Tomato disease - Co-op Ext. agents disagree
missrumphius
10 years ago
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wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
10 years agochervil2
10 years agoRelated Discussions
Diseases in Garden
Comments (24)It is hard enough to diagnose diseases when a person is looking at the plant let alone by pictures. I hesitate to say as there are more than one possibility. I will say I don't feel it is an insect borne disease. But that still leaves several possibilities. There are many factors that a lay person needs to know to diagnose with any accuracy. Weather conditions over the last few weeks will eliminate some and promote others. I had severe disease problems the last 3 years. Knock on wood so far this year has been a good one. Another helpful tool is knowing what diseases are common in your area. What I usually do on disease issues I'm not sure about especially if it is something affecting several plants is I send one to K-State and have it diagnosed. Here our extension agents aren't strong in vegetable diseases. You may have a local agent who is and they will likely know what diseases others are seeing this year. I would try locally first and then send to the state university that offers diagnoses if needed. Here it is free. I'm not sure about CO but would assume it is. Jay...See MoreHeirloom Tomatoes
Comments (15)The other bonus from growing Heirlooms from seed is well, the seeds themselves. Any store/nursery plants that you may have bought....I wouldn't keep the seeds. I always assume it's some Monsanto, GMO bull. ***** And do you know the seed source that stores and nurseries use for the plants they sell, let alone farmer's Markets use for the plants they sell? Most of the large box stores like HOme Depot and friends contract out for their plants and some offer Cheff Jeff plants and then there are a couple of great places online where you can buy a huge selection of plants and do you know where their seed comes from. It turns out that I do know the seed sources for many of those places and I don't associate them with Monsanto anything. If you look at some of the websites/catalogs, like Tomato Growers Supply you'll see that they have a separate listing for bulk amounts of seeds and they aren't the only ones. And those places are the source of seeds for many of the large scale commercial growers, nurseries, you name it, who do sell plants. Thank Heavens we don't have to worry about Monsanto here in this Forum since there's another Forum here at GW where those issues can be discussed if someone wants to. And what is your reference to Monsanto in terms of tomato seeds other than the fact that Petoseed, the main producer of some tomato seed, of the companies that comprised Seminis, which Monsanto bought as an investmenst but Monsanto itself is not involved with breeding of tomato varieteis. But as I said, discussions about Monsanto, Syngenta and similar are discussed elsewhere here at GW. (BTW ~ I got my seeds from a site called Tomatofest...like .10 cents a seed - 30 to a pak....lots of varities....enjoy the rest of your summer. PEACE!) Gary's site , yes I know him well, is one of MANY where seeds can be bought, some sites better than others in terms of trueness of seeds, customer service, etc., some supposedly selling organic seed ( but one needs to check which agency they say certified them as being organic, whether MOGFA or NOFA where I live, or one of the USDA's FOUR categories of organicness) b/c severalplaces charge more for organic seed. I used to do a wrong varieties thread here at GW several years ago and some seed sources were almost always at the top and some, well, had lots of problems. And every year new seed companies of the type I prefer, which are the small family run ones who do so much to help with seed preservation of OP varieties, some heirlooms, some not, open for business. And peace back to you as well. ( smile) Carolyn,now checking back with local weather b'c of a severe T-storm warning. Sigh. We need the rain, but not the wind and hail and even the possibility of tornados was mentioned, which is tough for me to deal with, being an old lady confined to a walker these days. ( smile)...See MoreHorrible Tomatoe, CHerokee Purple?
Comments (44)The green shoulder gene used to be not uncommon, even on red tomatoes, but it is no wonder that commercial breeders bred it out, since it sure seems to confuse a lot of people. A healthy tomato will ripen all the way through, all at the same time, no matter whether the shoulders appear green or not. If you wait for green shoulders to disappear, you will never be able to eat them, since the green generally doesn't. Personally, I like green shoulders. It doesn't affect the taste, but to me, it kind of says, "old style, homey, heirloom." Rather than some commercial piece of junk. Also, I know that Cherokee Purple and Cherokee Chocolate are supposed to be exactly the same tomato, with a minimal skin coloration difference, but, to me, they taste quite different. I really DO prefer the Cherokee Chocolate. However,I wonder if the difference might actually be in their level of ripeness when I eat them. Perhaps I am more affected by color than I think and I eat the Cherokee Chocolate either riper or less ripe than the Cherokee Purple. If so, it is a sign that color can even affect me, when I eat so many different colors of tomatoes that I thought it made no difference to me. For people who don't think they like certain tomatoes, I would strongly encourage you to grow your own, and then taste it early in it's ripeness, in the middle, and then again at the end, when it might be approaching too ripe. I think you will find that the flavor, and the complexities of that flavor will change quite markedly. And there are definitely certain types of tomatoes that I prefer when they are just ripe, but absolutely don't like when they are VERY ripe. Or vice versa. I guess I am saying that there really is no ONE standard of ripeness, just like there is no one standard of taste. Ripe is what you say it is, and levels of ripeness definitely will affect how much you like certain tomatoes. So always keep that in mind, and try different stages of ripeness....See Morepests on tomatoes
Comments (21)Seysonn, just as immuno suppressed people will be most susceptible to lets say flu, plants that are grown not in optimum condition, i.e. poor soil practices will get sick earlier and more severe. As it happens pest and insects are going to "yummy" first on stressed plants... and possibly not even notice healthy crops... If the lawn full of "weeds" those weeds have function- they are mining minerals out of the soil because lawn is lacking and needs " support" Chigardenlady, Nature controls by the way of diversity and it is humans who due to lack of knowledge divide soil biology on good and bad guys... they all serve some function. Healthy biology will contain loops of things that eat, multiple, get eaten themselves, serve as food etc. Does my garden have mites? Sure... but the damage is minimal... it is rainy season, does it have slugs? Loads... but look at my hostas Research suggests that heavy infestation with ticks is due to our poor agricultural practices... unfortunately. Spraying fungicides/insecticides/ pesticides indiscriminately destroys far more than bad guys... and yes, it is totally possibly to live without it. Take Netherlands- you would not be able to buy fungicide in the store there- it is forbidden to use... nevermind organic or not... Dave, my biggest problem with community gardens is village tilling practices and need to return plot for the winter, i.e. not being able to cover crop, I have to start every year with destroyed biology to my soil. Minus that I believe it would have been totally possible to create an area where "bad guys" would not feel living comfy. Here is some interesting article Grasshopers...See Moremissrumphius
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