A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Tomato fruit set...post your results

I wouldn't call myself an advocate because I have zero firsthand experience with it. I've never used any fungicides on tomatoes Dave. I simply did not know better until reading what Carolyn, Craig and others have experienced and used for years. I am planning on picking up a bottle this weekend to experiment with this summer. I am not opposed to non-organic methods and do not consider myself a completely organic gardener. From my reading I see that Daconil has been around for many years and has been studied ad nauseum.

I'd be tempted to use Daconil at this point. I'm seeing disease starting to run rampant on many plants. I can't really tell if I'm looking at primarily fungus, virus or bacteria, or some combination, and I don't even know if spraying now would be effective. Grrrrr.
I'll be eating tomatoes this year, for sure, but I'm starting to get discouraged.

I have my first tomato. It is a Taxi. Have never tried them before so looking very forward to it!

I found one too on one of my young plants, its the size of a marble but it wasn't there yesterday I'm sure. Perhaps its a scout to see if its safe for them to come out

Serious question - should the top shoots be pinched out on the plants or left to grow unabaited?

Wow Triss! Very nice. Make sure to let us know how it tastes. I'm also growing Taxi in a container.

I will John. So far it is my first and only so it is exciting!

Something is eating my Mator's, I am seeing bite marks, don't know if it's a turtle or rabbit.

Turtles????? You mean you have wild turtles there?

Ciao Dave,

A picture is still worth a thousand words. I think we might be able to help you a bit more if we could see what you're seeing on your plants. Last year, the only really major case of blight I had (until Fall when any plants that might have looked great start to look awful with all the lower leaves withering) was on my Sungolds. I had one in the ground and one in a 15 gal IKEA bucket. The one in the bucket was in direct sun and produced a fair bit, not typical for its variety, but still decent enough for a couple of bags of dried tomatoes as well as some tasty pastas and some marmalade and of course lots of snacks. The one in the ground was in a partially shaded area in the front of the house and was a spindly plant from start to finish. Neither of these plants had a lot of foliage from the start. Midway into the season, after I had harvested some, but not the bulk of the crop, I started to see some yellowing on the leaves which lead to crispy edges and eventual falling off the plant. I helped the plants out by taking these leaves off when I saw the yellowing progress up the leaf to where the leaf meets the stem. Never compost these, always toss them with the yard waste. I haven't tried the Daconil, I don't know enough about it yet, and I try not to use chemicals if at all possible. Bottom line here...you may not have the prettiest plants, but it shouldn't affect your overall harvest all that much. You'll still get fruit and you might even get it all the way into the Fall like I did with my Sungolds. I rooted a sucker off the bucket plant, but it ended up getting the same thing so I'm pretty sure this was a viral or fungal or bacterial thing and not a weather or Julianna thing.

Julianna, thanks for the encouraging words.
I have a creedo I have lived by for 20 plus years.
"If I get to eat homegrown tomatoes, it was a good year for gardening."
I'll get to eat homegrown tomatoes.
Last year was my best tomato year ever, I ate tomatoes every day for close to 3 months, and gave away a lot. Between the heat and what I thought was early blight, the plants shut down production in August. This year, I have some of the best fruit set ever, but only on some plants. I'm also seeing the worst onset of foliar disease I have ever experienced. I've looked at numerous pics, and I just can't figure out what I've got. My camera isn't great for close-ups. I thought I had early blight, now it's looking like that, maybe bacterial spot, plus septoria, maybe some verticillium, and what would be spotted wilt if the tops were dying, which they're not. I don't get it. I'm discouraged. All that work. Shoot me now.

Oh Dave, I am sorry you are having such a rough time. Very frustrating when all your hard work is being plagued and you cannot even figure out what it is.

well, reading this thread has been an emotional rollercoaster for me. on the one hand, i'm completely depressed for realizing that a number of my plants are exhibiting symptoms of DISEASE. kinda scary sounding. on the other hand, i've learned that i can trim off the sickly stuff and add straw to help; maybe even spray with something. kinda reassuring.

but, given the fact that all of the plants seem to be growing well and, as of today, are producing flowers and, as of today, quite a few have set fruit, i've decided NOT to be too panicky a parent and see how the kids do without too much fretting on my part. i'm getting way too much pleasure out of every new development to succumb to fear. next thing you know, i'd set up a phone out in the garden and then, every hour, leave a message for the tomatoes wondering why they haven't called to tell me how they're feeling (they wouldn't be answering for being too loaded from drinking the beer in the slug traps).

Keep your chin up guys! We're still learning!

Learning is right John,

Saw the first baby yellow pear tomato this morning !
And a whompin' big bell pepper that I didn't know was hiding !

Had my first worms hit a pepper and tomato plant this week. Almost stripped one of my bigger peppers. So will have to check closely now. Otherwise my tomatoes set more this week and really growing now.
Dave hate to hear about the problems you are having. JD

I'll post pics tomorrow, but I think I'm losing the cream of my crop. I'm literraly sick.

Oh Dave, I just hate reading that. I am so so sorry you are having such a rough year.

Sorry to hear that Dave. Take some pics and post them when you can.

These pics don't do a good job of showing the disase problems I'm having. The yellow leaves may look like overwatering or nitrogen deficiency, but that's not it. There are blotches, curled brown leaves...too many symptoms to name. This all happened literaly overnight a few days ago. The worst affected plant is the German Red Strawberry I started a topic on earlier. It's loaded with fruit, and I'm afraid to even pick off the infected leaves for fear of scalding the fruit. The diseased leaves are throughout the plant, not just bottom leaves. We had not had rain for a number of days when this all appeared, and I do not allow the leaves to get wet when I water.




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I don't know what to say Dave. Definitely some sort of disease. Hard to tell from the pics. Wilt of some kind maybe. I hope they pull through and produce some maters for ya. Good luck.

I have seen a turtle or two in the garden, I normally leave them so they can eat bugs.

How I love to see all you pictures and read about your tomatoes.

Thanks for helping a novice mator grower, you all sure give us enough encouagement to do more then we tho't we could.

Dave, did you plant from seed? If you planted plants could one have been infected with something that's gone wild?

Dave I have never seen anything like that on mine yet. Hope they recover and produce tomatoes. I know how disheartening it is at this time when they are looded. Keep us informed. Best wishes for a recovery. JD