Tomatoes a waste of space this year

[ca2devri]

We have had ridiculous amounts of rain this summer. Probably even more than last summer. Every day it seems we have a downpour.

So the result is that my tomatoes have late blight earlier than ever this year. I have nice big plants full of green tomatoes that have lost almost 1/2 of their leaves at the bottom already. I don't usually see it this bad until the beginning of September! I even put straw mulch out at the beginning of July but it doesn't seem to have helped this year.

I guess it's not my imagination:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/What+mi...314/story.html

Basically we've had 2.5X the normal rain and coldest July on record. Oh well... some things seem to like the rain. Pigweed is doing just fine

Chris

[mommagoose_99]

You must have missed the post. The whole North Eastern United States has Late Blight in tomatoes and potatoes. Infected plants were sold at the big chain stores (Lowes Walmart etc) and resulting spores have infected the East of the US. I posted about this earlier. I have pulled up 23 tomato plants just this week a neighbor has lost 700 plants and a guy up the road his entire crop of tomatoes and now he is mowing his infected potato fields. The S* has hit the fan. Check out this site. http://plantclinic.cornell.edu/
Linda

[mistletoad]

Originally Posted by Wind in Her Hair

I accept the fact that the spores are already in the soil and I'll need to rotate my garden plot to avoid this next season, but is leaving the plants to fruit and ripen really spreading the blight?

Leaving the plants allows for more spores to be produced, destroying the plants helps slow the spread of the disease. Also crop rotation in the home garden is rarely effective since the organism is highly mobile. Crop rotation is more likely to be effective if diseased plants are destroyed immediately.

[katydidagain]

I can't believe I missed out on blight--everything else has gone wrong. My beets, carrots, kohlrabi and turnips didn't come up. My beans are languishing as is the okra; my corn is stunted. On the other hand, squash is happily blooming and, even if I didn't mulch enough or messed up trying to fix it today, I expect to have a great crop of spuds.

Tomatoes? I stuck my poor little 2" transplants in the ground about a month ago. (Note to self: do not trust your older sister with your precious seeds to grow for you or anything else.) I bought some tomato plants assuming these would do nothing, started more, bought more plants and pulled back mulch because it wouldn't stop raining in Ohio and they were drowning. Came home yesterday to find nearly every plant thriving. Blossoms on many--a few green tomatoes on others. The volunteers I didn't trash are doing well. Good thing I have billions and billions of quart canning jars....and adore pomme d'amour!

[Ravenlost]

Having the same problem here in Mississippi...tons of rain with cooler than normal temps resulting in tomatoes that rot before they ripen. It's not just my tomatoes...everyone around here has had poor gardens this summer.

I'm pulling all mine out if it ever dries up enough for me to get out there without sinking to my knees.

Only thing we had a good crop of this year was green beans and peas. We're hoping to plant a Fall/Winter garden early, weather permiting.

[Callieslamb]

YOu could send some of that extra wet stuff here - we haven't had rain in 6 weeks. . .

[mommagoose_99]

Wind in her Hair , sounds like you had Early Blight. That kills the leaves from the ground up. Late blight crashes the whole plant and there is no ripening of the fruit.
Linda

[mommathea]

My tomatoes are horrible this year. They are loaded with fruit, but they aren't ripening, I have had 2 that has ripened and they were tasteless and grainy. blahhh, worse than store bought tomatoes.

[Ravenlost]

Originally Posted by Callieslamb

YOu could send some of that extra wet stuff here - we haven't had rain in 6 weeks. . .

I would be happy to, if I could!!!

[EDDIE BUCK]

Originally Posted by mommagoose_99

Wind in her Hair , sounds like you had Early Blight. That kills the leaves from the ground up. Late blight crashes the whole plant and there is no ripening of the fruit.
Linda

That must be what mine had to.Started loosing leaves from the bottom up, and now just a few left in the top.They still made lots of tomatoes and I have another row I planted later, thats just starting to ripen. No sign of disease YET. EB

[ca2devri]

Yes, I had heard about the late blight on the seedlings, but I'm not sure if that is what's going on with mine. I bought only a few plants and grew the rest myself.

Late blight seems to come every year eventually, but usually starts the end of August. Cooler nights and wet weather makes it much worse. This July has been the wettest on record for us and much cooler than normal.

I also let a hen and her chicks forage in the garden and they've helped themselves to a bunch of green tomatoes. Even 1 chicken in the garden is too many!

Chris