First tomatoes of the season (PNW)

[troad]

2006 was a good year here. 2007 it seemed summer ended very early.

Squibt,
I have used a hoophouse for its greenhouse effect for the last 3 years and have had good results until this year. Unfortunately I left the cover on too long waiting for it to warm up outside. Way too much humidity and now I have plants with Botrytis aka Gray Mold. My first year with diseased plant and not too sure what to do about next year.

[dice]

[botrytis]
Study using multiple different fungicides:
http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.or...2006/botrytis/

Another biological control:
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/j...06248/abstract

Professional Greenhouse Sanitation:
http://www.amcogroup.biz/eatsafe/Gre...Sanitation.asp

(If I were on a tight budget, I might just take everything out and
spray the whole thing down with a mild chlorine bleach or
hydrogen peroxide solution. Bleach does a great job on mildew
in bathrooms and so on, for example.)

[Tania]

Originally Posted by dice

[botrytis]
Study using multiple different fungicides:
http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.or...2006/botrytis/

Another biological control:
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/j...06248/abstract

Professional Greenhouse Sanitation:
http://www.amcogroup.biz/eatsafe/Gre...Sanitation.asp

(If I were on a tight budget, I might just take everything out and
spray the whole thing down with a mild chlorine bleach or
hydrogen peroxide solution. Bleach does a great job on mildew
in bathrooms and so on, for example.)

I have had botrytis situation in my GHs this year, worse than usual, for the same reason troad described.

After the harvest I am going to clean the greenhouses to a) make sure there is no diseased plant material left to overwinter, and b) clean the glass or plastic with bleach and Lysol. Then I will be planting winter rye as a cover crop to help the soil to become 'more organic' and hopefully promote the growth of beneficial bacteria and microbes that, in turn, will help the plants to fight all diseases better.

In spring (early-mid April), after turning the winter rye over, I'll be sprinkling corn meal on top of the soil to promote bacterias that fight with harmful fungus es. I am not sure this will specifically work against the botrytis, but I had great success with the corn meal treatment in my cucumber greenhouse - all my cuke plants are still green and producing, and fungus-free at this point, which is unusual, compared to the previous years when I had them killed by powdery mildew at the end of August.

All that time, from now to next spring, I will keep my fingers and toes crossed that this will work.

[troad]

Dice,
You are Aces. Always have a helpful answer. Tomatoville is bettered by your involvement. Thought I would start by spraying everything with Clorox solution after I clean up all plant material. Peroxide might follow unless that may be over doing it.??

Tania,
Thank you also for the input. Sorry to hijack your thread off in a different direction. If you don't mind though--how much corn meal to apply? Sounds like a good plan you have.

[Tania]

Originally Posted by troad

Tania,
Thank you also for the input. Sorry to hijack your thread off in a different direction. If you don't mind though--how much corn meal to apply? Sounds like a good plan you have.

I usually sprinkle a very thin layer of corn meal to just cover the dirt. Keep in mind though that you will have to reapply it in a few weeks, as it breaks down easily (which is another benefit for me, as it acts as an organic fertilizer - I am staying 100% organic). WIth my garden sq. footage, it gets quite expensive, so I only apply it to the greenhouses and all pumpkin/cucumber beds. I need to do better research to figure out how to get an 'agricultural' corn meal in bulk, which I think should be more cost-effective.

Tania

[PNW_D]

Hmm,

Then I will be planting winter rye as a cover crop to help the soil to become 'more organic' and hopefully promote the growth of beneficial bacteria and microbes that, in turn, will help the plants to fight all diseases better.

In spring (early-mid April), after turning the winter rye over, I'll be sprinkling corn meal on top of the soil to promote bacterias that fight with harmful fungus

so I'm wondering if I could do this with my tomato containers once the plants are done??

Any thoughts? I think I also noticed some legume mix at our local garden centre..........

[velikipop]

PNW,

I'm not sure it would help with containers. You can amend the soil with organic matter. Cover crops/green manure works well because it draws nutrients to the surface from below and helps to keep beds from going to weeds and compacting during winter. This year I am going to try overwintering my tomato bed with straw, leaves and sea weed, rather than fall rye.

Season has not been a total disaster. Still a lot of green fruit on the vines and I have closed my hoop house to retain heat and promote ripening. Best tasting so far, in a rather bad year, are Prue, Gail's Sweet Plum ( sweet with nice balance of acid), Marianna's Peace and Wisconsin 55.

Alex

[dice]

[bleach and/or hydrogen peroxide]

I would not mix them. Results could be unexpected
and unwanted.

