I have the same issue - I am leaving the tomatoes until they get a first blush (just start turning color) and then harvest them. I let them ripen on my window-sill in the sunshine. So far, so good. Getting a much better harvest than I thought I would. I have also had to battle a prolific amount of hornworms this year as well. Not the best year for a summer garden but gotta look at the brought side and be thankful for what we get. Here is on of my window-sills:

I think we can always express our opinions and respect others too. As mentioned before, simply being "organic" does not mean safe to humans and the environment. For example petroleum products are organic among others. Then, where does the "organic" material come from ? There was a time that there were no living organisms on the face of Earth. So the source and origin of "Organic" mater is "inorganic matter". There are also naturally occurring "inorganic" matter vs synthesized by us, humans. Not all "naturally occurring" matter is safe and not all synthesized ones are unsafe. Most of medicine are synthesized without which some of us would have been dead some time ago. In my opinion, speaking against "man - synthesized/ manufactured" things is knocking our own intelligence and scientific achievements. We owe it to our bigger brain. On The Topic: I just sprayed all my tomatoes, peppers, cukes .. with Daconil yesterday. In my mind, I am neither worried about its ill effects on me and my family, nor I feel guilty about harming the environment by using it. I also have NEEM OIL spray and use it to. I feel the same way about using synthetic fertilizers as I use them along with all kinds of manures and organic matter. Organic Purists: I have a great respect for them. Their life style and philosophy, concern for the environment is admirable.

Yes, I think calling the extension agent is a good idea. The one in Cheyenne is more focused on trees; the one in Denver actually has a little bit of information on tomato diseases and mentions TSWV. Common Tomato Problems A cloud of thrips? How horrid. I just read that thrips and broad/fava beans go hand in hand. I have half a row of favas right next to this tomato row... Regarding the BER, yes, there's been a little while I've been trying to learn to water properly with black plastic down this year. I'm not positive if the triplet and the single above have BER, too, or if the rot from the cankers (for lack of a better word) has converged. From Cornell's Fact Sheet: Although an early study reported seed transmission of TSWV at a high rate in Cineraria and tomato, a later study found only 1 percent infection. The virus is present only in the seed coat and not in the embryo. Seed transmission is thus not considered important for disease spread. Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus Regarding the leaves, most everything I read today stated the problem starts with the leaves. I wonder if the problem generally starts earlier in the season, though, when there aren't any fruit present. Either way, if it is TSWV, I imagine it's just the beginning of the end here. I appreciate everyone's input. If I learn something helpful from the extension agent(s) tomorrow, I'll post it here.

The bacterium that causes Bacterial Speck with tomatoes is not the same as the one that infects peppers, so no problem there. For next year I suggest you do a few things. First, you can turn over the soil where you have your tomatoes and with a shovel, not with a rototiller, and that buries the bacteria and spores that fall to the ground from infected plants. When buried deeply they can't do damage. If not buried deeply then your plants can get what's called Splashback reinfection from rain or irrigation splashing the spores and bacteria back onto the plant. One thing that helps is to mulch the plants to prevent splashback. All NEW infections are aquired via wind and rain, so as soon as you set the plants out you need to start on a regular vigorous spray schedule. There's no knowing what might hit your plants next year so if it were me I'd start with the anti-fungal Daconil first. If you start seeing any evidence of bacterial foliage infections then add something copper to your spray schedule. But don't mix the two together since that dilutes the number of molecules in the Daconil that attach to the specific receptor sites on the upper leaf surface and prevents attachment of those fungal pathogens. And with dilution not allthosesites will be covered. Is protection total? No, no product is 100% effective, but some of them do help. I can think of very few folks who have NEVER had tomato plants with foliage diseases so what you're experiencing is experienced by millions of backyard tomato growers. As for your seed sources, I'm a long time Life Time member of SSE and I happen to think that the prices asked for in the Public catalog are way too high. Just my opinion. And personally I gave up on Burpee many many years ago for several reasons. There are some terrific seed sites, many of them family owned, that offer LOTS of varieties for a more decent price, again, IMO. and in these economic times I think they deserve our support b'c it's they, who help preserve varieties, by offering them. And there are many threads here at GW whiich list what some of those sites are. I'll mention just a few where I know the owners well and trust what they do: Sandhill Presrvation Tomato Growers Supply ( also hybrids) Gleckler Seedmen Victory Seeds Heritage Seeds in CA Heirloom Seeds in PA Tania at her website sells seeds for about 600 varieties and also has a superb website with pages for over 3,000 varieties, with comments from others, pictures and seed sources for the varieties where known, and I'll link to it below if you don't know about it. It looks like her site is down right now but hopefully that's temporary associated with weather in British Columbia Casey's Heirloom tomatoes of Airdrie, Canada Well those are a few and no doubt I've left off some sites, but the above are ones that I sent seeds for new varieties for trial each year, with few exceptions, so I do know them well and trust all of those sites and there are some sites I cannot suggest at all. Carolyn