Too Late to Protect Tomatoes From Blight?
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gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Sep-02-2004 at 4:10am
I keep getting quoted by Chris Smith. This time he used my questions on his blight protection techniques to set up his column today.
You can read it at:
Treat Tomatoes
If Trav or I did 50 tomato plants, we would have to resort to sprays also. Trav's open-ended hoop house is a great way to avoid the problem but he would have to change the construction materials to cover beds with 50 plants.
The other technique that we use can also be seen in some of his hoop house photos. The 2x4 wood supports are not for the house but for his tomatoes. We grow the indeterminate varieties up strings as described by Solomon. If you space them (I am now at two stems per plant and have 6 Ind. and 3 determinates in a 55 sq. ft. bed) and practice good sanitation, the plants will dry in most of the breaks between showers.
Unlike Chris, I got through August. We'll see what daylight brings this morning after my light Sept. 1st showers.
Gary
JeanneK
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Sep-02-2004 at 8:46am
Thanks for the article, Gary. No blight but I think I have a few tomatoes with blossom end rot.. More lime next time!
Jeanne
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Sep-02-2004 at 10:55am
The heat this summer made it very hard not to have some blossom end rot. I got a few fruit damaged for the first time until I switched to daily ET watering with the drip system.
My understanding is that it is acutally the plant 'sucking' back nutrients/liquid from the fruit to make up for what can't be drawn up the stem from the soil. The calcium allows the plant to grow larger veins so more can be carried upward. I think the plants grew so fast and transpired much more water than we're used to. I got caught just like many pot grown tomatoies of friends in past summers.
A water slurry of lime on or in the soil and consistent watering will usually solve the problem.
Gary
trav
Location: Washington, Western
Posted: Sep-02-2004 at 8:51pm
I've seen some blight, not a lot - mainly because I get lazy about covering my tomatoes after a while.
At this point in the game, though, there's also a question about diminishing returns on your effort. I used to cover my tomatoes religiously for as long as they stayed alive, which would sometimes mean into late October - but that doesn't seem to provide that many more (or better tasting) tomatoes than just picking the large green ones and bringing them inside at an earlier date. I don't really know where to draw that line though.
BTW Gary, I'm not sure Mr. Smith was paying as much attention to your notes as he should have. I can't see how any structure like a hoophouse or large cloche could have a condensation problem on the inside. I'm wondering if he's thinking about people who essentially just throw a sheet of plastic over the staked/caged tomato plants. That of course could lead to a lot of problems with any fungal diseases.
Travis
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Sep-04-2004 at 4:10pm
Trav,
I agree with all of the above. Chris did not know of your hoop house or my 8 foot tall "sawhorse" style cover when he wrote the column. I did send him to your "hoop house" page after the article.
Without enough detail for his words (but we've all had to live within the 200 or whatever word limits of a column), he could not separate laying down plastic as opposed to a tent like cover with ventilation as your house has.
Anticipating your question, I asked a Oly Market grower (even of Persimmon [more later on that great tomato]) how many tomatoes he grows inside how large a commercial style hoop house.
His house is 12'x40', or 480 sq. ft. He grows his 60 plants on 3-foot centers in four rows. Two rows are near the center line and the the other two are halfway to the outside of the house. All the tomatoes are indeterminates grow on strings as Solomon talked us into doing.
His reward this month has been "beautiful" tomatoes like your Persimmon & Black Krim that he has to hide from one lady who will buy him out at opening everyday so all other customers get upset.
I say "beautiful" because at my best test site, Trav's Persimmon recomendation has already delivered a 1 3/4 lb. tomato. He is right on his review. It is not prolific but it is LARGE and all reviews so far have agreed with Trav's viewpoint on its taste.
Gary
cjmiller
Location: Oregon, Willamette Valley
Posted: Sep-04-2004 at 5:38pm
Last year I had blossom end rot on only one variety of tomato, none of the other varieties got it, nor none this year, and no blight, thank goodness. However, this year after about mid July, my tomato plants produced flowers, but no tomatoes followed? This is the poorest tomato crop production in years, I am not sure what caused either of these outcomes. I have grow these varieties before and this is true of all 12 plants.
I did plant them next to the corn, so for lack of any other answer, I am blaming that! Any other ideas?
Carol
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Sep-04-2004 at 6:50pm
Carol,
North of the corn? Did you fert the area too much for the corn? When did you put them out? What varieties?
All questions for a good answer, but in what maybe the best tomato year (if you avoided blight so far) in my growing life, I suspicion too much nitrogen.
Gary
Gardening for the Homebrewer: Grow and Process Plants for Making Beer, Wine, Gruit, Cider, Perry, and More
By co-authors Debbie Teashon (Rainy Side Gardeners) and Wendy Tweton