Tomatoes

[dave1949]

I did a thread search and came across this. I am about to turn over my garden. i lost almost all my tomatoes to blight this year, everyone in my area got hit hard. Way too wet, not enough sun, and colder than usual.

My question is this, I pulled everything out of the ground and let it dry out on the surface (about 30 days). Is it going to be ok to till it all and let it sit til next year? I will probably lime the garden before tilling, as I have heard that lime and copper dust seems to keep the fungus in check.

Any ideas or suggestions? I normally plant at least 40 tomato plants and can't see wasting all that time and money again next year.

We got blighted here too, it's everywhere. Our Field Ext. Office recommends not tilling in and not putting on your compost pile. Apparently, it can overwinter. They were saying to bag stems and fruits and send to landfill. Or bury them. I buried mine down below the root zone a couple hundred feet from my garden.

I hope it doesn't come back next year.

Dave.

 

[dooleysm]

After treating mine with mancozeb the plants came back a bit and we got some tomatoes. However, they did not taste like good garden tomatoes. They tasted like they came from the grocery store. I'm not sure if it was worth it or not. EVERYTHING around here got the blight. I didn't get 1 edible cantaloupe, the watermelons were average at best, only a handful of pumpkins, almost no green beans, grapes and blackberries I transplanted died; just a terrible year. All of our shrubs, flowers, and most of our trees had it as well.

I took the tomato plants out of the garden and piled them up in the pasture, which is what I do every year. Assuming a 'normal' summer next year, I don't think the blight will be a problem. It was just way too cold and wet here all year, and continues to be. I had 1.5" of rain last week and 5" the previous week. Highs have been in the low 50's, which I believe is about 15 degrees below normal. Terrible weather all year, and a bit depressing.

 

[sawdust_maker]

I did a thread search and came across this. I am about to turn over my garden. i lost almost all my tomatoes to blight this year, everyone in my area got hit hard. Way too wet, not enough sun, and colder than usual.

My question is this, I pulled everything out of the ground and let it dry out on the surface (about 30 days). Is it going to be ok to till it all and let it sit til next year? I will probably lime the garden before tilling, as I have heard that lime and copper dust seems to keep the fungus in check.

Any ideas or suggestions? I normally plant at least 40 tomato plants and can't see wasting all that time and money again next year.

While not an expert on gardening, everything I've read in the past says not to put the infested refuse from the tomatoes back into the ground. I suppose if you make a really good, really hot compost, hot enough to kill the fungus, that might work. I'd still not trust it.

As far as planting tomatoes next summer, this was just an extraordinarily bad summer for them.

John

 

[jinman]

I think even pulling tomatoes leaves a lot of the root system in the ground where you can do nothing with it. If you want, you can make a small burn pile and burn the old plants and then till in the ashes. Rotation of plantings from year to year seems to be the best solution. Many people till in their old garden plants year after year with no bad results. I plan to burn and till my tomatoes when they quit making. Right now they are still producing a lot of 2" round fruits and my cherry and grape tomatoes have recovered completely from the hot summer and are producing like gangbusters. They've also been discovered by the deer, but the damage has been minimal.

 

[dooleysm]

The garden place I went to for help with blight made a big deal about rotating the tomatoes each year and said to never mulch with grass clippings. My grandpa's been growing tomatoes in the same patch in his backyard and mulching with grass clippings for over 50 years and he's never had a problem until this year. I rotate all the vegetables around in my big garden and I had problems with all of them this year. Everyone I've talked to around my area has had the same problem. We just never got a proper summer this year. No long, hot sunny days that everything needs to flourish.

I don't think I'd make a very good pioneer. I'd be awful hungry come January if I had to live off what I grew this year.

 

[forgeblast]

I pulled the plants and composted them, I think i am also going to rotate where they were from last year just to make sure i dont get it back. I also bought some stuff from gardens alive (payola, and sulfur guard) to help fight the blight.