Organic Tomatoes Workshop

[MsCowpea]

Did anybody attend the workshop on growing tomatoes commercially using organic methods at the Univ. of NC Research Farm in Waynesville?

One of the speakers was Randy Gardner who is working on developing a tomato with good appearance and shipping attributes along with early and late blight resistance THAT also tastes like an heirloom.

Other researchers studied growing tomatoes with 4 different methods --2 organically, 1 conventional , and one control. They found that the tomatoes grown organically had the same yield as those conventionally grown. They also did not suffer with any increased disease (however the control group that had NO disease treatments of any kind , either organic or synthetic , also looked good this year which was a puzzle).

[amideutch]

MsCowpea, What type of tomatoes did they use in this trial. Hybrid or OP. Ami

[MsCowpea]

Ami,

Red brandywine, Stupice, and several of the numbered hybrids developed by R. Gardner (not released yet).

The first pic is RB, the second NC-05114.

The project leaders were Dr. Davis and Dr. Gardner. The goal is to help NC growers who are interested in getting into the organic tomato market which is considered to be strong in that area.

However, anyone (homeowners, Master Gardeners, extension agents, etc.) interested in growing tomatoes could attend and the field tours and presentations were excellent. Dinner followed with tasting evaluations. Program was well attended.

Last year the heirlooms tested were Cherokee Purple, German Johnson, and Mr. Stripey. Again the goal is to develop hybrid tomatoes that can compete with the taste of heirlooms.

The 2 organic methods used the following:
Method 1 Kocide, Serenade, some Bt, compost, fish emulsion
Method 2 Brandt products (sponsored trials) + compost and fish emulsion. Brandt ingredients -clove oil, rosemary oil, thyme oil, etc.

compared to
Conventional growing methods (fungicides, insecticides, fert.)

and the control group (no fung. or insecticides just syn. fert.)

However as I said the control group also looked pretty much disease free--dry year maybe?

[amideutch]

MsCowpea, thanks for the info and nice pictures. Beautiful area to be growing tomatoes. Ami