Well, I trust you find the vent lowered your blood pressure.

I try not to get upset about my neighbors gardening practices. I have offered advice on the subject of tomatoes for a few years. Does some good, but not a whole lot.

On the subject of wilts/blights, I cannot convince any of my four or so tomato-growing neighbors to prune away with the enthusiausm that I do. This year I found one gent watering the the tops of the tomato plants as well as the roots.

Each year it is the same, most people plant tomatoes:
1) too close together
2) water too frequently (and probably not deep enough)
3) plant all the toms the same day (I space mine over 2-3 weeks)
4) don't take enough step to deter squirrels, deer, etc,
5) plant all the same kind instead of mixing it up (I plant at least five types -- some cherry, some big, some heirloom, some hybrid)
6) don't keep the blights trimmed off

I give away most of my cherry tomatoes. One thing you have to stress to folks -- DON'T put these tomatoes in the refrig, it kills half or more of the taste. They get used to the nice look and no taste of grocery toms, and don't realize this.

Ahh, the joys of suburbia. Never seen the appeal to it myself. But Robert Frost (if I recall correctly) said "Good fences make good neighbors". A good fence, one that blocks the view as well as the dominant wind, can also block a fair amount of the fungal drift.

You can't change another person's mind. You can only change the way you react to their mindset.

Dave

You need to be preventative about blight...keep up with a regular spraying program. I remember the one and only year we had late blight here (2009), a master gardener friend of mine managed to keep it at bay while it affected the tomato crop of just about everyone else in the city.

The poem that "Good fences make good neighbors" comes from is about a guy questioning the need for the wall/fence. The neighbor is quoted as saying that as he unquestionably rebuilds the wall every year. It's about questioning tradition.

The proverb itself predates Frost :)

I've tried. Even given the neighbors some fruit to convince them there is a better way to increase yield, taste, etc.

Oh well, will just have to keep spraying away. I must admit, the garden looks the best it has in 5 years.

When I last gardened- about 20 years ago, not many folks in the community grew veggies- it wasn't popular and I had never heard of blight or powdery mildew. I planted veggies from plants and even from direct sow and everything grew in my small garden with no fuss just regular watering and weeding.
Fast forward several years-many gardens have sprouted up in side yards as well as back yards, and several container gardens along driveways wherever there is the most sun. I had noticed that certain gardens were very neglected, and I had wondered why the container tomatoes always had dead leaves along the bottom every year. Now I know that is blight.
Now that I have a garden again this year, I suspect blights and mildews and etc have come from sloppy garden practices in the neighborhood.
I am glad that no one in the immediate vicinity around me gardens- or I imagine things could be worse.

I am probably guilty of planting too close together, but I'm curious what do you see as a problem with putting all the tomato plants in a garden on the same day?

Man! Some of you folks should mind your own business! Maybe your neighbor thinks that you spray chemicals way too much. Maybe he thinks growing 500 pounds of vegetables is just silly for his needs. Maybe he works longer hours than you do, and barely has time for his kids, no less his garden.
The fact that he has powdery mildew and blight has no bearing if your plants will get it.
Maybe there is a reason why he does not smile or wave at you...

BLT:

I like to plant my 15 or 20 tomato plants on more than one day or week. I feel there are several benefits to this.

First, since most of my toms are grown from seed, they are not ready to transplant at the same time.

Second, if I plant 15 or 20 plants in one day, I won't have any extra energy to stake or protect them from deer. Deer are becoming a big problem in my suburban area. The last two years were very dry, and the deer seemed to develop a taste for tomato plants, even if other crops are available this year.

Third, a bad windstorm or rainstorm may be less destructive if they have been planted over a period of several weeks. Or maybe they won't all be in the ground when it hits!. I have a half dozen five gallon buckets with holes drilled in them to cover a limited number of small plants.

Fourth, if a nasty heat spells hits early and stunts blossoms, hopefully all the plants won't be at the same stage of development.

I checked the six tomato-growing neighbor's plants today.

Three pulled their plants up. The other three have plants that looked burned up. Mine are the only plants that look healthy. Mostly due to early and rigorous trimming of early blight leaves and branches.

This is zone 6. I get cherry tomatoes thru October and maybe into the first part of November each year. I just cannot convince my neighbors that a bit of early pruning produces rewards later in the year.

Same here Robert, quick and timely pruning, spraying (and mulching) has kept everything green, and the last of the tomatoes stay fresh on the vine. Keeping an eye on the extended weather forecasts in the meantime, and crossing my fingers for moderate autumn temps.

Steve

This post was edited by sjetski on Mon, Sep 30, 13 at 12:22

So what are you spraying? I usually use stuff I have for fruit trees, as I have to spray them. And I'm still getting tomatoes. The plants look rough now though. I'm just wondering what products work best for blight, and mildew on cucumbers was a problem for me. Nothing seemed to work. i removed them. If was a wet year though. Most of the tomatoes made it. One plant died out of 6.

This year I would be in dire tomato straits without my cherry tomatoes. While this year has not been as dry as last year; the taste the deer developed for toms carried over into this year.

But the raccoons are much more of a problem. An adult lives in the neighbors yard -- forty feet from my nearest tomato plant. Several folks say the mom had a litter of six earlier in the year. I have not had a large tomato in the last two plus months. Even the green biggies seem to disappear. The raccoon moved in last year as soon as the groundhog left. There is a secure nest under the exterior wooden steps.

The dog does what he can, but he is not outside most of the day. I kept him out one night and he go into a fight with some animal at 1:30am. I wish one of the rental places offered a pellet gun with a infrared scope.

Without the cherry tom plants, this would be an awful year. One plant provides 2/3 of my fruit, other other seven plants only 1/3.

My neighbor plants late, and doesn't weed, water or feed, then at the end of the year says, looking disappointed, "My garden didn't do much this year." Like he was expecting a miracle. Funny stuff.

I agree, Ed.

It is weird how little time folks spend on their tomatoes late in the season. Makes no sense. If anything, backyard tomato growers should be spending MORE time trying to coax extra out of their plants. After all, the stores and markets are not offering any tomatoes that taste good later in the season.

So it makes sense to grow at least some cherry toms, and to water them faithfully, at a minimum.