Posted on 07/10/2021 5:57:57 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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Thank you! :)
Question on tomato blight.
I know humidity and dew/condensation causes blight to spread.
Could laying floating row covers over the tops of the tomato cages prevent the dew from condensing on the leaves?
I was thinking it wouldn’t be necessary to completely cover the plants like for insect and pest control, but just across the top with the sides open, to keep the dew off.
I noticed orange colored ones in my garden as well.
Weird…
We have heavy clay soil and I want to try the no dig method.
We have lots of cardboard. We also have lots of brahpnches to chip up.
However, my compost bins are not going to give me enough to put down a thick layer.
We live where we can get a fair amount of manure.
So how do I go about doing this cardboard, mulch, wood chips thing?
I just put down the cardboard and covered it with stable bedding when we were younger and could do that. Lady Bender is 80 and I am 88 and I have to use a electric scooter to get around so we have cut back on the garden size. I’m just starting to have memory lapses and haven’t driven since December...
sure enough, a wind storm came and off it went down the road....
we put the same thing up but husband anchored it well....don't know how we'll prevent snow or ice buildup but I hope we figure it out before winter.....
I’ll be doing something like that.
We have lots of wood to chip, lots of leaves and enough lawn for a good amount of grass clippings.
Sorry to hear you are having so much difficulty.
Getting old is not for sissies.
Good luck getting rid of them. Look for their eggs also.
I just came in from picking and drowning them in soapy water. It’s out of my control now. It’s an infestation.they’re everywhere even in the lawn and cellar! (YIKES!). Too much rain here in upstate NY.
I’ll be mowing my lawn down to the lowest setting on the lawnmower and pot whatever veggies I can and place them off the ground. Hopefully I can save some.
It’s really really bad here.
We’re in NH and have them here, too.
I have slug bait I will be sprinkling around.
My sister lives in WNY and says they have a snail infestation. They are everywhere and you can’t walk outside even in your driveway without crunching them.
And she does NOT live in the country. She’s in a well established suburb of Buffalo with sidewalks etc.
Oh, yes. Had my old greenhouse ‘go for a ride’ before we got it anchored in!
We get a lot of snow here, and even with the weaker winter sun, the snow melts right off of the greenhouse, sunny day or not.
Other than that, a sturdy push broom should do the trick.
No damaging winds, yesterday, thank goodness! We ended up with a full inch of much-needed rain. I had one MONSTER Sunflower tip over and smoosh some of the bush beans, but Beau is going to put in a sturdier stake for me later today.
Tomato blight is in the SOIL, so the key to prevention and/or slowing it down, is to mulch your tomatoes well, but leave a gap around the stem for direct watering/fertilizing. Also, pruning your lower tomato plant leaves well above the soil and using a copper spray on the bottom 1/3 of your plants on a regular basis helps knock it back, too.
Humidity and dew really don’t contribute to spreading the disease; heavy rain downpours on un-mulched garden beds can splash the blight up onto the higher leaves, spreading disease. You will almost always see blight starting on the LOWER leaves and working its way UP. HOWEVER - if your tomatoes are packed in and there’s not enough air circulation around them, that also contributes to blight issues.
I know it’s too late for this year, but in the future get in the habit of buying seeds/plants that are blight resistant. Look for AAS Winners; they’re usually a winner because they don’t have the disease issues other varieties have. The AAS Winners listed here are the small and cherry-types.
https://all-americaselections.org/aas-winning-tomato-types/
Here is a listing of blight resistant tomatoes that are newer to the market:
https://www.bhg.com/gardening/gardening-trends/best-new-tomatoes-2020/
Here are some ‘old standards’ many of us have been growing for years:
https://tomatopedia.org/blight-resistant-tomato-varieties/
Disease Resistant Codes (usually listed in the catalog description; sometimes are part of the actual tomato variety name):
Disease Resistance Codes
V Verticillium Wilt
F Fusarium Wilt
FF Fusarium, races 1 and 2
FFF Fusarium, races 1, 2, and 3
N Nematodes
A Alternaria
T Tobacco Mosaic Virus
St Stemphylium (Gray Leaf Spot)
TSWV Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus
I heartily recommend ANY of the tomatoes in the ‘Chef’s Choice’ series - but leave room because the plants and the tomatoes are BIG!
https://tomatogrowers.com/collections/chefs-choice-tomatoes
Thanks for the info.
I avoid hybrid plants cause I can’t save the seeds.
However, I’m going to save the tomatoes from my best plants for seeds for next year. Maybe eventually I can find some that are somewhat blight resistant.
That’s where the problem comes in with Heirlooms. However - they’ve GOT to be tough as nails in order to have survived so long.
Puzzling! :)
As for Heirlooms, the best tomatoes I’ve grown with some disease resistance have been:
Cherokee Purple (LOVE!)
Brandywine
Amish Paste
Constoluto Genovese (LOVE!)
Mr. Stripey
Black Krim
Arkansas Traveler
I grew the Amish paste tomatoes.
However, for flavor and uniformity of fruit that is always unblemished, I go with the Heinz Sauce tomatoes that I have only found at Territorial Seed Co.
“Heinz Sauce tomatoes”
Those are good, too!
I am growing La Roma II this year - 8 plants. They should all be ready at once (Determinate) so I can either freeze them all for later use, or if I’m motivated, can use them all up at once in my Salsa making. :)
The Heinz are determinate, too, and I like it because once I’m done with 90% of the crop, the plants come up and I start prepping the bed for next year’s crops.
Danged Japanese beetles.
I put up a beetle trap yesterday and it will be full today.
Supposed to rain tomorrow so it’s coming down until it’s dry again. Wet rotting beetles are a novel smell sensation that I do not wish to endure. The lure is bad enough.
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