle (say 45 degrees or so). That will help it penetrate the roots.

Below is a link to my PVC cage page, just in case you're
interested. They work wonderfully in a small urban garden
like yours appears to be.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Matkey tomato cage

dave, you mentioned crw cages. what are these?

Just search 'CRW cages' here for all sorts of discussions in pictures of them. Basically, cages made from rolls of concrete reinforcing wire.

If you Google them you can see all the pictures of them many of us have posted here and find all kind of info on how to make them.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: CRW cage pictures

Mine have the same specks, too. From talking to others, it has been a problem this year in southern California, but I haven't heard exactly what it is.

Here is a link that might be useful: tomato problem solver

Sounds like a fluke that copper seems to be slowing down whatever is ailing my maters! I think I originally bought it for bacterial speck. Question came up on another forum re copper fungicide and I have heard before that copper kills bacteria, so not to use it with, say Serenade. So, does it actually kill bacteria or does it work (supposedly) more as protecting unaffected leaves?

Thanks for the feed back - I knew there wasn't going to be a pat answer. I was just curious what peoples expectations were. I am going to try to track mine this year. Checking the plants closely today I think every type I am growing has at least one obvious tomato on it. Early Girl, Purple Russian and Genovese Roma (which I expected to be a plum shaped tomato - but it isnt) are way ahead of the rest.

Corrine 1, My growing season is a similar length, but we get hotter than you in July - hot enough 2 weeks ago that I know some of my fruit aborted.

300lbs. of tomatoes is way more than I expect from all 16 of my plants!

Last year I had 15 tomato plants -- some in containers, some in raised beds -- a mix of sizes and varieties. I harvested 200 pounds of tomatoes.

i have confirmed (by a lab at VA Tech through my extension agent)late blight on my outside tomatoes and potatoes. I sprayed them with a copper product called Nordox. however late blight does not spread when temperatures are above 86 and the foliage is dry. with the hot weather we've had its hard to tell if its the copper or the heat saving my plants.
the extension agent also suggested spraying with an epsom salt solution alternatively with copper which i have done.
since the weather has become cooler and wetter i am waiting for the blight to take off again. this is on about 350 plants.

@randy41

I don't want to step into an apparently professional relationship between you and your extension agent, particularly since you appear to be growing on a commercial scale while all I have at stake this year is a few garden plants. However, there are a couple of things to ponder.

I looked up the label for the Nordox products and find that they contain up to 75% copper oxide granules. They rely on a slow release of copper ions to kill the organism. That would certainly be effective but I rather doubt that NadineNJ, Battalina or, for that matter myself, would be able to obtain very much of this stuff. They are also going to rely on the product remaining in place for a long period of time and the Nordox company claims that it does, "Famous worldwide for high retention". Nonetheless, I would expect that you are going to have to re-apply, perhaps frequently and that the product is pretty expensive. I would also tend to wonder what effect there would be on new growth, i.e. foliage developing after your Nordox application.

Another point made elsewhere is the possibility of soil contamination with the copper. It is claimed that the copper will bind with some components of the soil and render you with a toxic field. I did find, some time ago, albeit on a casual basis, an assessment of such a condition in Italian vineyards where they had used Bordeaux mixture for generations. Apparently there was less copper than anyone had expected but still a significant amount. Still, 75% is a whole bunch of copper and, in your shoes, I believe I would wonder about that. Soap-Shield is specified as 1.8% metallic copper equivalent.

Epsom salts? Seems to me as if somebody is flailing a bit here. Look around and you will find people recommending all sorts of things including manure tea and even sour milk. I don't wish to demean anyone, especially as there are lots of highly dedicated people trying very hard to help others and often providing yeoman service under highly demanding conditions. All the same, I think that if I were considering an application of Epsom Salts or anything else, I might like to know a little more about the expected MOA (mode of action) for the product.

I am a bit leery of the statement that "late blight does not spread when temperatures are above 86 and the foliage is dry". I have learned over the years to take such "accurate" claims with a grain of salt. Where does anyone get such a specific temperature point to rely on. Is that field experience or did someone do a lab run in petri dishes with a carefully controlled and constant temperature?
Which temperature is that? The high of the day? The low? The mean or average? I have seen the point made very recently (maybe on one of the Cornell pages, but I can't remember) that the Late Blight organism produces and releases most of its spores at night. My overnight temperatures and, I suspect, yours are a lot lower than 86. Also, when I inspect my plants, usually each morning, I always find the leaves quite wet from condensation.

I too am "waiting for the blight to take off again" and know full well that there will be periods of increased spore development and weather conditions conducive to infection. On the other hand, it is now more than six weeks since my initial application of the copper soap mixture and in that time there have been periods of cooler weather and repeated rainfall, though no long periods of drizzle and humidity. I agree that we all watch and wait with little assurance of the future and that there will be successes and failures to follow. I have put forward my suggestion, possibly too early, in the full knowledge that it requires lots of additional confirmation or falsification. Nonetheless, I wrote it here because I've seen questions posted by people who are rather desperate and I have something that is working for me, at least for now.

Good luck.

Then the next most likely explanation is they aren't getting enough sun. Can you post a picture of the plants?

What and how much have you been feeding them? Lots of nitrogen?

Did you grow them from seed or buy transplants? It is always possible you got a mis-labeled plant.

Dave

please post pictures

Thank you for the advice! I have been under the impression that ordinary spays and such wouldn't do much good with these little guys. (Very funny story about them drinking the fox urine!) I also hadn't considered giving them water, but I'm thinking that might just encourage even more of them to come around.

I don't mind dead mice, but I would rather just discourage the chipmunks. I think it might be mice, because last year I also noticed mouse activity in my basement on the same side of the house as the tomatoes. When I set up a trap, and killed 3 mice in the basement, the lost tomato issue almost immediately got better.

I would rather not have to wait until they come in the house to kill them, but I don't want to go killing off a bunch of chipmunks either.

I'd move the plants to the back porch, which is relatively mouse free because the terrier patrols the back yard and kills everything. The problem with that is the terrier's buddy in the back yard is a tomato eating Labrador Retriever who does far more damage than any rodent I've ever seen.

We have a huge chipmunk problem. They even made holes in our car cabin filters. But "repel all" seems to keep them away from the garden so far....we don't have any ripe tomatoes yet though, so I'm not sure if they'll keep away after they see some yummy red tomatoes.

I have more fruit and they are much bigger than normal also!

I had 2 late frosts that killed all but 2 tomato plants. I replanted and have started getting big fruit from the late ones now.

I have been canning and giving away tomatoes from those 2 for 2 months now. I get at least a 1/2 full plastic grocery bag every day from just those 2!

I haven't weighed anything, since I don't have scales. I have measured them though. I have 3" diameter early girls and 4"diameter better boys. The survivors.

I picked a Brandywine yesterday that was 4 1/2"! You couldn't see the bread when I made a sandwich with it.

You are clearly doing many things right!! Lots of envy from this neck of the woods. :)

Dave

Some say the paste Orange Banana is similar to Sungold and I think it is also.

Sungold is, and has been for years, the only hybrid I grow.

And I have no problem with that. It's fantastic, and it's unique. And to be honest, fantastic and unique are why I grow all of the wonderful heirloom varieties I grow.