tomatogeddon at the big box stores

[livinonfaith]

Okay, Tomatogeddon might be a bit of an exaggeration. Hopefully, this isn't the end of the tomato world.

But I went to two big box stores in town to find a nice hybrid tomato to put in a pot. Just wanted to have something else as it is looking more and more likely that most of my plants are going to go down quickly to disease this year.

Both of the tomato sections were the worst I've ever seen. Yellow, spotted, specked, and wilted leaves everywhere. Some of the wilt might have been due to neglect, but some looked suspiciously like photos I've seen of gray mold. most were already clearly diseased. Even some of the "disease resistant" varieties looked like they had, well, diseases!

I found it to be interesting which plants seemed to be faring the best, despite having been obviously treated to the same conditions the others had suffered.

Patio looked good at both stores. The midsized Cherokee Purple and Roma were also holding their own, at least better than most. At one store, there was a tray of Goliath that still looked healthy. (I grabbed one of those.)

There was one variety that claimed disease resistance that did still look pretty good. Unfortunately, I can't remember it's name. It was a determinate and I wanted indeterminate, so I didn't pay it a lot of attention.

At Wally world, there were some smaller beefsteaks that didn't look diseased, but had some kind of deficiency going on. They had a definite purplish cast to them, anyway. There were several of those in the clearance section for .57 cents, so I decided to give one of those a chance, too.

All of the rest were awful. Even the larger ones (covered with fruit) that looked like they had been taken care of had lots of yellow leaves with brown and black spots.

Is that normal? I don't ever remember going in and seeing so many plants so clearly diseased before. Most of these were Bonny brand, too, which has usually been a decent brand, at least for me.

[carroll49]

The plants at our local WWorld look prety good. Very healthy infact. I may have something of intrest to you. All of our seeds came from Baker Creek and the are very healthy in 12oz stryfoan cups with slits or holes for draining, They are about 4 to 5 inches...most are two plants per...just in case. What are you looking for Livinonfaith? We started with the Jiffy products and had to restart using washed coir and Perilite. Added a wee taste of the fish tonic. They have been under the shade trees for awhile and seem to really enjoy the few hour of evening sun.
I'll post any extras that we can spare and would appreciate being able to make small gift. If that would be okay with you.

[livinonfaith]

Originally Posted by carroll49

The plants at our local WWorld look prety good. Very healthy infact. I may have something of intrest to you. All of our seeds came from Baker Creek and the are very healthy in 12oz stryfoan cups with slits or holes for draining, They are about 4 to 5 inches...most are two plants per...just in case. What are you looking for Livinonfaith? We started with the Jiffy products and had to restart using washed coir and Perilite. Added a wee taste of the fish tonic. They have been under the shade trees for awhile and seem to really enjoy the few hour of evening sun.
I'll post any extras that we can spare and would appreciate being able to make small gift. If that would be okay with you.

Carroll, that is so kind of you! I would probably take you up on it, but I don't have anywhere to put them! I had to buy containers for the ones I bought last night.

Last year, my yard was taken over by a vole invasion, thrips and black walnut wilt. I decided that, in my case, planting in the ground wasn't going to work anymore. All my tomatoes this year were put in straw bales, but they aren't doing well, either.

Next year I will probably go completely to containers and just have fewer plants. But this year I've already blown my budget, so I can't afford to buy all of the containers and new soil.

Such is life. Thanks for the offer though.

[Tapout]

I would have to agree that most big box stores have a massive turnover for plants that didn't make it. If you go behind some HD's you will see rack after rack of destroyed diseased plants near where I am at it is like that. No need to worry just give them a week or so and pow new seedlings will be on the shelves.

[rockhound]

Well, it is June after all. New plants they put out now are more likely to be ornamentals.

[duderubble]

Last year it was the heirlooms I bought at the farmers market for $5 each from a specialty grower later in the season that spread blight to my healthy, in ground plants from the box stores. The plants looked fine when I bought them, but must have carried it in because they went down first and fast, with the others coming down with it a few weeks after.

[TightenUp]

its funny you said the cher purples looked ok. they are the variety i had to yank out of my bed. the kelloggs breakfast between the 2 CPs looked good. i also yanked a brandywine/nar plant. i believe my problems were bacterial.

i was at two local landscaping/nursery stores and both had the worst selection i've ever seen. tons of mold at one place. they had a bunch of heirlooms and then the typical hybrids. i found 1 flat or roma tomatoes and grabbed them. the rest were just terrible looking.

the other store i went to had black spots on all leaves. i couldnt find a single plant without either a black spot problem or serious deficiency issues.

i was hoping the local HD would be better but i never made it out there.

