16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Thanks all. Lycopenequest, I spray in the early morning before the sun hits the plants. It isn't chemical drift from nearby, I lost almost all my tomatoes one year from herbicide damage, so know what that looks like. I am beginning to think Linda is right and this is Grey Mold. This plant sits in the back of the garden so gets much less wind and airflow than the other plants. I am getting a touch of it on the other plants, but I am able for some reason to contain it on those. The dwarf with the very dense foliage started out with white spots and then got the brown areas with visible fuzzy growth. But the end result of the leaves looks identical. So I think it must be grey mold and probably this plant suffered more as it was at the back of my garden. Thanks all,
Wicker can poke holes in tomatoes. Wire is better, or best (if you have the room) is stems down on a wire cake-cooling rack, single layer.
I pick at first blush, and try to put greener ones on the bottom so I pick into buckets and bins, sort them out and try to lay in a single layer to ripen when I get back to the house. The riper ones from the top of the bucket go into the market bins after I cull through what's left over from the last market (I cull every other day, sometimes 2 days in a row).
End of season greenies get laid in newspaper in a single layer in boxes I get from grocery stores or BJs. But it's just too hard to pick into those. And end of season are so hard I don't worry at all about picking into 5 gal buckets - I'm just trying to harvest them before frost!
It's pointless to spray when disease isn't preset.
We still don't know anything about fertilizer.
Was it used?
And if so, when and how much?
If only watered, even if the potting mix already contains fertilizer, it needs supplemental fertilizer.
It's pointless to spray when disease isn't preset.
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It is a common practice to spray tomato plants regularly, from early on , with anti fungal and anti bacterial, as a preventive measure. Often it is too late to try spraying when the plant is full infected. Most tomato plant diseases are fungal/bacterial.
So it is an option:, to prevent or to fight the disease.
I think you will be fine, canned tomatoes over time can start to effect the coating on the inside of the can and even when canned in jars can develop a slight tinny taste. But either was should be safe. When making tomato powder it takes a lot of tomatoes, though the powder is very concentrated. Just a couple of tablespoons of powder makes a very concentrated tomato paste.
Hi and welcome to the friendly forum ;-)
It really depends because one person's idea of a cold snap isn't necessarily the same as another's. If it was below 30 degrees (-1 C), for more than a couple of hours probably they are in bad shape. But depending on how wet the leaves get has a big effect on the damage in those circumstances, as well as how well the sheets kept the wind off and moderated the temperature drop, none of which I can see from Florida ;-). Probably there's not much to see, but the wilting you describe would be worth posting to get others' opinions.
If it was mild, short and protected, the plants may be craving sun and getting the temperature up as high as possible with maximum sunlight is a priority if they were mine. Yes, it does freeze here too, light freezes are what I contend with all winter, jumping between -2 C and +2 C (in breeze anything in the 30's F (somewhere around 5 C and below) can cause frost damage if unprotected, especially if there isn't a nice warming sun ASAP.
One thing I'm going to do this winter is buy one of those cheapo digital thermometers that shows the high and low for the last 24 hours besides the current temp, and put it in the covered area to see whats going on overnights. You can get them for well under $10 US from the popular auction site from the country that ships out billions of them for less that it costs for postage here. But even then, the temperature varies all over the place under so I'm not sure what good it will do, though it's definitely worth a try. Not sure how helpful that would be in a northern climate but like I said, we skirt freezing through the winter probably a dozen times, what's to lose...
What varieties are you growing, ... Best luck growing them and if you can show us a picture please do.
PC
I bet you wanted to say Indiana Red, not Red Indian, and here's Tania's page for it.
http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Indiana_Red#tab=General_Info
No current seed sources, Gleckler's is out of business,
Sen Say is new so no seed sources yet, I mean commercial sources,
And here's Nicky Crain
http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Nicky_Crain#tab=General_Info
No seed sources for 2014, but Linda, Glenn's wife at Sandhill Preservation didn't get their listings in in time, so I'd check the current website or catalog
And I'd also check the Sandhill 2014 website or catalog for Nicky Crain b'c it has been listed in the past.
If you haven't dealt with Sandhill before see when they do and don't accept orders for tomato seeds and all ordering is done by mail, for the reasons Glenn mentions. With over 400 varieties listed and no tomato seeds over 2 yo and a low rate of crossed seed and high seed count and low seed and shipping prices, I think it's a great place to get not just tomato seeds but lots of other stuff theyl list.
