Most indestructable with flavor?

[attml]

I am wondering if you have any variety of tomatoes that you have grown that no matter what happens to it the plant keeps on producing tasty tomatoes? The last couple of years I have had seasons that have started off great but by the time summer comes along my plants have taken a beating either from disease or pests. I have tried to be proactive with treatments such as neem oil and Captain Jack's Dead Bug. I have used soil treatments like biotamax and plant success. It just seems like when summer gets into full swing my plants go down hill. I live down in the woods but the section where I grow my tomatoes gets a good 6-7 hours of sunlight but gets some shaded breaks from the trees as the sun moves through out the day. At plant out I dig deep holes and put in bags of miracle grow garden soil for flowers and vegtables.

Early on things look good and I get good productivity





Then summer comes and the pests and disease come with it and things head south. Sepatoria, late blight, gray leaf spot, leaf miners, aphids, white bugs all have been a problem which is very demoralizing after all of the work that has gone into the garden. It doesn't seem to mater if I have the tomatoes in containers or in the ground. I have oak trees above my garden that drop some leaves that are yellow with sepatoria looking spots on them and I wonder if that could be a culprit for some issues? Since we are in the woods it can be very buggy. I have definitely seen aphids and white bugs on the undersides of leaves which I try to treat with neem oil. It just seems like no matter how hard I try as the season goes on they pests and disease seems to win. Hence the search for super hearty varietys (I don't mind hybrids as long as they have some taste). Any recomendations or help would be appreciated!!

Mark

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by attml

• Sepatoria
• late blight
• gray leaf spot
• leaf miners
• aphids
• white bugs

Any recomendations or help would be appreciated!!

Septoria, Gray Leaf Spot, and Late Blight are fungal tomato diseases and need fungal preventatives. There are organic and conventional approaches to keeping these problems at bay. The products you are using don't really address the problems you are describing.

Leaf miners are pretty tough and not bothered by neem oil. I've never personally had a problem with aphids and white bugs but soap sprays applied to the underside of the leaves may help.

Looks like you've got a good layer of mulch, good plant spacing, and proper supports. It's just a matter of selecting and applying the correct products for your humid climate.

[bughunter99]

I would work on improving the soil quality of the entire plot using compost and then plant directly in your improved soil. If you are digging a hole and filling it up with a heavy peat product, you are potentially making a very wet area where diseases will flourish.

I would also consider pruning out or thinning the lower branches of the trees that are giving you some shade where it is possible and safe.

I would also consider edging the bed with some plants that will attract pollinators and some that repel aphids (geraniums, marigolds and allium). it will give you a pretty bed to match your beautiful view and may help to discourage some of the visitors. I've found that I have way fewer issues with pests and diseases in beds with lots of different plants intermixed and in beds that are of a single plant type. The other bonus of course is that for those years that the tomato crop is meh, you still have rewards coming from the basil, the flowers, the butterflies, the chives etc.

-Stacy

[attml]

Thank you both for the replies! What would you recomend in the way of anti-fungal preventitves?

As far as the soil - I am hoping to use some leafgro this year to mix in with my soil. There are a couple of local nurseries that sell it by the yard. I really like the idea of using some othe floweres/plannts in the gard for some natural protection. I plan on doing that this year!!

Mark

http://www.menv.com/leafgro_main_new.shtml

[habitat_gardener]

If the diseases follow rain, you can build a roof over some of your tomatoes.

The first time I got late blight in my summer-dry climate was after a big rainstorm.

[b54red]

I think you may be having more than a couple of things happening at the same time.

Since you are having so much trouble with fungal diseases you should start applying Daconil every week and especially after a heavy rain. In my high humidity and high temperature climate I still get fungal diseases and when they appear it is best to get on top of them as quickly as possible. Despite using a fungicide I still get fungal diseases though not as badly as without the fungicides. When I do get them I treat them with a dilute bleach spray very late in the day with a fine mist hitting all parts of the leaves and stems.

It looks like you are near the water and could be having very high humidity and you may not be getting adequate air flow because the plants may need a bit of pruning. Good air flow can help a lot with the lessening of fungal diseases especially in areas where the humidity is high. Try limiting the plants to no more than 3 stems and keep the suckers pruned. Remove all foliage near the ground for at least a foot, I keep mine clear for the first 18 inches usually.

