Question about tomato disease and fruit contamination.

[canadaseed]

Hey Farm,

I got this tomato plant for like $2.50 on sale because it's dying. I noticed this blue mold here... seems to be in the plant like root-borne?? That's what i'm wondering. Is this a root-borne fungus that could possibly be inside the fruit as well.

Trying to save this plant any tips?

after a little tlc do you guys think this will be worth saving can i even harvest again?

 

[Seamaiden]

That doesn't quite look to be mold to me. I'd whack it back HARD, get rid of all the dying growth and then give it heat and food.

 

[Coir]

What Seamaiden said. Cut off all the old/dying growth and pull the fruit off as well. Keep it somewhat protected(no direct sunlight if it's above 75 degrees). Make sure the soil is good and then start feeding and watering normally. Tomatoes are heavy feeders so keep that in mind. If it's going to live, you should see new growth appearing in 5-10 days. Once it starts growing again move it back to full sun.

 

[canadaseed]

That doesn't quite look to be mold to me. I'd whack it back HARD, get rid of all the dying growth and then give it heat and food.

Thanks Seamaiden, so you think those tomato's are good to eat... don't know why i'm nervous about eating them lol. Okay I'm gonna do that, i already cut back the bone dry dead stuff but upon your advice i'm gonna go ahead and really cut back the dead/dying stuff. And you think i can used maxi bloom on this? 3/4 recommended dose?

What Seamaiden said. Cut off all the old/dying growth and pull the fruit off as well. Keep it somewhat protected(no direct sunlight if it's above 75 degrees). Make sure the soil is good and then start feeding and watering normally. Tomatoes are heavy feeders so keep that in mind. If it's going to live, you should see new growth appearing in 5-10 days. Once it starts growing again move it back to full sun.

Thanks for the info Coir, really appreciate it. It's been a hot week here looks like it's gonna be well above 75 degrees. It's in a partially shaded area and has manure, loam and peat for planting medium. later this afternoon when it's not so hot out i'm gonna go take of the tomato's and trim back some more.

 

[Seamaiden]

I would go with a quarter or eighth dose until I see it's growing well. You don't want to get the soil loaded up with fertilizer just yet.

Don't be afraid to eat the fruits. Even if they're moldy, they'll just taste yucky, won't get you sick. (Don't ask how I know!)

 

[Coir]

It's true! No known pathogens can survive in a raw tomato so no matter how fuzzy or nasty they get, you can safely eat them although I have no idea why you would want to at that point! Cooked tomatoes are a different thing though and you definitely don't want to eat them if they are spoiled!
Someone gave me a really old recipe for ketchup once and it involved placing a bushel of over ripe tomatoes into a ceramic crock and "leaving them out on the porch" for several weeks then "scraping off the blue mold" then repeat until it condensed down. Needless to say, I have not tried it!

 

[canadaseed]

I would go with a quarter or eighth dose until I see it's growing well. You don't want to get the soil loaded up with fertilizer just yet.

Don't be afraid to eat the fruits. Even if they're moldy, they'll just taste yucky, won't get you sick. (Don't ask how I know!)

Okay thanks sea, quarter dose it is and i'll see what happens after a few days. "don't ask how i know" lollll. I was somewhat concerned about a pathogen traveling within the branch and leaf systems... possibly reaching the fruit. Cause the plant was covered in some blue sorta dust or mildew. But I've eaten a few now, all is goof and they taste nice.

It's true! No known pathogens can survive in a raw tomato so no matter how fuzzy or nasty they get, you can safely eat them although I have no idea why you would want to at that point! Cooked tomatoes are a different thing though and you definitely don't want to eat them if they are spoiled!
Someone gave me a really old recipe for ketchup once and it involved placing a bushel of over ripe tomatoes into a ceramic crock and "leaving them out on the porch" for several weeks then "scraping off the blue mold" then repeat until it condensed down. Needless to say, I have not tried it!

Wow I didn't know that... you learn something new everyday but it's not everyday that you learn something new that is valuable!! that recipe sounds really strange lol i guess i would try it if others have eaten it and lived... i wonder where that recipe originates from?

 

[Organica]

Looks like that plant has aids. U guys getting blight this year? Shit is horrible here.

 

[canadaseed]

Hey just a little update and a question... are these gonna bear fruit again???

