Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Tomatoes, Friends, Help

First of all I send my heart out to Missy Piggy who lost her tomatoes to attack by caterpillars blossom end rot. Time for a caterpillar armageddon methinks, as well as some crushed eggshells in the dirt to help the blossom end rot. Finger crossed you get more (or at the plants gone??? there's still time to replant.)

Another friend has been growing Siberian tomatoes here in Melbourne. Now, I know a fair bit about tomatoes, how to grow them, how to eat them, and how to fix a few problems. But I was perplexed by my friend's tomato problem and thought you could help. What's up with this one?:


It has been growing well so far in a raised bed, but n ow has these crinkly bits. Usually rolled up leaves happen at certain times of the day, and it is simply a moisture loss thing, but I've never seen this before. is it even a problem and if so what is it? Tomato-knowitalls to the rescue!



3 comments:

Mel said...

Sigh. My friend told me to pull off ALL my tomato fruits AND blossoms...which I did. Another friend then told me to prune the plants...I had no idea what this was meant to entail so I went hell for leather as you'll see here - http://instagram.com/p/R9jHSlJnhI/ there are leaves shooting again, but I've probably killed any chance of fruit. I might replant when I get back from holidays in two weeks....hope that's not too late.

PJ said...

Hi Missy Piggy. I hate to say it but those tomatoes are probably toast.

My advice would be replant new seedlings (in new soil) and they'll grow strong and sturdy. It isn't too late yet to grow from seedling (seed is pushing it)

What caterpillars did you have? Usually you can just pick them off or spray with an organic solution. If they chew holes, then they're just holes so not really a problem. Pruning this harshly invites disease and weakens the plant so it best avoided.

If you wish to keep the plants under control either buy a determinant variety (like san marzano, or any variety meant for a pot) or, alternatively prune out the suckers (the bits growing off the main stem, there are some visible in your pic)

Good luck and I hope you get some soon!!

Anonymous said...

I am enjoying your blog. I currently live in Melbourne's suburbs. We have a small courtyard. I just bought a dwarf Meyer lemon a month ago and it's already sick. I'm hopeless. We're moving to an apartment with a balcony in a few weeks so I'm worried, but very thankful that I have your blog to read (I too, a plant lover, but totally inept at growing anything).