No, I'm not getting paid to say such nice things about Sandhill, LOL,but I've known Glenn and Linda for many many years, just outstanding folks. Glenn has a full time teaching position as well and finally they are very well known for their heirloom poultry and I get a kick reading about those as well.
Hope the above helps, and I did say where I listed the varieties that I was listing some extras in case no commercial seeds were available, but you post at one place where I do and you know how to make your WANTS known,
Carolyn
I think I will, but just a bit. I started my seeds on March 13 this year, and I think next year I'm going to shoot for March 1st. Probably still won't plant out until Mother's Day weekend, but I'm hoping to have some WOWs for next year to give my plants a bit of a jump start. The beginning of summer can be really slow around here.
Starting early, in my case, it is both easy and require some extra work. It is easy, because we don't have a danger of frost from early April on. But it is difficult because the weather won't warm up till June. So, you plant early but your plants are just sitting there, unless you do something else.
1- pre warm up the soil (Plastic Cover )
2- protect them from night cold, too much rain (Hoop, W.O.W, etc).
In a lot of places temperature shoot up fast after Mothers day or Memorial Day. So you might as well wait a week or too. But not here at the PNW. Our night lows can be in 40s early July.
So there is no one strategy to fit all climates.
Maj, as you noted it is new fo rthis year and when one Googles it, as I did, all I saw were seed vendors that were selling it.
It was bred by Brad Gates at Wild Boar Farms in CA/
I read and often post at several message sites and haven' seen one post about this variety, to date.
As for other so called blue ones, yes I have seen others who have reported back on some of those, especially Indigo Rose and Ithink there's a thread here already about that one. I think it was discussed in the current thread whose title was something like Purple Tomato Juice, discussing the GMO one from England
As for me. I'm not alone in not liking the so called blue ones b'c of the taste, and that started several years ago when I was sent fruits for Dr.Myers P20 which was the foundation development which led, at least in the US to most of the ones one sees at Jung's and Tomato Growers Supply,etc.
Carolyn
Here is a link that might be useful: Indigo Blue Beauty
HOW MUCH to cover, it depend on the nature of the frost.
Plants get injury from blowing cold wind on them, rather than from cooling down. UNLESS it is extended freezing temperature for a long time. So any amount of covering that prevents air flow around/over the plant can help. Obviously, covering the entire top would be ideal.
Hoops of plastic can work, provided they are tall and wide enough. I have couple mini ones, about 45" tall. Not tall enough for any thing right now. I have made them for spring time use.
Use tarps, blankets, boxes, heavier plastic, etc. Anything you can get your hands on. Thin plastic is not enough to prevent frost damage, though it may help if put it over or under another layer of something else. Cover from top to bottom, then anchor with rocks, boards, clothespins, rope, whatever.
There are definitely varieties available to Late Blight: Mt. Magic, Plum Regal, Defiant, Mt. Merit, Jasper and many more on the way. But your efforts to bag the infected plant residue are more to protect your neighbors for this year only since the pathogen cannot overwinter in your area--- YET. If two mating types were in your area we would all be panicking.
Daconil is only preventative for this pathogen and too late for you to use now. Better success next year. Dr Randy Gardner, NC State retiree, may soon release a few new Heritage varieties that fit your niche and have Late Blight resistance. He is credited with breeding most of the LB resistant varieties currently on the market... and a few like Defiant also have Early Blight resistance.
Daconil is not an option. I have a dog , and a 14 year old son in the garden. I am not sure who is more careless, so I just avoid anything toxic that I possibly can. I CAN buy tomatoes...
Yes Bmoser, YET. So I am reporting to local extension, and moving on to other crops. Thanks for the list of resistant varieties. Any advice on which seed vendor Dr Gardeners new work is available through? I found Plum Regal on Johnny's, and may order it now, so I don't forget.
Lindalana: Thanks! I am the only one who likes mustard here so I am going in search of Kodiak.
We did not go lower than 45 last night and while I am wearing my fall coat, it is warming up slowly. Tomatoes did survived although feel like they are out of the fridge. I am anxious to check my cukes though, had a good supply going...
We picked this AM (DD and I) and while the sun was warm, she said the big tomatoes were cold. My cukes have been over for a while, I'm hoping the 2nd planting of squash survives the weekend b/c there are some nice ones coming, just slower than they were when it was warm. Still waiting for ripe peppers.