A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2003 Update to "Tomato leaves curling....HELP"

I posted on July 3 about my three sick tomato plants and sent pictures of the leaves. Well...guess what?! ALL of them have pulled out and are doing well...slower this year...but well. I've now cut all of the old curled leaves off the bottom and all the top new growth have buds on them. I'll be getting tomatoes a bit later this year, but at least I didn't lose any. AND I got my first cucumber this morning.

Thanks for all your help. I'll be back if I have any more problems in the futrue. You're all GREAT!!

Good for you Godfrey girl.

How's Alton doing? I'm up north in Joliet. We have had rain storm after rain storm with very high heat and humidity in between. Today we've had two rounds of thunderstorms and are expecting them to continue tonight and tomorrow.

Have you won any money on the Alton Belle? Is it still there or have they moved it? Anyway, I've heard that Southern Illinois and Southern Indiana are having drought years. Is that true? We sure aren't! I could use some moderate temps and sun!

Anyway, congrat's on perking up your tomato plants and on your cuccumber. My wife and mother make a cuccumber salad with onions mmmmmmm good!

Adios
--Bunny T.

Hi Bunny:

We've gotten about as much rain as you have. NO drought here. I think that's why I had problems with a couple of my tomato plants this year....WAY too much rain. We broke a record from the 1800s. It's suppose to rain tonight and tomorrow....but it's been VERY hot today.

Yes...the Belle is still here and going strong. I've been on it a few times but only gambled ONE time....I won $100 after putting in $6 and stopped while I was ahead. I have a niece that is "addicted" and goes all the time. She also travels to Mississippi to gamble.....not ME. I work too hard for my money to throw it out like that. I prefer to go on it JUST to eat and watch others. You can get VERY good meals for VERY little cost....they want to get your money via the machines.

Thanks for writing and try and stay dry and cool if you can. We've had AWFUL humidity here too. I think you are up around Rockdale and Ingalls Park aren't you? I've passed Joliet but not actually been there.

Adios to you too,
Shirley in Alton (Pie Town)

Bunny and Godfreygirl,
I have relatives in Calumet City
and Gary Indiana.............
Close or no cigar?????
Weezie :rolleyes:

Hi Bunny
Just wanted to say hello to a former neighbor! I spent 3 yrs in Morris, IL - about 15-20 miles south of you. Spent alot of time in Joliet, as it was the closest place for shopping, good restaurants, movies, etc. Illinois was a culture shock for me from the minute I set foot in the state! Flew out of CT on a not-too-cold, sunny, Jan. morning, 2 hrs later landed at O'Hare to FRIGID temps, gale force winds, and a blizzard! (Closed the airport right after my plane landed) The only way to get to the house was to literally get INCHES behind a snowplow on the interstate. The snow was so powdery and the winds so strong that the roads would cover back over as quick as they were plowed! It wasn't till spring when all the snow finally melted, that I noticed how flat the land is! I believe that if your eyes were good enough, you could see from one end of the state to the other! I used to tell people that the ants there don't even make anthills
After I realized that the wind there really DOES blow all the time, I thought "At least there will be a nice breeze in the summer." As cold as that wind is in the winter, it turns into a HOT wind in the summer!
Then there was the first time I turned on the water faucet! Rotten eggs! They say it's the sulfur that's left in the ground from the former coal mines.

As bad as I make it all sound though, there was one good thing - We had an awesome veggie garden every year! Huge, healthy plants, and more veggies than we knew what to do with - I guess maybe it's all those minerals in the soil?

I must admit tho - I met some really nice people while I was there, and have some really great memories!

Nikkal

Hi Weezie....I'm sorry, but no cigar from my end. I live South of there...WAY South. I'm right across the bridge from Missouri....right next to the Mississippi river. We're sort of a tourist town here.

AND....Hi Nikkal:

Sorry about your "Illinois experience". You must have come in one of our "bad" winters. Last winter we hardly had any snow at all and it never got below 20 degrees and none of those "gale force winds". BUT, it has been hot this summer....that's sort of the norm.

But FLAT....you had to be North of here. We have SO many hills in Alton that the ants don't HAVE to build hills....they are already THERE ready made....

I don't know where those coal mines are....I guess where YOU visited....DUHH. But we don't have any down here. What we have is ALL the bluffs that goo all the way down the River Road and woods and parks all over the place. No rotten egg water here.

So if you ever visit Illinois again, come on down further south....you'll have a better and more beautiful experience.

Come in spring and you will see ALL the flowering trees up SO many of the streets and all the beautiful flower gardens in te parks.

