Ok so I have been gardening for a while now and it seems every year the only plant I have problems with is tomatoes. I just spoke with a commercial grower this morning and he said that tomatoes are so disease and bug prone that you have to spray for everything under the sun! I do not use and chemicals on my plants and was wondering if there was a roundabout type easy on the environment and plant spray that I could purchase? I have beautiful plants that are kept healthy but something always happens to the fruits. Any ideas? SOmeone recommended 7 dust? HAs anyone ever heard of that or is it a southern thing Thanks Pete
I grow mostly tomatoes in my garden. I just put in 46 plants and I don't have that big of a problem. I HATE to use chemicals. To keep off the damaging bugs I am spraying with a mixture of tabasco sauce and water. This should keep most of the bugs off since it is very HOT! You can also use a mixture of diluted soap like Murphy's Oil Soap and water. For the hot mixture. Mix 2 tablespoons of tabasco in a 1 liter spray bottle and spray your plants. Don't let the plants get too leafy unless they are bush variety. try to water your plants from below, with water right on the roots. This will lessen your chance for blight. I also look as closely to the plants and remove catepillars and worms. Good luck and I hope your tomatoes do well.
Can you elaborate on what happens to the fruit? Do you mean they look diseased or bug damage. A trick I learned from another forum was when you first plant tomatoes to pinch the first stem, not break it but pinch it enough to cause a bruise. This will send out a toxin to tomatoe hornworms an they will stay off your plants. I've done this 2 yrs running now an it works wonderfully.
I love that pinching idea!!! I was told by a little old lady to water ONLY from the bottom, like Gardenmama said. She told me the cool water hitting the warm skin of the fruit caused it to split. Kinda makes sense when you think about it :-o I have to work on pruning It kills me to cut off beautiful healthy branches but my tomatoe plants last year became tomatoe monsters :twisted: Deanna :-D
hi.... the tomatoe's which i have grown is fully getting abused due to the disease but couldn't predict the exact cause for that.the leaves is breaking after it grows and the tomatoe's are not getting riped properly eventhough for too many days wat i should do for this.... ===================== nancy
Pete, the product is called "Sevin". But don't forget that insecticides are going to kill any beneficial insects also. Gardenmama gave excellent suggestions for organic control. You can also try a garlic in place of the tabasco. Or mix the offending bugs in a blender and spray that back on them. Here is the link to the sevin website http://www.gardentech.com/
My plants have beautiful green leaves and strong healthy stalks. the problem is that there are small holes that look like they have been bored into the tomatoes. The oustides look pretty good but the insides are mush. I talked to an oldtimer who said that sevin was good to use. He said pick all the diseased tomatoes and get rid of them then apply the sevin. Any one else use this stuff.
Please check out this information before spreading Sevin on your plants. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbaryl "Its safety is somewhat controversial. It is a cholinesterase inhibitor and can be toxic to humans with excessive exposure, though no known fatalities have been reported. It is classified as a likely human carcinogen by the EPA. It kills various beneficial insect and crustacean species along with the pests it is intended for, so care must be taken when spraying in areas where such species are present. Carbaryl is acutely toxic to honeybees and can destroy colonies of bees that are foraging in an area where the chemical has been applied." Before resorting to chemicals, try taking off all the fruit with holes and try an organic method. Won't hurt and might just surprise you!
I have heard that people use this method as well. It is about 2 tbls per liter of water is very diluted. You can also use organic dish soap as well. About a teaspoon per liter.
