I'm Done

[peebee]

Yup, done for this season. The spider and russet mites took over not only the tomatoes but the entire garden, the flowers and berries. So I'm done. Wish I could've had maybe 2 more weeks, but I plant really early, like in March, and I've been eating tomatoes since June so I can't complain. We've had our fill and we're satisfied. No more neem or DE to spray; I'm actually relieved.

So I've been slowly going thru the worst tomato plants, cutting them down gently so as not to spread more mites. Still have more than 30 more to go but some are still showing new leaves and therefore new hope. But they'll go out by Sept or Oct max. I want to do some cuttings w/ clean unaffected parts just to see how they do this winter with the mites gone.

These past 2 years, ever since the mites first appeared, I've noticed that they first attack beans and cukes. I hardly get any of these veggies before they are goners. Question: are these plants attracting mites, so I should not plant anymore, or are these plants attracting AND acting as a buffer so the bugs pay no attention to the tomatoes or eggplants for a while?

Thanks.

[AlittleSalt]

These past two years have me perplexed. And yet those my parent's age and older have already seen the things I'm dealing with in their gardens years past in this exact area. I wish they had spoken up about the problems I face in our garden instead of just telling me, "The soil is dead." No, it is not - it has problems that I want to fix. Maybe I should have asked better questions, but I didn't know what to ask.

Peebee, I know I didn't answer your questions, but I understand why you are asking them.

[peebee]

Thanks Salt, somehow you are always a comfort by just posting and commiserating.

[Cole_Robbie]

peebee, you're a mirror of myself. Other than a few pepper plants, I am going to give up on the garden for this year. Other than a few nice pepper plants, most of what I have left is disease, bugs, and weeds. I have been eating off my outdoor plants since June 2nd, when I had my first cherries. Cole came in about June 15th as my first slicer tomato. I skipped market this weekend, and I doubt I will go again. There's a lot of tomatoes on my kitchen counter, but the garden is mostly done for the year.

Next year, I will have to spray for fungal disease and bugs before I see them. Not doing so was my downfall this year.

[NarnianGarden]

Sorry to hear that. Those are difficult to get rid of. I have given up growing eggplant and also peppers, because I noted what an attraction they were to mites - and got the whole balcony infested.
(The same happened at my mom's with her eggplant, so no more that for us..)

My strawberry has survived in the pot, but I noticed some spider mites a week ago: gave it a good water shower, and it helped somewhat - but yesterday I noted more leaves covered.
So, I decided to go all the way and grabbed my poison spray that kills everything -(it's based on pyrethrine but it's basically for indoor plants) and gave the leaves a hefty dose.
While my strawberries then can no longer be considered organic, at least there will be some left..

Yes, I know it does potentially kill even useful insects, but I could not bear the thought of my strawberry being destroyed! The poison disintegrates quickly and is likely gone this morning, so I have no qualms.

Tomato plants have all kinds of weird disease symptoms, I will try an anti-fungal spray on them hoping they will survive one and half months more.

[pmcgrady]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

peebee, you're a mirror of myself. Other than a few pepper plants, I am going to give up on the garden for this year. Other than a few nice pepper plants, most of what I have left is disease, bugs, and weeds. I have been eating off my outdoor plants since June 2nd, when I had my first cherries. Cole came in about June 15th as my first slicer tomato. I skipped market this weekend, and I doubt I will go again. There's a lot of tomatoes on my kitchen counter, but the garden is mostly done for the year.

Next year, I will have to spray for fungal disease and bugs before I see them. Not doing so was my downfall this year.

I got hit pretty hard here to, but most are still growing. Still have tons of zucchini, cucumbers, spaghetti squash, cantaloupe and peppers. Time to plant another batch of green beans and lettuce.

[Ed of Somis]

hmmm....now I am wondering if I mis-diagnosed my tomato, pepper, and cucumber disease. I was convinced my problem was CMV...but now I see these mites are a problem in SoCal.

[MissS]

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

Maybe I should have asked better questions, but I didn't know what to ask.

Salt, I have learned this so well. But now it's too late. A cycle that has been going on for centuries. Sigh..... At least you know enough that the soil still lives. It just needs as much care as you give to your plants.

[Mushimi]

It's really strange, this year is the first year in a few that I haven't seen hide nor hair of a mite. Got inundated with thrips, though, which are usually only a minor problem. I was thinking maybe it was just the thing this year in So Cal, but you all are making me wonder.

Odd.

[Scooty]

Yep. I went nonorganic. The neighbors didn't. It's no surprise who has tomatoes and who doesn't.

Originally Posted by peebee

Yup, done for this season. The spider and russet mites took over not only the tomatoes but the entire garden, the flowers and berries. So I'm done. Wish I could've had maybe 2 more weeks, but I plant really early, like in March, and I've been eating tomatoes since June so I can't complain. We've had our fill and we're satisfied. No more neem or DE to spray; I'm actually relieved.

I will point out that neem is probably one of the worst choices you could make for SoCal (imo). It is primarily long chain hydrocarbons and therefore is plenty happy to soak up all that nice SoCal sun before it dissipates and fry your leaves. If you're a stickler for organic, I'd go spinosad or pyrethrin.

Originally Posted by Mushimi

It's really strange, this year is the first year in a few that I haven't seen hide nor hair of a mite. Got inundated with thrips, though, which are usually only a minor problem. I was thinking maybe it was just the thing this year in So Cal, but you all are making me wonder.

Odd.

We had thrips, mites, aphids, white flies, you name it, etc.. etc.... All are dead now. We're doing something similar to what heirloomtomatoguy described in one of his posts.

[Patihum]

I usually have all the tomatoes still going strong come first frost here in Kansas. Isn't going to happen this year. Heat, 90F+, started the first of June and every morning all the plants are sopping wet with dew. Spraying only held the fungus/molds at bay for a while. I'm ready to start pulling tomato plants. Biggest insect problem has been white flies (for the second year) and stinkbugs.

[Gardeneer]

It is a big world.
I have hardly started getting some ripe tomatoes.
My problem has been lack of tomato setting and growth. Otherwise my plants are fairly healthy, some exceed 8 ft in height . But them I grow them for fruits not foliage.
So we seem to have different issues.