 

[Coir]

Those look to be sungold or sunsugar cherry tomatoes which are both indeterminate types so yes, they will bear fruit again. You should start seeing flowers any time now and once they open, you are looking at 6-8 weeks for ripe fruit. Keep them well fed and watered!

 

[canadaseed]

Hey thanks for the info Coir! being that these are indeterminate does that mean that they can keep bearing fruit if i were to keep them under a light? Is there anyway to keep a tomato plant going, perpetually? The smaller one in the first pic is 'yellow pear'.. I also heard of a technique called "spanking" where you tap the stems when they start to flower, before they open tho. Apparently this helps with pollination and gives bigger tomatoes. What do you think about that? It's funny i almost enjoy growing tomato as much, if not maybe more than herb lol. I have sweet gold and canabec super growing right now also. The cananbec is getting some nice sized tomatoes and is pumping new flowers still!

 

[Coir]

In theory, indeterminates would keep producing forever. The problem you run into is when they get so far from the root system to the top of the plant. My Sungolds are close to 40' long right now. When the weather turns bad here in late October, the plants can't support fruit and disease starts to set in on the long, empty stems. If you are just gardening for home use, you can always prune them back and let a new sucker grow out and keep them under a light all Winter. I used to have all the greenhouses filled with 1000W HPS/MH and we produced all year long but electricity was only .9 cents a KW back then. It's up to 9 cents now and I can't justify running the lights through the Winter anymore.
As far as tapping the stems goes, you need to do that when the flowers are actually open. An electric toothbrush works great to shake the pollen loose if you don't have many bees around to do it for you. I use bumblebees in the greenhouse and before I place them in for the first time in Spring, I use an electric pollinator on the open flowers every other day. Before we could get the bees, we used to do all the greenhouses by hand with the electric pollinators. It took a lot of hours every week and does not do as good of a job as the bees do.

 

[canadaseed]

In theory, indeterminates would keep producing forever. The problem you run into is when they get so far from the root system to the top of the plant. My Sungolds are close to 40' long right now. When the weather turns bad here in late October, the plants can't support fruit and disease starts to set in on the long, empty stems. If you are just gardening for home use, you can always prune them back and let a new sucker grow out and keep them under a light all Winter. I used to have all the greenhouses filled with 1000W HPS/MH and we produced all year long but electricity was only .9 cents a KW back then. It's up to 9 cents now and I can't justify running the lights through the Winter anymore.
As far as tapping the stems goes, you need to do that when the flowers are actually open. An electric toothbrush works great to shake the pollen loose if you don't have many bees around to do it for you. I use bumblebees in the greenhouse and before I place them in for the first time in Spring, I use an electric pollinator on the open flowers every other day. Before we could get the bees, we used to do all the greenhouses by hand with the electric pollinators. It took a lot of hours every week and does not do as good of a job as the bees do.

Hey coir thanks for again for the info man, really appreciate it. I can totally see the stem networks becoming infested after the taller the plant gets and the lower the tempuratures get. It seems fall is a very moist time and of course the moisture is gonna encourage fungi/disease. I never knew this tho thanks for giving me a tip on that, i'll know now to bring my plants in before mid october. The light i have is basically my kitchen light lol it's a typical office style T5 4tube light fixture. I'm wondering if i can keep 2 tomato plant under that? Ya it's crazy how the value of money has changed over the years, must have been quite the setup with the lights in your greenhouse! Around here there aren't many bees and i don't have a lot of flowes.. maybe i should..? I like that idea with the tooth brush i'll be using that. I glad to hear you got bees in your greenhouse, going plant to plant with electric pollinators sounds extremely labor intensive. I find my cherry vines are nice and plentiful at the mid tier but the new ones (higher) are like small only 3-4 per vine.. do you know why that is? maybe after i harvest the newer growth will be more plentiful?

 

[canadaseed]

The cherry tomato care my to life nicely and is thriving.. Just started to open some flowers, it's loaded with flower sites. Should be able to harvest again before the season ends. The yellow pear is coming along. it needs a replant.

 

[velocity]

Just a tip for the tom growers. Every year most battle the tomatoe worms. If you want to prevent them from appearing when you go to plant you tomatoe plant crush a 1/4 of one of these and apply to the top layer of the soil. These will prevent tomatoe worms from showing up, the bacterai in them will kill the worms when still small. It is BTI. Treat in the spring and will make a season normally without having to reapply. These can be found about any where. Works on spider mites also.