Twiggy,
I already know I like your method of gardening. After ten years of zero success growing summer and winter squash; they either died when they got about a ft. tall, got taken out by borers or produced bitter and withered nothings...tomorrow I'll be cooking squash raised in my frontyard "Twiggybed." Yippee! Tomatoes and peppers are blooming and setting fruit while the okra and eggplant are looking sturdy and happy.
This front bed is in an area that's separated from the rest of my yard which is fenced in. The strip is about 40'x15' bordered on one side by a concrete driveway and huge azaleas on the other side and one end. I'm in the process of cutting back the azaleas to reclaim more of this strip which has been wasted yard for years. I think I'll set a couple of potted cushaws under the shrubs and compare their growth with the water based ones. I intend to lay down a thcik layer of mulch for them to run on and I'll probably only allow a couple of squash per vine. These squash are what I use for "pumpkin" pie and they store so well. Extras go to food pantries.
I want sweet potatoes too and have my slips going but where to plant them is my problem. Guess I'll try the waterbed since the darn squirrels find em, dig em and feast when they're in my square foot garden beds. The furry critters even dug and devoured my ornamental sp and carried of caladium bulbs. Evidently they didn't like the taste of the caladiums because I found them growing in some really strange places. It was quite amusing to watch a frustrated squirrel trying to climb a big maple while toting a 3' broccoli plant that had been intended for my compost pile. It is not so amusing to have them devour my produce and bark at me when I go near the garden. They don't seem to bother the waterbeds although our neighborhood raccoons may soon locate them.
Hydro, EB, Raised bed, Container?
This picture was early in the season last year, so the vines were still really small. The vines are Sugar Baby watermelons under 2 small peach tree. I planted cantaloupes under some ornamental bushes. It's not as pretty as a big flower bed, but it was quite attractive and a lot less work.
Here's some info on growing sweet potatoes. Moisture needs are listed down the page, 1-1/2" of water a week.
http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-1098/F-6022web.pdf
I've got tiny little shoots on my sweet potatoes, but nothing to brag about yet. Sure seems slow putting out slips this year. It's still early for my planting date, though, so I am being hopeful they produce. If need be, I can buy them at fairly close nurseries.
I think I remember hearing that before about canned pumpkin actually being a squash. I don't even remember what pumpkins and squashes I've got planned this year, since it's been so long since I went through my seed boxes. I think we picked up extra pumpkin seeds for a pick-your-own harvest day for our CSA members.
Yolie that's just wonderful that you found a way to grow your squash. I find that summer squash grows like crazy and is very productive if I can just get rid of the squash vine borers. The first year they didn't bother them and last year they destroyed every single plant I tried to grow. My squirrels don't bother my garden...yet, but my son in law stole my 2nd strawberry yesterday. I'm wanting to hear how you like that first tomato. Some of my early ones are silver dollar size.
Msrobin that looks so pretty. It reminds me of those low growing junipers I see planted along foundations in landscaped yards. You're right in that they'd look perfectly fine and they'd be an improvement. I scoped out my front yard today and there are plenty of places that I could do that.
Thanks for the sweet potato link. I should have read that a month ago. I've got sprouts about 1 1/2" and according to the link I need to cover them.
The guide says 1 1/2" of water per week and that's more than the standard recommendation for most other things at 1". I'm still thinking about the water bed with drainage and dirt as I described above. That really is the only way I can think of to overcome all my problems. I think I'll mix up some Roundup and have at it tomorrow. It takes a week for the grass and weeds to die and that's job one. It said to prep the bed 2 weeks ahead of planting. So that's at least 3 weeks away and maybe my slips will grow by then. I think I remember Farmerdill saying that they could be planted all the way to mid June in zone 8 but I'm in a hurry.
Pod I've been pulling out old plastic and finding centipedes, night crawlers, a big spider with eggs, a couple huge toads, lots of mysterious holes and trails, and what looks like mole tunnels. And lots of tree roots. The roots are those small feeder kind and I think they're all over my property because I'm surrounded by huge live oaks. I keep expecting to find a snake and use the rake to pull it back. I haven't seen any holes eaten in it. That sounds very odd and must be chemical. I can't imagine anything actually wanting to eat it.