Bleach is a little more harsh, and I don't know of anything
that peroxide will kill that bleach will not also kill. Bleach
kills fungi, bacteria, and virii. Hydrogen peroxide is hell on
bacteria, and it does seem to prevent damping off (fungi)
when using a very mild solution to start seeds. I don't know
how effective it is on virii, but my guess is that it would kill
them, too (reacting with compounds in the virus cell walls
similar to the compounds in the cell walls of bacteria and fungi
that it reacts with on contact).

Hydrogen peroxide does not remain in its peroxide form very
long. It is unstable, and it more or less immediately reacts with
compounds that it comes in contact with in a natural
environment.

What you might get from a commercial fungicide that you
may not get from bleach or peroxide is the ability to deactivate
spores as well as live organisms. I have not researched that
to see if any of the commercial products mentioned in the
earlier links claim to kill botrytis spores, too, and whether
chlorine or peroxide will deactivate spores.

That is something that an effective biocontrol might
accomplish: it might eat botrytis spores before they can
produce new fungi.

[troad]

Dice,

Good advice I'm sure the bleach would be better and peroxide might not be a healthy mix.
In the link to Green House Sanitation there is a mention of "Virkon" (Potassium Mono-Sulphate) as being effective against Botrytis spores. Your suggestion about killing the spores is on the money. If they don't over-winter maybe next year will be better. Thanks again.
Len

[squibT]

Finally getting some serious ripe tomatoes here in Nanaimo. The ones in bags and pots are huge and ripening before the garden plants. Lots of ripe cherries and grapes but the biggies are what I have been waiting for. Good eats....

[dice]

[botrytis and spores]

Some chemicals just prevent spores from becoming a
viable fungus. That is the case with some biocontrols
(rather then eating the spores, they exude something that
the spore takes up as it becomes a fungus, which then kills
the fungus, which is probably the way that Virkon works).

There was some Chinese research with various plant extracts
to inhibit the growth of verticillium, and in at least one case
inhibition of spore reproduction in media treated with the extract
was found to be 100%. The extract did not contain live organisms
that could have been eating the spores, just whatever chemicals
from the plant were dissolved in alcohol (or whatever they used
to make the extract; I was reading an abstract and it did not say
how the test plant extracts were made).

[dice]

Sungold: This is first year I grew these, and I was not impressed.
(Seeds from a commercial packet.)

The flavor is good, the plant withstood disease well, but
the skins split at the slightest provocation. It has not been
raining as these have been ripening, and they split anyway
after simply washing them off in the sink. They split coming
off of the vine, too. Having to pick cherry tomatoes two-handed
to keep from splitting them seems a bit over the top to me.

[Vince]

Try clipping them off the vine with green stem attached, the shouldn't split as much this way.

[dice]

[sungold]

Sunsugar F1 is supposed to be an improvement. I have not
grown both together to compare the flavors.

Black Krim did well this year. It grew well, ripened at the normal
time, got a little bit of some kind of blight but not enough to
disable production, and produced good-sized fruit with good
flavor despite the cool temperatures for more than half the
summer.

[maryinoregon]

Our Cooperative Extension Service is calling this growing season a Green Tomato Summer. I have had few ripe tomatoes - a few cherries, a few Linnie's Oxheart. Pepper's and green beans have been going great guns. Best harvests I have ever had of either. The exception to the beans is a bean from mainland China. Beautiful orangey - red flowers that hummers like. The pods are growing bigger by the day. They feel a bit like leather. I have not grown anything like that before.

A neighbor down the street with a different microclimate has been harvesting tomatoes, mostly hybrid earlies, but the heirlooms are starting to ripen. My neighbor likes growing tomatoes, but not eating too many, so she sends some my way, thank goodness.

I am waiting on pins and needles hoping my tomatoes will ripen. Last night we had a low around 40F. I have a winter squash that I hope will give me one or two. It's Adapazari. Anyone else growing it? I spent May, June and part of July planting various squash seeds, trying to get anything to grow in my little hills. Finally it got warm enough and Adapazari and an unknown squash started growing. I think the unknown might be Mayeras. Not sure.

Zukes and crook neck squash are doing fine and I love nipping fresh basil.

I planted some chard this summer and that's a veggie I am really appreciating. I have been making a bean and greens burrito with chard as the greens. Just pick your favorite beans. Cook till soft or open up a can of pintos or whatever you like. Heat. Take some washed chard. Roll the leaves together and slice into strips. Steam or you could saute the greens with a bit of garlic. I don't follow a set recipe. Put the beans and greens into a warm burrito with your favorite cheese, avocado, salsa, etc. I really like it. Fast and surprisingly delicious.