Coming from here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1011160/
Harvest time is here! Keep those fruits and veggies coming!
Edibles - '09 - Part 4
Wow, #4. I'm still waiting for the tomatoes to ripen. The one I had yesterday I ripened on the kitchen window sill. I'll wait til the rain stops to pick more cukes. The green peppers for DH are growing bigger very nicely.
I'm growing tomatoes as well and unfortunately, I've grown some very large Hornworms as well. grrrr....
Lucy - good luck to DD at the fair. Such great memories for me!!
Sad news to report......my tomatoes have the late blight! I'm so sad....they all must go into the garbage bags, even though it is only the lower half that is showing the spots on the leaves. I guess that means my potatoes will show signs next, and then the peppers. It seems that the blight is carried by wind and rain. If one susceptible crop gets it, the others will as well. Now I understand why Sherrie was so down. I can bounce back, but she was in it big time commercially. I feel so bad for her. Sherrie, if you read this, please hang in there and let us know you're doing ok when you're up to it.
The good news is: my green beans are wonderful!!
Louise, what does late blight look like on the tomatoes? I have some with sooty black spots---is that it?
Marilyn - Here's a good website with a photo of infected leaves:
http://extension.unh.edu/
I am thinking I might have it as well... but mine do not look like that photo.. so maybe not.. unless it progresses to that
Louise - thanks for the dmail.
I am fine, I guess. I am not alone up here. Neighbors, friends and just alot of people are complaining. Not just from the plants I grew and sold. Now -excuse my french - Really @$%^&*( #!$$@* %## off, as I lost all of my 81 tomatoe plants from late blight. Canning tomats, salsa, spaghetti sauce has all been flushed down the toilet. I was on the verge of a grown up harsh temper tantrum. example I deleted just about every picture I had and that was mild! I basically threw in the towel. Oh well get over it and carry on.
Now who ever paid for my subscription to DG, I thank you very much. You did not have to do it. I nod my head and bow graciously. I would pay you back whoever you are!
Heres my tomatoes............ Argh GRRRRRRRRRR well you can see peppers down the other end.
Hi Sherrie, nice to have you back. I have plenty of plants that are so far not infected. I will gladly share my hual with you as I am always looking to give bushel fulls away once they start to ripen.
Please don't give up, there is always a better year around the corner. Looking forward to seeing you at Louise's RU.....i'll bring some mato's with me. ^_^
This message was edited Aug 9, 2009 10:36 AM
Glad to hear from you, Sherrie. You were missed.
So we had a storm blow through here the other day, left everything in the garden alone except 2 rows of corn. Almost like a mini micro burst touched down .
Hang in there, Sherrie. Nice to see you back.
Very nice of you, Celeste.
Hi Sherrie. So good to hear from you. As Celeste said, please do come to the RU for hugs, good company, laughs and good stuff to take home. We'll all be wanting to help lighten your load a bit!! That's the best part about DG friends!
Glad to see you Sherrie and like everyone else said this was just a wacky weather year there's always next year. Go have fun at Louise's!!!!
Glad you're back Sherrie---let me know if you need anything---I'll be at Louise's. Pixie---wow---nasty storm----hoping we don't get that bad this week----forecast is for 3 days of T-storms!
Tomatoes anyone? I aint got em. Been away for a couple of months and thank you all for the warm welcome back. Hit hard and even my Jim was leary as he had to pull all the plants.
With the Late Blight he is going to take off some of the soil on the top and ding it. This is a different year. Aphids, Lilly Beetles, SLUGS, and then the late blight.
Not a sentimetal person here but I cried and balled. Lot of work and no reward. I can write a darn book.
I dont even know what to say except thank you all - I mean everyone.
Sherrie - now lets get on to the ..............................
i also now have signs of blight although i will not be trashing the plants - just removing the branches that show signs and burning them.
have picked 4 t's so far and they will be coming fast - flowers on the eggplants - finally - and first cuke will be picked tomorrow!
Sherrie welcome back!!!
Bill - do you think it is possible to keep the spread from happening to the upper branches? I just hate to pull these plants out when the top halves are still looking ok. I only have flowers on them at this point, so they probably don't have time to complete their cycle before a frost here, so it may just be a loss one way or the other, but it's so hard to rip 'em out when they look "half good". LOL
How exciting to hear that you have so many tomatoes coming in. I have a couple of cukes so far. Once they took off, they seemed to do well.
I feel so fortunate. Growers all over Long Island are also getting hit with blight but so far I've been okay.
I've had some great BLT's and today I froze some starter sauces by par cooking these up with some Rosemary, Basil Oregano, Garlic, Onion and Olive Oil.
Made my first ever batch of Dill Pickles using the recipe in the Ball Canning Book. I haven't tried them yet. I''m letting them sit for a bit before I open them.