What are ya'll using for fertilizer in the water beds? I stocked up on triple 8 last year and should have enough to get through this year. I use it straight at planting time and I mix epsom salts and micro nutrients with it for side dressing.
I'm following all you all's directions on the fertilizer. I picked up a bag of organic stuff a couple of months ago that I've used in the tomato buckets with epsom salt so far. Other than that, I don't have a clue what I'm suppose to be doing for fertilizer.
Thanks, Twiggy. Sometimes I worry about how my posts are "read". I am not as knowledgable of gardening as I want to be, but I do a lot of reading and putting ideas into motion. And I'm all about doing things as cheaply and easily as possible. The idea to plant melons under trees and bushes came out of neccessity to help keep weeds down under the trees. It worked great and I thought it looked attractive enough that it could easily be used in an "urban farm" setting.
The Sweet Potato growing sounds kind of intimidating and it's also another beautiful plant to grow for the foliage, too. It's one of the few things I grow as much for the game as for the produce, just to see how many I can harvest. I have grown some great ones. I also lost a whole row of vines one year to the rabbits (tators were fine) and another year a row because the frost got to them before I did. I didn't remember them requiring more water than my regular potatoes, though. I was thinking it was about half as much water. However, I am doing better at growing most things with 2 different methods, just for insurance against any crop failure.
This is a link I had saved on the sweet potato http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/2420/how-to-grow-sweet-potatoes
I've tried posting on fertilizers twice and wiped out my own post. Trying again...
I add triple 13 to the soil when planting or adding soil to the tomato pots, add epsom salts monthly and a water soluble fertilizer weekly to all pots and the last two are if/when I remember. GRrr!
I also want to say I add compost to the initial potting soil and finely crushed eggshell for calcium to the layers of dirt and on the soil surface in the tomato pots. I have read that will aid in preventing BER but have often wondered how much calcium is released in the soil as the eggshell is slow to break down. And how much it would require to be beneficial. It may be a moot point but makes me feel good.
This message was edited Apr 23, 2010 7:28 AM
Thanks for the fertilizer info, Podster. I'm ready to start planting out my tomatoes and some other summer stuff now...I think.
Is it just me, or are our planting out dates all out of whack, or have they shifted over the years when I was only gardening for myself and not for market? I was looking at optimal tomato planting temps and it is still actually too cold for tomatoes here by about 8 degrees.
LOL Ribin, I almost always get my tomatoes in the ground earlier than I should. I just get too impatient. Fortunately, I don't get caught very often due to our mild winters.
I put up the top half of my PVC trellis yesterday. You can't see it, but I run heavy nylon twine from one end of the trellis, around the toms, and back to the other end of the trellis.
Dgal, looks good! Ordinarily, I would have taken the chance and had mine in the ground already, too. But I have about 75 plants and didn't have anything on hand to make frames in case I had to cover them against frost, and I couldn't risk losing them. I started them in the house, moved them up to 1 gal pots in the greenhouse and now have the greenhouse open all the time. They should be pretty hardy by now. LOL
Part of the reason I was holding back was because I read where low temps (under 50-55) was part of the cause of BER. Don't quote me on that yet, I want to verify it again, but I'm pretty sure that is what I read.
MsRobin ~ I don't think early cold temps can trigger BER, there may be some other problem with low temps but blossom end rot is primarily due to a lack of calcium and is aggravated by dry conditions or erratic moisture levels. This is a pretty plain description of conditions... http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/quickref/vegetable/tomato_blossom-end-rot.html
I think the main problem with planting tomatoes early is the risk of a frost. If the ground is still too cold the plants will just sit there and sulk. Like Dgal did, when you gamble you stand a chance of getting a jump on it or of getting nipped in the bud. lol
I don't know if the planting dates are out of whack but I sure am! Been on overload for too many other things to worry about this but when I potted the tomatoes up and moved them out, the plants have responded well.
Dgal, your crop looks great. Please keep posting to let us know how you do... I think your trellis is a good design for these types of beds too.
Don that's a good looking trellis that should work well for you. Friday night and Saturday I got all the rain a person could want. My plants seemed to jump up by inches overnight. Absolutely nothing works as well as rainwater. It almost turned ugly this afternoon with high winds and my biggest tomato plant at the end of the row blew over. A couple little green maters came off but the biggies held on.
