It’s not a gardener’s myth that growing and harvesting tomatoes in Central Oregon are a challenge. If it’s too hot, it’s not good. If nighttime temperatures are too cool it’s not good. Like most of us on a hot day, tomatoes will just “hang out” and try to survive. Cool nights can be a detriment to a successful fruit set. For optimum fruit set, the night temperatures should range between 55-75 degrees. But there are varieties that set fruit at lower nighttime temperatures. That is why local advice and your record-keeping are valuable. If you feel your plants aren’t as prolific as you think they should be for this time of year, the plants may have experienced the lower nighttime temperatures that slowed the fruit set process.
Here are explanations of a few other tomato plant problems:
• The bane of all tomato growers, aside from deer damage, is the total denuding of tomato branches caused by the tomato hornworm.
Mother Nature provided the hornworm with the perfect camouflage. They perfectly match the bright green of the tomato leaves. The 1- to 5-inch worm looks like its ancestors never evolved past pre-historic monsters. They are fat, segmented, have a “horn” on their hind side and markings down each side of their abdomen. In addition to denuding the plant, they add insult to injury by biting into the tomatoes. Be forewarned, in addition to the leaf damage, look for the telltale signs of their frass (black poop droppings). Check the underside of remaining leaves, do a thorough search and destroy. The control method is to handpick and destroy.
According to Cranshaw’s Garden Insects of North America, the adults are the “strong-flying, heavy-bodied moths known as sphinx moths or hawk moths. Those that are active during the day are sometimes known as hummingbird moths.”
• Blossom-end rot is a dark black spot at the blossom end of the fruit, the end opposite the stem. The fundamental cause is the inability of the plant to process the calcium in the plant related to moisture stress. One solution is to mulch plants to maintain a constant moisture level.
• At present, the fruit on one of my Berkeley Tie-Dye tomato plants is showing radial cracking beginning at the stem. It can happen when developing tomatoes are directly exposed to the sun and are not protected by the leaves. That is the case as two tomatoes developed on top of the leaves and without any top leaf growth to protect them. Had I been paying better attention, I would have removed the blossoms when they developed. The cracking can also be caused by heavy watering or rain after the soil has become dry around the roots. The sudden increase in size causes the skin to split.
• Catfacing is black, scarred areas on the blossom end of misshapen tomatoes. The condition occurred from damage that happened weeks earlier when wind and low temperatures damaged the flower. Solution; protect your plants from excessive winds. If catfacing seems to be a reoccurring problem you may want to consider changing locations next year or constructing or planting a wind barrier.
• Fungal diseases and blights that affect the leaves look terrible, but developing fruit generally is not affected. I have more of a problem with foliar diseases in my greenhouse than with the plants growing outdoors. High humidity, elevated temperatures and lack of adequate air circulation are the three environmental factors that favor the growth of foliar diseases. With the recent temperatures hitting the triple digits, the temperature in the greenhouse is registering higher than 100 degrees most of the day. In hopes of keeping a more balanced environment, I am using a larger fan and operating it longer hours.
Isn’t it amazing what we won’t do to slice into our very own, homegrown tomato?
The Link LonkAugust 20, 2020 at 04:00PM
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Growing tomatoes in the High Desert is a labor of desire - Bend Bulletin
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