Had to supplement with some Cucumbers from the Farmers Market to make all of these in one day. Seems like I'm getting 5 or 6 Pint jars of Bread & Butter Pickles per week from 10 cucumber plants.
louise if you have not been spraying them it will spread. you can leave them and hope for the best you still might get fruit - while also removing any branches that show blight - and make sure none are left behind on the ground. that is a constant problem i have as my in-laws try hard, they just can't see well anough anymore.
glad to see you back Sherrie ... hope things look up for you soon
Welcome Home Sherrie ^_^
I guess I can be grateful that not many people in my area garden anymore. Fingers crossed I haven't had any signs of blight however I wasn't feeling well for a few days and the tomato hornworms had a blast. Sorry to all that have lost theirs to blight. Does it get into the soil and affect next year's crop? I hope not.
yes it does - the spores over winter and wet weather gets them active again. just like rust on hh's
bummer to hear that.
Found blight on one tomato plant, & I bagged it up---it was on a plant I had grown from seed----most of my other tomatoes are heirloom, & I see no signs of late blight on them, just the typical yellows. The tomatoes are starting to ripen, but I haven't had a tasty one yet! Cried when I saw your beautiful pickles Dyane---I've made 2 pints this summer---the cukes are just sitting there.
I think I'm giving up on HH's. Mine were infected big time this year.
just picked 8 heads of broccoli, three cukes, more summer squash, and some t's. Also noticed that the atlantic pumpkin's i planted - these are the ones that can grow to 1000+ pds have begun to grow and fast - noticed little pumpkins late last week that still had the flower attached - these are now twice the size of a softball and approaching a basketball - nice!
dayne that stuff i put on the t-plants from ortho also works on hh's - i've had rust the last few years and no signs of it this year.
Which one was that Bill? Did you treat the soil or just the new plants in the Spring and Summer?
i will have to bring the bottle up - i posted the info on the earlier edibles thread - not hard to find hd had it and the key ingredient was 29.7% - you spray the plants every 7 days or so - i have a pump sprayer and it takes no time to do 50 t-plants and hh's
Bill,
I just scrolled through the last thread, here is your post:
"here is the stuff i use on t-plants and any plant that gets a fungus disease - ortho garden disease control - the key ingredient is chlorothalonil @ 29.7% - there is another product called draconil i believe which did not work here and only had 7% chlorothalonil"
Thanks for searching for that Dyane!
I am just starting to show signs of mildew on some things.
Luckily, the next 5 or so days are supposed to be sunny with low humidity.
I think the cucumbers started it all .... now the zucchini is carrying it, and I think I am just seeing it start on the acorn squash.
My paeonia are simply covered with mildew, again this year.
My own fault, as they have had it for a few seasons now, and I keep hoping one of these summers will be dry enough to cure it without chems.
On the bright side, I have collected over 45 Lbs of zucchini, about a dozen Viserba Eggplant, and probably 1/2 a bushel of mostly cherry tomatoes. The Swiss Chard and the Basil are still going strong, too.
I am keeping an eye on a couple of the tomatoes with suspicious looking spots (oddly enough, only the tomatoes I purchased, but from a nursery, not a big box, all other tomato plants were seed started by me.), but they have not spread to consume the entire tomato overnight, so I don't think it is blight ....
knocking wood & crossing fingers .......
Good to see ya, Sherrie!!
What I want to know is why SOME company isn't being fined (or, quite frankly, downright closed permanently for business) for spreading blight to half the country, over losing their own profits!!
That company is keeping ALL its monies, while farmers and alike risk losing their land due to failed crops.
They can fine for spreading E. coli in spinach .......
I'd better stop, eh .........
thanks Dayne - i had to take out an eye loop to read the ingredients and hate it when i have to work that hard.
willie if there are spots on the leaves and those leaves are close to the ground clip off the branches, burn them, take no chances the plant will be fine without all its branches.
Actually, that is on the agenda today, Bill! Thanks!
I read somewhere that tomatoes really only need the top three or so set of leaves.
Don't know if that is exactly true, but we'll see!
i've read that as well although not sure how true it is - i bought an on line book on the subject that was kinda goofy and folks on the t-plant forum did not thin much of it. it was only $10 wasted thankfully
When planting tomatoes, they only need the top two or three sets. Clipping the lower ones and planting deeply results in more roots where the lower stems were.
Tomatoes only need what they actually need. They dont need water everyday. The bottom leaves will die off when they go through maturity and get yellow. YANK those Leaves.
I saw a pic of a Topsy Turvey that had 29 apple size tomatoes on it. I almost fell over backwards. It was 8 FEET long! The woman told me what she put in the topsy turvey. Come on now - do you want to know? Come on........
Good grief - I wish I had 1 topsy turvey right now let alone 1 tomatoe plant!