primitives discuss tomatoes

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=268x2742

Oh my.

groovedaddy  (1000+ posts)      Mon Aug-10-09 01:19 PM
Original message
 
You Say Tomato, I Say Agricultural Disaster 

IF the hardship of growing vegetables and fruits in the Northeast has made anything clear, it’s that the list of what can go wrong in the field is a very long one.

We wait all year for warmer weather and longer days. Once we get them, it seems new problems for farmers rise to the surface every week: overnight temperatures plunging close to freezing, early disease, aphid attacks. Another day, another problem.

The latest trouble is the explosion of late blight, a plant disease that attacks potatoes and tomatoes. Late blight appears innocent enough at first — a few brown spots here, some lesions there — but it spreads fast. Although the fungus isn’t harmful to humans, it has devastating effects on tomatoes and potatoes grown outdoors. Plants that appear relatively healthy one day, with abundant fruit and vibrant stems, can turn toxic within a few days. (See the Irish potato famine, caused by a strain of the fungus.)

Most farmers in the Northeast, accustomed to variable conditions, have come to expect it in some form or another. Like a sunburn or a mosquito bite, you’ll probably be hit by late blight sooner or later, and while there are steps farmers can take to minimize its damage and even avoid it completely, the disease is almost always present, if not active.

But this year is turning out to be different — quite different, according to farmers and plant scientists. For one thing, the disease appeared much earlier than usual. Late blight usually comes, well, late in the growing season, as fungal spores spread from plant to plant. So its early arrival caught just about everyone off guard.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/opinion/09barber.html...

The defrocked warped primitive:

Warpy  (1000+ posts)        Mon Aug-10-09 01:26 PM
Response to Original message
 
1. It might be a result of the odd summer the east has had especially New England. While we've roasted here in the southwest, our monsoon season having fizzled and a hot high pressure area camped over the Four Corners keeping us miserable, they've been cooler and wetter, perfect conditions for the blight to occur.

FWIW, I never experienced the blight when I lived in New England and had big organic v****e gardens. As long as it warmed up enough to set fruit, my tomatoes were gorgeous and my potatoes abundant, even in late August when the mornings were starting to have a bit of a nip to them.

[Karin]

Well, look at Warpy boasting about her gorgeous perfect garden after Grovedaddy spins his tale of woe.  "Thanks for nothing, bitch" is probably what he thought. 

Wonder if they're having second thoughts about AGW after this rotten summer where nothing grew? 

[JohnnyReb]

Farming is a lot like poker.....it's always a gamble.

The shiite DUmmies don't know would fertilize the entire nation.

[GOBUCKS]

Well, look at Warpy boasting about her gorgeous perfect garden after Grovedaddy spins his tale of woe.  "Thanks for nothing, bitch" is probably what he thought. 
Wonder if they're having second thoughts about AGW after this rotten summer where nothing grew? 

Well, DUmmy Warpy is talking about her days in New England, when her gorgeous garden consisted mostly of smokable pharmaceuticals. But that was way back in the late 90s, early 00s, before she was disqualified from nursing. Those were the nightmare days of the Y2K catastrophe, when planes fell from the sky and the electrical grid collapsed. It was before Algore invented global warming, so her garden survived.

[zeitgeist]

I just got an email about this the other day from some folk in Massachusetts.  Lost their whole crop for the first time in forty years.  IIRC they blamed the Irish or Homeless Despot.

[miskie]

It has to do with the endless cool weather and rain we have had - only in the last week has it become warm, and like magic my tomatoes and peppers are finally developing fruit - imagine that.

The one bright spot is I reseeded the shady side of the lawn, and anyone who has grown shade seed knows it takes forever to sprout - not this year. There are still some bare posts but Id say I have 85% coverage starting from bare ground.

[Carl]

It has to do with the endless cool weather and rain we have had - only in the last week has it become warm, and like magic my tomatoes and peppers are finally developing fruit - imagine that.

The one bright spot is I reseeded the shady side of the lawn, and anyone who has grown shade seed knows it takes forever to sprout - not this year. There are still some bare posts but Id say I have 85% coverage starting from bare ground.

Mine got hit a week ago,hope to save some from it.
Tough year so far.

[BlueStateSaint]

Mine got hit a week ago,hope to save some from it.
Tough year so far.

I've been fighting the blight in my patio tomatoes for two-three weeks now.  One of my plants has been ravaged by it, but I hit it with a copper sulfate solution (at least four times) and the thing keeps living, and giving me tomatoes.  I've lost a few tomatoes, but I've picked (ripened--tough to say "harvested" on two window boxes) probably four to five times what I've lost.