Come in the summer and it WILL be hot...but as you said...LOTS of good veggies and tourist spots to visit. AND you will have river boats to ride and "Pie Town" double-decker buses to ride to see the sites.

Come in the Fall and you will have peach, apple, pumplin...etc. orchards to visit. And OH the color of the trees up the River Road....SO beautiful to see. People drive over from Missouri to see them.

Come in the winter...well, what can I say. You never know WHAT you will get. :p

So here's hoping your next visit to Illinois will be a more pleasent one...IF you come further South. (Sorry you folks up North...I know there's beauty up there too. I've just not been there....you'll have to tell about that part yourself. )
Godfreygirl

Hi again everyone.

Yes Weezie, Calumet City and Gary, Ind. are very near Joliet. Calumet City is about 25 min. east and Gary about :45 min. East.

And Nikkal,
Yes, we've had some bad winters but not for a while. Our winters are usually pretty mild with an occasional storm 8-10 inch that will pass through.

As for the Sulfur Water, Yuck! IT SMELLS JUST LIKE ROTTEN EGGS! We don't have that problem in Joliet but farther south (not Alton!) and west they do!

As for great things around here. Well, personally I wished I lived more in the Country. But if you like NASCAR, we have the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet. NHRA? We have the Rt.66 Dragstrip. Couple of casino's and a nice water park. My favorite is the 1800's Illinois & Michigan Canal with old towns (including Morris) scattered along it with cemeteries dating from the mid 1800's.

As for vegetables, I think we have some years for great vegetables and some years not much at all. But because I don't really have anything to compare it with, I don't know how "good" they are! (or Bad!)

When I go on vacation, I go up North, way, way up North to the Upper Penninsula of Michigan.

Anyway, Weezie, Nikkal and Godfrey Girl. I like Joliet and this area. I'm proud of Joliet and proud to say this is where I was born, raised and live! :p

-Bunny T.

Hi Bunny:

Yes....you SHOULD be proud of Joliet AND that you live and were born there. I think anyplace we live and have good AND bad points to it. I've lived in and around Alton all my life, so I have nothing to compare it too. I'm sure there are other places I would prefer to live, I just don't know about them. I guess it's good I don't...then I would be discontent to be HERE. We should "love where we're planted". (I heard that somewhere :p )

There are some VERY good things about Alton where I live...but there are also some areas where you wouldn't want to go to without a bullet proof vest!!

I hope I get up your way some day.

Here's hoping you get LOTS of veggies from your garden this year.
godfreygirl

godfreygirl,
I have relatives in Mo. to, Wildwood.
(they were in Highlandheights, Mo.)
Close or no cigar??? I have no idea where that one is....

I have relatives or friends (this is weird) almost in everystate that posts here
(or the state right next door).
I have been meaning to start a post like that, couldn't figure out how to word it, but I have relatives in Illinois, Mo., Texas, Oregon, Canada, (I have a ton of them there.)
Friends in California, Maryland, Florida, Virginia, (My best girlfriend up until the 6th grade was named Georgia), my former nieghbors are moving to SC next year.
I guess that's why I take a shining to those who come from particular states....Denvers' about the only one state where I have more relatives and no one's posted from there....

It is such a small world especially now a days with the internet!!!!
Just thought I'd post that!!
Weezie

Hey Weezie...if we got together and traveled to all the states we both have relatives or friends, we could almost travel the entire US. You have a LOT more relatives than I do though. Wildwood, Missouri is about 50 miles from me but I don't know where ighland Heights is.

I have two brothers in California...one in Stocton and one in Azuza, a niece in Tennesse, a best friend in Arkansas, a close friend in Green Bay, Wisconsin, a daughter in Columbas, Georgia and a good friend in Kansas. I've been on trips to New York, New Mexico, Arizona...well...I won't go on there. But I have been to Canada. All the way up to Ontario all the way down to Toranto....but not anywhere lately.

And YES....isn't it great how the Internet makes our world SO much smaller. I talk to my daughter in Georgia almost every day with Yahoo Instant Messenger....it's almost like being there.

Kinda makes a person feel like singing that song..."It's a Small, Small World" doesn't it? Some day I'd like to take a trip and just go visit everyone I know. Wouldn't that be great?!