Since you say the main problem is occurring in the middle of summer then you may be having a problem with spider mites and not realize it at the time. They are very tiny and can really devastate the plants before you even know they are there. This year if you see a plant starting to look sick, start checking the undersides of the leaves with a magnifying glass for spider mites. If you see them then start treating for them immediately because their population can explode very quickly. There are several threads on this site discussing the various options for dealing with spider mites.

Bill

[attml]

Bill,

Thanks for the reply! What do you use to treat spider mites? Thanks!

Mark

[swamper]

I'd recommend sungold f1 ahead of others I've grown for a durable plant that pumps out flavorful tomatoes. next on the list would be mountain magic f1. i've also had good experience with valencia if an open pollinated orange tomato suits you.

this year i'm trying mountain merit and iron lady.

another technique that helps with disease is to plant an area in hairy vetch mid to late summer. Let it grow back in spring and mow or weed whack a narrow row where you will plant. the living vetch mulch between rows worked well for me. If i had the space, I'd do that every year.

[feldon30]

Spider Mites are TOUGH. Pyganic is the only reliable treatment I know of, and it is expensive.

I would say if you can get your plants to be stronger and protect them from all the other problems (funguses), then you'll have enough tomatoes before the spider mites do them in.

Daconil (chlorothalonil) as mentioned above is one of the more popular conventional treatments to prevent fungus. I recommend an Ortho Dial-N-Spray because you don't end up wasting any Daconil by mixing up a gallon sprayer and then throwing away the remainder. You just use what you need.

There are a growing number of organic solutions if you prefer, including the first ever systemic antifungal -- EXEL LG. You use it as a soil drench.

[lakelady]

Hey Mark, I too have a lot of oak trees, and one big one that hangs over my garden for part of the day, still giving me about 7 hours of full sun. I also live on a lake, so summers it is always humid. I found heavy pruning of branches did help a lot this past year with septoria, the year before it destroyed everything. I also pruned off all the lower branches so that they were not touching soil, and mulched heavily to prevent soil splashing up on leaves. I was told heavy doses of water helps with spider mites, and last summer was actually very hot and dry so I got some, but I kept watering the undersides of some of the thicker plants. Fine line between keeping enough moisture to keep spider mites away, and too much moisture causing septoria. Sometimes you just can't win, but if you can get enough tomatoes out of it, it's all good

[feldon30]

Also just to get the dumb questions out of the way...

Are you watering in the morning with soaker hoses?

Watering later in the day and especially watering the leaves may mean the plants go to bed wet. The only time I wet my tomato leaves is if I am doing a foliar feeding with seaweed or fish emulsion, or applying Daconil.

[attml]

Are you watering in the morning with soaker hoses?

Thanks again for the replies!

Feldon - I water in the morning before work. I use a long handled spray nozzle that I get very low to the ground that I don't let splash. I occasionally will water a little bit in the afternoon also during the heat of the summer around 3-4pm just to cool things down a bit while we still have 4-5 hours of daylight left but I only do this on 90+ degree days.

Mark

[Tracydr]

Aphids often come because of too much nitrogen. Make sure you're not feeding too much.

[feldon30]

Mark,

Are you mixing your own fertilizer or using off-the-shelf? What are the numbers?

[b54red]

Originally Posted by attml

Bill,

Thanks for the reply! What do you use to treat spider mites? Thanks!

Mark

Not very much is really effective against spider mites once the population gets really heavy. I have used dozens of concoctions to fight them and have been disappointed in most of them. I use a mix of Permethrin, soapy water and an Insect Growth Regulator. It is the most effective thing I have found that isn't very poisonous. Malathion seems to work fairly well but the strength needed to kill spider mites also burns tomato leaves somewhat and you have a much longer wait time after using it before you can harvest.

I have found Big Beef F1 hybrid to be the most bullet proof tomato that actually tastes pretty good. For midsummer heat you might want to try some of the black tomatoes like Indian Stripe, Cherokee Purple, Spudakee, JDs Special C Tex and Gary O' Sena. The advantage many of them have is their ability to set fruit in the hot weather when most other varieties give up.