Comments on: weeder’s digest: tomatoes

By: Pat

Pat — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:16:50 +0000

I’ve used the chamomile tea treatment for powdery mildew on my peonies. Brew up a big batch of chamomile tea (I needed one to two quarts for my four big peonies), and when cool, transfer to spray bottle. Spray leaves generously in the morning. Repeat as necessary. We had a cool and wet summer several years ago, and as I took my evening walk, I noticed everyone else’s peonies had silvery foliage — except mine!

By: Lorraine Schwartz

Lorraine Schwartz — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 21:53:50 +0000

I use white oil to spray the tomatoes. It is natural and you dilute it with water (a third to 2/3 water) and it works brilliantly for powdery mildew and most other things that ail tomatoes!

By: Teresa

Teresa — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 18:48:27 +0000

I was a “plant girl” for several years, and we used a simple solution called SWA for plant parasites and powdery mildew. It’s easy to remember the solution: Soap, Water, Alcohol. They never gave me exact measurements for the SWA but I still use a bit of rubbing alcohol, some liquid soap, and then fill the rest of the spray bottle with water, shake up and spray. I spray problem plants once a week but sometimes they only need one treatment, depending on the severity of the parasite/mildew. Make sure you wipe off the mixture to remove any mites, mold spores, etc… then I re-spray after wiping.

By: Kayo@Sweet Graphics

Kayo@Sweet Graphics — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:05:09 +0000

Grace, when you say mildew do you mean blight?
Because if mildew leads to blight, it’s a serious problem, you need to act quickly. I discovered yesterday that one of mine has late blight. That tomato tree had the most fruits (although small), and some of the fruits are turning brown before they are even ripe!
Today I’m off to the allotment to pull the diseased plant out (you need to burn it to kill the fungus, never compost) and put a clear plastic sheet over them to protect them from rain. Too much rain brings down the fungus pores that are in the air onto the plants and soil. (it’s been a cool& wet summer in London-too wet for vegies)
Please excuse my long comment…

By: Jacqui

Jacqui — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 07:48:40 +0000

We have real problems with powdery mildew here in NZ too, it’s the humidity! Sadly the really fabulous heirloom tomatoes seem to be particularly prone to it. Another cause of it can be the plants drying out a bit, combined with humidity and poor air circulation. That last photo does look a lot like the beginnings of blight – the first time we had it on our tomatoes we didn’t know what it was and didn’t act on it and within a week the plant was gone. Sometimes they manage to fight on, ending up much as you describe, but you never get much fruit off them and you’re better pulling them out and trying to keep the other plants healthy. Mmmm…fresh garden tomatoes! We’re suffering through hothouse tomatoes at the moment, longing for the return of summer and the first sun-warm tomato sandwiches.

By: megan

megan — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:30:07 +0000

I heard on NPR this week that blight has caught a lot of the tomatoes on the north east because of the rainy weather. :(