Thanks for posting that. What EVER did we do before the Internet?
godfreygirl

Hi Bunny

Aw, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make Joliet and the surrounding area sound like it was so terrible! It was more of a shock to me than anything else. Illinois was one of the first places I traveled to outside of the New England area, where I was born and raised, so everything was just foreign to me. I do remember some beautiful parks, and historic buildings, and it was kinda cool to drive along the roads and see corn fields for miles. When the corn got "ready", we'd always stop and "borrow" a few ears for dinner! As I said, Joliet was _the_ place to go for entertainment, Chicago deep dish pizza is the best!

gfgirl -

Gosh, you make S. IL sound like a different world! I never realized there was so much difference between the two parts of the state. I have traveled through S. IL, but you don't get much of a view from the interstate! (obviously :rolleyes: ) Maybe someday I'll get to see it.
And you're right, every place has it's good and bad. Everyone has heard things about the South in general, (we're not too bright, we're lazy, we're all racists, we're all poor, etc.), but after living here for many years now, yes, we do have all of the above, but not really any more or less than anywhere else I've been. Here in Memphis, we also have places where you wouldn't go alone (not even in the daytime ) but we also have many beautiful and world famous places here. Some people may be jealous of our (mostly) mild winters and long growing season, but then there's our almost unbearable summer! Not only is it HOT, but the outrageous humidity makes it much worse.
(and then there's the tornadoes)

I think we're all lucky to be living in place that we really like, no matter what anyone else might think!

Nikkal

Hi Nikkal:

OH...you live in Memphis! I visited Memphis WAY back in the early 60's and my husband and I were SO smitten with it that we almost moved there. His brother lived there and the first thing I remember when driving in was HONEYSUCKLE!! That's all I could smell. And when we went fishing, there were wild rambling roses growing EVERYWHERE!! We loved it...but his brother also warned us of a few places NOT to go. I guess that is true of anyplace a person goes.

I remember "borrowing" corn a lot when I was growing up here. Anytime we went for a drive in the summer, we would always take a big sack with us and "borrow" corn. I also stayed on farms of friends a lot when growing up and I used to hide in the corn fields a lot and that's ALL I ate was corn. I now love it JUST off the cob...no cooking.

And we have that horrible humidity here too. We are having it NOW in fact. But my daughter and her family just moved to Georgia from Tulsa about a month ago and she mentions the humidity being "stiffling" and she is used to living HERE all of her life. So I guess a lot of places have it. It goes with summer.

But ...on a different part of our subjects....about being lucky to live where we like it...or having ANY good place to live. I saw an hour program on TV last week (I think it was Dateline or 60 Minutes II) about people struggling after working in places for YEARS and then getting laid off. There are SO many people and families in that situation that I was not aware of.

They followed several families and people in New York, the Midwest and California who had been living the "good life" for years and then their company shut down and everything changed almost overnight. There was one neighborhood where almost every other BEUTIFUL house was up for sale. There was one VERY affluent town in California where people went to get good jobs, got a good job, but found that the cost of living was SO high that there were several streets and parking lots CRAMMED with people living out of their RV's.

They said that homelessness was higher now than in TWENTY years. I had NO idea!!

It made me sad AND made me realize that I have nothing to "gripe about" when I get a bit discontent with what I do or do not have.

So all of us really "have it good" just because we DO have a place to live no matter what our weather or surroundings. It really was a sort of wakeup call to me. All of us have a GREAT place to live when we DO have a place to live.....right?
godfreygirl :p

Very well said, gfgirl.

Now, about those 'maters...they still doing okay? blooms? little fruit?
How's the weather? You said it's humid, are you getting the heat, too? Right now, we're averaging right around 90, the humidity is soaring, but we've yet to get that "oven" effect we usually do in the summer. Don't know if that means the summer won't be too bad, or if the worst is yet to come. Have to wait and see, I guess.

Nikkal

Hi Nikkal:

So far my 'maters' are doing well...a couple better than others, but the ones that were stunted are still pulling out well and have LOTS of buds on them. My Beef Masters have small tomatoes on them so it won't be too long before I get some. The cucumbers have pulled out VERY well and are now vining all over the place and have small cucs on them.

But the peppers....not too sure. they haven't gotten as bushy as they should, but they DO have buds on them. I just hope they make fruit and don't dry up and drop off.

Yes...we've had very high temps and lots of humidity, BUT we are getting a break today and through the weekend....lower temps in the '70s and low humidity....YEA!!

And my green beans? Well....it won't be long now. I've had NO problems with them. So pretty soon I will be eating tomato, cucumber, pepper and green bean salads. I am a salad NUT. If I don't get a daily salad, I go into withdrawal. :p

How's your garden coming along and what all did you plant??
godfreygirl