tomato sadness

18 years ago

G'Day!

Evil Tomato Wilt has devistated by tomatoes. Sigh. Only the cherry tomatoes are really producing.

Does this mean that next year i should plant NO tomatoes, and all will be well the year after? i am suspecting that if i plant only cherry tomaotes, they might do fine, but then the wilt would still be around and i would never be able to grow another big tomato.

Anything else i can do to make my soil "tomato-friendly" again?

i know it's wilt and not just drought because even the well-watered tommies have collapsed; the current tomatoes were doing fine until last week, then, in just two day, withered.

It so sad; i had 57 varieties growing, and was SO looking forward to fresh tomatoes! i can only console myself by making up another few quarts of pesto and baking a white "pesto pizza."

Happy gardening,

-vlad

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Comments (5)

blueheron
18 years ago
Is that the same disease as late blight? We had that in our gardens last year and the extension agent said that the fungus can't overwinter, so it won't stay in the soil to attack your tomatoes next year.

However, it might be a good idea to rotate the position of your tomato plants in your garden. Also, I read that mulching plants with compost helps to repel diseases.
madsquopper
18 years ago
Definitely rotate if you can. If it was wilt you can try plants marked Verticillium wilt and Fusarium wilt (VF) resistant varieties. That should help, but does eliminate lots or all of the heirloom varieties.

Two of our favorite tomatoes that always do well are Brandyboy (updated Brandywine) and Sun Gold (cherry).

Larry
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Usually if plants have been subjected to torrential rainfall and have been standing in water, one problem that occurs is that the waterlogged roots are so clogged with water that they cannot take up nutrients from the soil. The lack of nutrients cause all sorts of issues from stalled growth to discolored foliage. When this is the problem, you don't need to add anything to the soil because the roots are too clogged with water to benefit from anything you'd add to the soil. Since you added so much to the soil this year, I wouldn't add anything else. When we had an incredibly wet year in 2007, my plants stayed wet (even in raised beds) for a couple of months and mostly I just had to be patient and wait for the soil to dry. Once the soil started drying out a little, the plants looked marginally better. I then fed them carefully with Miracle Grow trying to get some nutrients to the plants without adding so much extra water that the waterlogging worsened again. I got a great crop of tomatoes that year, though they were later than usual. If I remember correctly, we had roughly a foot of rain in June following what had been a wet May as well. The soil didn't really dry up until sometime in July. As for the issues on the foliage, without being able to see them, we could only guess what might me going on, but I'd suspect it was some sort of fungal disease. However, with all the rain you've had it could be bacterial. Or, it could be viral. Diseases thrive on tomato foliage in wet weather, especially if you're not using a fungicide to prevent the fungal diseases from attaching to the foliage. I'm going to link the TAMU tomato problem solver. Maybe you can compare the photos there to what you're seeing on your leaves and can diagnose what you're seeing. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: TAMU Tomato Problem Solver
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Greg, I lost all but about 6' of one bed of peas this year. I have no sure idea of what was eating them! It looked like grasshopper damage but so early that it couldn't have been grasshoppers. The only bug I'd seen in any number was the flea beetle. There were soon a terrible lot of them eating their "shot-holes" in all sorts of things. But, the peas didn't have shot-holes. I cannot remember when I've had any real loss of peas ever. Didn't really learn a thing . . . except, I guess, to continue to rely on as much variety as I can, in the garden. Oh yeah, Peter Rabbit ate nearly all of the 1st planting of beans. A perennial problem and only really solved by the natural predators. Maybe one reason why I have usually relied so much on later plantings of green beans. We live and learn, as best we can. Good Luck with the tomatoes you have and Next Year! Steve
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I think the problem may be related to not too much water, but in fact that the water level is not consistant. I know that mature tomato plants can use up to 5 gallons of water a day. You appear to have very small pots and even though they are getting water ever few days they in fact may be stressed because not getting enough water. I have Earth Boxes on my porch and also plant in garden. I put in an Early Girl first week of February with a Water Wall around it and am watering it every other day and I keep a water tray under the pot with water constantly keeping the soil moist. I use Garrett Juice Plus,Thrive, and Plant Wash (all Organic). Been using for several years and the Plant Wash will do away with you pest problems. I mix all of it up in a gallon of water and water all plants with it and rarely have any problems. Even moisture in soil is key to releaving stress to any plant. (If you want a good organic program go to (TheDirtDoctor.com) Has a link to his programs on weekend that gives great Organic Gardening Advise).
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Laurel7286
18 years ago
It doesn't sound like V wilt to me vlad, because usually v wilt doesn't cause tomatoes to actually look wilted.

This is the best page for identifying tomato disease:

Here is a link that might be useful: disease identifier
mdgardengurl
18 years ago
Hey Vlad....sorry about your tomatoes! It started out a great year for ours - bumper crops of beautiful fruit. Then the rains came and drowned them and they all started splitting open. After that, all the dry heat stressed them more. They've been rotting before they even get fully ripe. All of our gardeners have been having the same problem with the tomatoes, so in our case, it's been the weather rather than the soil. The cherry tomatoes have done much better than the larger varieties. Next year, I will plant a few plants in pots where I can have more control over their 'weather'.....

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Garden Club website
aka_peggy
18 years ago
Sorry Vlad:( Gardening is funny...a good year, a bad year...wait another year.

I'm suspicious...what type of soil do you have? Which tomatoes are you growing? Hybrids? Heirlooms? Do you mulch well? Do you allow water to splash on the leaves when you irrigate?

I seriously recommend you post this on the tomato disease forum. That's a lotta maters you lost there and you need to find out why so you don't have a repeat. It's such a shame and I really feel for you!

I grow a lot of heirlooms and I have problems with blight...early? Late? I don't know the difference. I haven't watered my tomatoes all summer tho we've had very little rain. My woodland plants are stressing bad and pulmonaria, ginger, and Rhodies are shriveling. (even the evil bermuda grass is stressed) My tomatoes are well mulched with compost, grass clippings & straw. I would never water them. I think they taste better when water is with held. I have about 25 plants and I'm (happily) drowning in maters...glug, glug...

Ps, my garden is on an old septic field and the soil is loamy and rich...that could make a difference.

tomato sadness

Comments (5)

blueheron

madsquopper

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Laurel7286

mdgardengurl

aka_peggy

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