Tomatoes

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Comment by Rebecca Mills on July 24, 2009 at 6:10am

I have to borrow my daughter's camera again because my tomato plants are developing the most peculiar symptom that I've never seen before this year. The tomato vines are being held up by tomato cages and the tops of the leaves are shriveling and curling up! They aren't turning color, just shriveling up like the wicked witch who got trapped under Dorothy's house.

I got in there and pulled all the weeds, pruned some extra branches for better air flow, (although it's the tops of the plants that are affected) cultivated the ground, and added some fertilizer. In doing so, I did find a couple of fat, lime-green catapillars. Could they be doing that? Gosh, I hate to admit it, but I did use some Sevin dust.

I'm desparate for a good crop of tomatoes this year. So sick of paying almost $5 for a jar of Spaghetti sauce ... determined to make my own this year. Plus, I always make my own stewed tomatoes. Could we share some canning recipes for tomatoes?

Comment by Joel LeGrand on July 13, 2009 at 3:09pm

H i, thank you ,Michelle, I will try this in the spring .

Comment by Michelle W. Flannery on July 13, 2009 at 8:19am

Joel, I started seeds for the first time this year. I didn't use a grow light. I just planted the seeds in starter cups and put them outside on my front deck (SW facing). I live in Georgia, 7b-8, so we have mild winters and an early spring. Mild days and cool nights, even in February, but I didn't start the seeds until late March. They did just fine. I got tomatoes and cucumbers this way. They came up used to the changing temperatures. If the temps had dropped significantly, I would have just brought them inside until it warmed again. I know this method isn't for everybody, but mine did fine this way.

Comment by TAR HEEL on July 12, 2009 at 10:43pm

I gotta hit the sack ,but KGI is full of smart gardeners,someboby knows. yawn.

Comment by Joel LeGrand on July 12, 2009 at 4:38pm

Right TAR HEEL,I do the some now. My greenhouse is to small, so I have bought a 18 ft. by 18 ft. pipe frame . Now to find a cheap, clean way to heat it. As you know zone 7&8 has 60 to 90 cold nights; 40 watt light will keep off light frost. But 300sqft. is to big for light . I do not want to use wood, I have plenty, but the smoke is not healthy. I may dig a pit four feet in the ground. But I will need a heater at night, any Bright ideals.

Comment by TAR HEEL on July 12, 2009 at 7:16am

Joel, when I see them break-through, I put my tray/s on a window sill or somewhere. It works. live and learn, right?

Comment by Joel LeGrand on July 12, 2009 at 3:46am

Hi Pisces Girl, I had seeding & rooted cutting in door .I waited until frost was gone & put them out in the even . The next even after work, I found them dead . I ask a nurseryman about my problem , he said because I did not use a growth light or put the seed tray near a window. The seeding & cutting new growth was shocked when I put them in direct sunlight, then burned up . The least I should have done was put them in the shade of a large tree for a day or two, with no direct sunlight.

Comment by Michelle W. Flannery on June 22, 2009 at 7:04am

A big, fat tomato hornworm ate almost the top half of one of my plants before I finally found it yesterday. Then I happened to spot another worm on the plant next to the first. That one was only just getting started, so no damage had been done. I fed both of those little buggers to the chickens, and it was like watching a football game as they passed that worm back and forth! Well, pieces of the worm!

Comment by Joy Williams on June 10, 2009 at 1:34pm

;) well I was just going to say "don't pick them till their ripe, silly!"

Comment by Michelle W. Flannery on June 10, 2009 at 1:00pm

Sorry Joy. It was a joke I evidently didn't present well enough. The cherries look so good I can't resist picking them just before they're fully ripe. I'm too impatient to let them get red! LOL

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