[carolyn137]

And which diseases are folks talking about here?

Plants sitting at big box stores outside and in nurseries outside as well are going to get foliage diseases b'c they are spread via wind and rain. very common.

And very often plants sold at farmers markets will also have the common foliage pathogens as well.

Yesterday a local person is getting more and more into heirloom tomatoes, I gave him seeds for 35 varieties, and he'd already bought some himself, stopped by and he has quite a few 4 and 6 paks of tomato plants that are left from previous sales and are really getting quite big. He's taking them to the next farmer's market and just cutting the price in half.

He was here to pick up three plants that I have no room for, were sent up to me by Craig who raises all my seedlings, I'd grown all three but these were for someone else who had no room, and when he brought them inside "we", ahem, had a wee lesson on how to ID foliage diseases as I pinched off the affected leaves and also told him about Daconil.

There are no varieties, hybrids or OP's , with few exceptions, that have ANY significant degree of tolerance to the common foliage diseases, so where seeds are purchased from doesn't make that much difference, b'c off hand I can't think of any commercial place that doesn't ferment the seeds or large commercial wholesalers who use TSP treatment and/or acid treatment or indeed actually do ferment seeds in large vats.

The common foliage diseases I'm talking about are:

Early Blight ( A.solani), most common in the world, fungal
Septoria Leaf Spot, fungal
Bacterial Speck
Bacterial Spot

[duderubble]

I think my major issue last year was septoria. Carolyn, do you use Daconil as a preventative, Or only when you see signs? Also what frequency? I have been using "fruit tree spray" fungicide + insecticide as often as I do my fruit trees, I assume that's OK. Everything seems healthy and disease free so far on the tomatoes. Wish the same could be said for the fruit trees.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by duderubble

I think my major issue last year was septoria. Carolyn, do you use Daconil as a preventative, Or only when you see signs? Also what frequency? I have been using "fruit tree spray" fungicide + insecticide as often as I do my fruit trees, I assume that's OK. Everything seems healthy and disease free so far on the tomatoes. Wish the same could be said for the fruit trees.

I have Freda, who does all my gardening for me, spray Daconil as a preventive. Where I live the foliage diseases are most prevalent and the most prevalent are the two fungal foliage diseases.

I use the Bonide product Fung-O- nil, or the Ortho preduct I think it's called Ortho Garden disease control, and both should contain 29'6% chlorothalonil, which is the active ingredient.

Spray according to the directions on the label and after rains have washed the Daconil off the plants.Daconil can be sprayed up to the day of harvest.

If you snip off affected leaves and keep up with it then the fungal spores won't be able to form and fall to the ground. But I've always tended to so many varieties in the past, upwards of 600-800 plants each season that it wasn't feasible to do so. Now I have jsut maybe 40 plants in the backyard but I can't get out there to tend to them b'c of being in this walker and I can't expect Freda to do so either b'c she only comes about twice a week and comes for cleaning and other things around here.

Yes, Daconil is synthetic, but it has less toxicity than Rotenone for instance, which is considered organic by all organic certifying agencies that I know of.

I don't give one whit if a product is synthetic or organic, what I'm concerned with is toxicity to humans and pets, bees, fish and general environmental concerns.

Perhaps you read the threads here on some products being discussed that are said to be organic but still have deleterious effects not limited to tomato plants. They are, I think, in the Pest and Disease forum or perhaps in the Container Forum.

[duderubble]

Thanks Carolyn. I think I will pick up some Daconil, seems like the fruit trees could benefit from it too.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by duderubble

Thanks Carolyn. I think I will pick up some Daconil, seems like the fruit trees could benefit from it too.

Yes, if you Google Daconil for uses and also read the label you'll see that it can be used on fruit trees and roses and other things as well.

I think the label on the Bonide and Ortho products specify which diseases on fruit trees and roses, etc., so best to see if your fruits trees could benefit from it by knowing which diseases you're trying to prevent.

[duderubble]

The one that makes black spots and the leaves turn yellow and die, lol.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by duderubble

The one that makes black spots and the leaves turn yellow and die, lol.

Are you talking black spots on fruit tree leaves or roses or tomatoes? If the latter check out pictures online of Bacterial Speck and Bacterial Spot b'c the fungal foliage diseases don't have black spots. So if your tomatoes are caused by bacteria, you don't need Daconil for them either b/c it only works with fungal foliage diseases of tomatoes.

[duderubble]

That would be black spot on the Apple tree leaves. So far this year the tomatoes are good. Last year it was either Septoria or Early Blight on the Tomatoes.