October Tomatoes

In recent years our tomato crop has ended just as it was getting started.  The name late blight is a misnomer here as the crop is ruined by it just as the first tomatoes are starting to ripen.  This year this scourge past us by and we have been enjoying fresh tomatoes for more than two months.  The remains of our plants appear dreadful but the plants continue to produce ripe fruit.

Two separate events conspired to kill these leaves.  Some unknown to us wilt first appeared on the lower leaves of the two plants next to uncovered soil.  Once underway it spread to other plants.  Pruning out the diseased leaves was likely futile as the nasty spores fell from the sick leaves on to the healthy leaves when disturbed.  This wilt does not harm the fruit but it does make sad looking plants.

Our September frost was light and patchy.  It ended the top leaves of the nearby squash and took out the mid section of the tomatoes.  Here the frost pours downhill and swirls around obstacles killing here and there while leaving some places untouched.  The frost was not severe enough to damage the actual tomatoes.

These unusual events have allowed us to compare the four different varieties of tomatoes planted.  These Ferline's are the best of the lot.  The tomatoes are rather small but are the most trouble free.  Their catalog description identifies them as having been developed to be disease resistant.  We find that description accurate.  Italian Goliath's came in second here.  They are the most robust plants and their fruit is larger but we have experienced some problems with diseased tomatoes.  Better Boy comes in next to last.  The large tomatoes split at the top providing a route for rot.  Uneven water supply causes these splits but since we do not have any control over the rain or lack of it, we simply discard either the top half or the entire tomato.  These large slices do completely deliciously cover a sandwich.  Siberian was a loser for us.  Plant growth habit featured multiple tops that could not be controlled  by pruning.  These tomatoes were small and unpleasant.  This variety will not appear here next year.  We will need to find a replacement.

The end of the season can be a sad event.  Our tomato harvest spanned more that two months and was bountiful.  We will with no regret wait for next year's harvest for our next fresh tomato.

Terrific Tomatoes

Two pictures were required to depict all of one tomato plant.  This plant set eight separate clusters of fruit with a ninth bunch of blossoms now open.  This might seem rather ordinary to some but we are coming off two consecutive years of total crop loss to late blight.  Two years ago several tomato plants were closely planted and no suckers were removed.  Late blight quickly took all of the plants.  We felt partly responsible for the crop loss since our mistakes heavily contributed to the susceptibility of the plants to the disease.  Last year we increased the spacing between the plants, removed the suckers as soon as they appeared and used an anti blight spray.  Still we lost our tomatoes to the blight.

This year the increased distance between the plants and the sucker removal were repeated.  No spray was used.  Somehow it seemed unwise to use a substance that requires me to wear a breathing mask while spraying and wash all of my clothes immediately after on something that I intend to eat.  Weather is a big factor in the spread of late blight.  This year the air brought us no blight.  The curled leaves indicate the presence of some wilt.  Wilt will slowly cause the plants to drop their leaves but we will harvest vine ripened fruit for many more days to come.

Both Italian Goliath and Ferline have some blight resistance naturally.  Both will be planted again next year.  Our Better Boys all have open cracks at the stem end and hard greenish yellow places in the upper sections of the fruit.  This may be the result of our unwillingness to use chemical fertlizer but we are looking for a new variety of tomato for next year.  Any suggestions?

I really don't like to spend time reading the plant disease section of gardening books.  I prefer to think the plants will be healthy and many times they are.  However a check in the book would seem to indicate that the cracks, yellow shoulders and hard green spots on some of my tomatoes are all a result of drought.  Apparently evenly moist soil will avoid these problems.  One good thing, I can compost the fruit without worrying about disease this time.