So I planted six plants in a raised bed. TWo were beefsteak, two were grape, and two were heirloom that were grown from seeds. The bed was filled with bagged topsoil, compost, pete moss, etc from Lowes. I put in some bone meal at planting as well. I fertilized every month or so with 10-10-10.
Overall they did ok I think until recently. Beefsteaks were the worse and grapes were the best. A few weeks ago one of my beefsteaks' stems/leaves starting dying from the bottom up. Eventually most were dead. I just pulled that plant out and tossed it.
About a week ago one of my grape tomato plants was very wilted. I thought it needed water since it was so hot. I waterd and it has rained since. It appears to have died. The grape tomatos did pretty good and I had tons of fruit.
The other beefsteak looks ok at best. The heirlooms and the other grape tomato plant is doing good still. I had bad cracking too regardless of what I did. I put several inches of straw as a mulch. The symptoms of the dying beefsteak came after a solid week of rain. I am not sure if the straw held in too much moisture or what happened.
I also pruned all plants very heavily and I wonder if by doing that I prevented them from being able to provide shade for themselves. I don't think I wil do that again so heavily.
Any suggestions? My neighbor dug a hole and threw some bagged dirt into it and walked away. His plants look better than mine still. He never touches them really. That kinda irks me since I tried to take excellent care of mine. I tried a few times to find a dedicated fertilizer for maters but all the ones around here that were supposed to be for them had high nitrogen wihch made no sense to me. Thanks.
Both high water input (rain) and heavy leaf pruning contribute to split fruit. Picking just after color starts to develop but befor the fruit softens will circumvent split fruit.
It sounds like your dead plants caught one of the wilt diseases (fusarium, verticilium, or bacterial wilt). That same location spot may or may not be bad next year. What is the soil like under the raised bed? Did you dig it up at all befor eadding the artificial soil?
There are several thousand varieties of heirlooms, ranging from pea sized currants to 5 lb beefsteaks, and they are no different than hybrids when it comes to problems so it often helps if you can give us the exact variety for any plant having problems, being it hybrid or non-hybrid.
It sounds like your dead plants caught one of the wilt diseases (fusarium, verticilium, or bacterial wilt). That same location spot may or may not be bad next year. What is the soil like under the raised bed? Did you dig it up at all befor eadding the artificial soil?
There are several thousand varieties of heirlooms, ranging from pea sized currants to 5 lb beefsteaks, and they are no different than hybrids when it comes to problems so it often helps if you can give us the exact variety for any plant having problems, being it hybrid or non-hybrid.
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
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- Location: TN/GA 7b
Rick,
You and I grow tomatoes in a very similar manner. Sounds like we have almost identical soil mixes including digging down to the native soil and incorporating it.
Most of the conditions you described I have always considered normal for late season tomato plants. If you look at the main stem close to the ground, you will probably see small roolets appearing on the stem and the stem will be thick and woody looking. Some of the plants don't survive the heat and simply die. Others start producing new growth with cooler fall weather. Unlike you, I do plant very crowded in cages. I typically will lose one or even two plants in each cage near the end of the season. The other plants simply produce more foliage and fill in the space left by the dead plants. I never, never prune my plants or remove suckers. That is simply personal preference. I have always believed more branches means more blooms. More blooms mean more tomatoes. I had the largest tomatoes I've ever grown this year.
I attempt to protect my plants from water stress by using a timer on a buried line to my beds. Each bed has a soaker hose. Each soaker hose has a flow disc installed which limits the water to 1/2 gallon of water per ft. of hose per hour. I adjust the timer for spring, summer, and fall watering requirements. In mid summer, I water for fifteen minutes, three times per day. I believe the consistent moisture is the most important thing I do.
Ted
You and I grow tomatoes in a very similar manner. Sounds like we have almost identical soil mixes including digging down to the native soil and incorporating it.
Most of the conditions you described I have always considered normal for late season tomato plants. If you look at the main stem close to the ground, you will probably see small roolets appearing on the stem and the stem will be thick and woody looking. Some of the plants don't survive the heat and simply die. Others start producing new growth with cooler fall weather. Unlike you, I do plant very crowded in cages. I typically will lose one or even two plants in each cage near the end of the season. The other plants simply produce more foliage and fill in the space left by the dead plants. I never, never prune my plants or remove suckers. That is simply personal preference. I have always believed more branches means more blooms. More blooms mean more tomatoes. I had the largest tomatoes I've ever grown this year.
I attempt to protect my plants from water stress by using a timer on a buried line to my beds. Each bed has a soaker hose. Each soaker hose has a flow disc installed which limits the water to 1/2 gallon of water per ft. of hose per hour. I adjust the timer for spring, summer, and fall watering requirements. In mid summer, I water for fifteen minutes, three times per day. I believe the consistent moisture is the most important thing I do.
Ted
