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Tomato Plant Dying!
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Author:  Jim In Dallas [ Sat Jun 21, 2003 10:48 am ]
Post subject:  Tomato Plant Dying!

My celebrity tomato plant seems to be dying from the ground up! Vines are still green, but leaf and leaf stems are turning yellow, then dying. Yellow leaves have small pinholes in them, but I cannot see any critters. It is in a large pot, but I followed organic instructions to the letter for soil prep, and even added corn gluten meal two weeks ago. Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Author:  Jim In Dallas [ Sat Jun 21, 2003 6:59 pm ]
Post subject: 

Not answering my own post (or maybe I am), but I discovered this evening that the plant is infested with some small (about the size of a pin head) black critters with wings! They were also in the mulch at the base of the plant (it is in a large pot), which may explain why they were destroying the plant as I described above (from the bottom up). Any help would be appreciated. I sprayed them with garlic pepper tea with a small amount of orange oil added, and nary a one is moving. Maybe not the optimal solution, but I panicked :shock:

Author:  Jim In Dallas [ Sun Jun 22, 2003 5:40 pm ]
Post subject: 

*sigh* Again, I am talking to myself, but I hope others can be helped with my problem.......
After listening to Mr. Garett today, I am convinced I have a blight problem, and the gnats (or whatever they are) are secondary. I will spray with cornmeal juice which I made this afternoon. If anyone wants me to post a pic of the infected plant, I will, if that can be done here.

Author:  Gar [ Sun Jun 22, 2003 8:19 pm ]
Post subject: 

Jim,
Please post the picture. It should help the rest of us that are also trying to grow tomatoes.

Author:  dragonfly [ Mon Jun 23, 2003 11:04 am ]
Post subject: 

Early blight seems to be a common problem in this area, at least in my years of experience. I started spraying last year with cornmeal tea and have had good control. Although it won't completely eradicate the problem, it seems to make the plants healthier and they tolerate blight better. Most of my plants last year survived the summer and were still producing into the Fall season. The most important thing I have found with treatment is to be persistent and don't stop the treatment just because the plants look good. There is a whole myriad of tomato diseases, so there's no guarantee that your problem is early blight, but it does seem to be a common one here.

Author:  Kathe Kitchens [ Tue Jun 24, 2003 10:44 am ]
Post subject:  Tomato Blight

Mixing cornmeal in the bed or container when you first plant is a great preventative. I have been experimenting with this for the past 3 years and don't get the blight problem. If you already have blight, mixing the cornmeal into the soil as well as spraying it helps a lot. Use 2 cups per plant, mix it into the soil and water it in, then cover it back up with the mulch. If you have plants that are already bigger, use an extra cup of cornmeal. The horticultural cornmeal really does work better, but any inexpensive brand will do in the long run.

Author:  Jim In Dallas [ Tue Jun 24, 2003 5:30 pm ]
Post subject: 

Kathe-
I did put corn gluten meal in the soil before I planted.
Others-
Thanks for the replies. I seem to have the problem under control. My wife will take some digital pictures, and download them as soon as we get her 'puter back from being fixed. :cry:
For reference, I used both the cornmeal liquid (2 cups per gallon of water) and garlic pepper tea and orange oil (to kill the critters-gnats, I think). It seems to have worked, but as dragonfly suggested, I will keep up the treatments with the corn meal solution.
I am so thankful for this forum. This is what the internet should be about.
Take care all.

Author:  Kathe Kitchens [ Tue Jun 24, 2003 9:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Corn meal vs corn gluten meal

You probably know the difference, but I thought it worth mentioning, and possibly reminding you, that corn gluten meal and horticultural corn meal are two very different things. The corn gluten, if mixed in bedding at too high a ratio, could CAUSE a problem. It has to be applied at lighter settings for use in St. Augustine grass, for instance, or it will in fact cause brown patch and other fungus problems. Horticultural cornmeal, on the other hand, fights problem-causing fungus by encouraging a beneficial fungus. I would assume that you worked in corn gluten meal to prevent weed seed germination and didn't plan on growing anything in that bed by seed? Just wanted to clarify that the application I suggested was for horticultural cornmeal, as is the spray application. I just can't recommend this approach enough. It's worked with pretty much every plant I've tried it on and that's vegetables, ornamentals and herbs. I work it in at around 5 lbs. per 100 square feet. It just can't be beat!
Happy tomato growing! :o

Author:  Kathe Kitchens [ Tue Jun 24, 2003 9:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Correction - You're using a pot!

Whoops! Just realized you are growing in a pot and not the ground. But in realizing this I am wondering if you didn't in fact cause your problem by adding the corn gluten? I have seen this happen before. You can counteract the high protein in the corn gluten by applying horticultural cornmeal and humates (to buffer the nitrogen). What was the original reason for adding corn gluten to a potted tomato plant? High nitrogen? I'm just curious. Oh well, in any case you will have it licked soon.

Author:  Jim In Dallas [ Wed Jun 25, 2003 7:22 pm ]
Post subject: 

Kathe-
yes, high nitrogen was the reason (thought I would try it). I do think I have the problem under control. I wil be wiser (thanks to you) with my fall planting. Thank you for pointing out the difference. I am new to this, and learning every day.
dragonfly-
You are always a very good source of info. I thank you for your response to this question and my lima bean question :D

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