I haven't accomplished a single significant thing since my last post. I did plant 2 short rows of Big Boy peas (from Wilhite) in the ground. Those 2 rows are the only in ground gardening I do and peas are the most useful and easy thing in my sorry "dirt". I separated some more hot peppers and repotted them. Got a few more tomatoes tied up. The sun is supposed to be out for a perfect day and I'm ready for daylight.
I've got so much to do I hardly know where to start. I'm still bogged down replacing plastic. About half my beds are full of hundreds of pots of daylilies. I've lost interest in them but my labels are so faded that I have to wait for blooms to ID them. I haven't tried to sell any for the last 2 years. No ID, no sales.
A guy is opening a frutteria about a mile down the road. He's been telling folks that he'll buy their produce. I'm sure I'll have surplus tomatoes and peppers and I'm hopeful that I can peddle some of it to help support my habit. I don't see how he can make it unless he can draw some traffic off the interstate and that seems unlikely. I wonder if anyone around here has ever had heirloom tomatoes.
Msrobin I've had a very little BER on those long paste type tomatoes. Opalka to be exact and it was not caused from lack of water. I've read a lot about BER and I think, since it only happens on the first fruits, that it's a matter of the tops outgrowing the roots. The vascular system picks up nutrients from the roots and the photosynthesis process and recirculates around the clock just like ours does. I read somewhere that when the tops are rapidly growing, like they do in the water beds, in the early spring that they may not have developed all the little root hairs to pick up enough micro nutrients such as calcium. At least it sounds plausible. I used to have to throw out half my tomatoes when I grew them in the ground and that was definitely from erratic watering.
Told ya not to to quote me. LOL It was blossom drop caused by low night time temps.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1624.html
Blossom drop! Now that makes more sense. I'd be lucky to have blossoms to drop ~ lol
It sure is interesting the different behaviors plants have and the resulting concerns of the growers. I know all about blossom drop from heat but not cold. I find that a bit of a puzzle since I always put out some plants when there's still a real chance of frost. I've found lots of different ones that will set in the cold.
I really think it has more to do with the age of the seedlings because if the blossoms will open, they set pretty good even when the nights are in the low 40s. Usually the advice given by the universities is geared to commercial growing and even when it's adapted to the home grower I think they draw most of it from their commercial experience. Most people in their right mind don't put out big plants when they know they're likely to get frosted. Unlike me.
I ordered some of that bright orange flagging tape from ebay to tie up my maters. I got orange because it was a lot cheaper and only started using it on a couple plants when the other ran out. I just got new glasses and also got a cheap pair of reading glasses for the computer which work very well. I looked out and saw a couple bright orange spots and got all excited. I knew it couldn't be tomatoes but I had to change glasses to see what kind of flower was blooming. Awhile later it almost got me again when I thought I saw an open blossom on the squash that turned out to be dandelion. I guess it's time to get on the right glasses and go see what's happened overnight for real.
Growing for the CSA has put a whole new light on my gardening. Ordinarily, I don't garden with much thought. But this is extremely important for our future income, so I'm trying to do everything right.
I wonder if the blossom drop hot or cold temps issue has anything to do with the range of temperatures in a given day. Or maybe, with you all being in the south, your soil temperature, even it turns cold at night, doesn't get as cold as our soil, because it warms up more during the day than ours would?
I don't know, but I do agree that the Univ studies are geared more for commercial growing.
Suppose to dip to 41 tonite, but these plants are going out tomorrow. Some of my tomatoes in the 1 gal pots are over 18" high.
Growing for the CSA has put a whole new light on my gardening. Ordinarily, I don't garden with much thought. But this is extremely important for our future income, so I'm trying to do everything right.
I wonder if the blossom drop hot or cold temps issue has anything to do with the range of temperatures in a given day. Or maybe, with you all being in the south, your soil temperature, even it turns cold at night, doesn't get as cold as our soil, because it warms up more during the day than ours would?
I don't know, but I do agree that the Univ studies are geared more for commercial growing.
BTW, I have one cherry tomato in an ebucket. It appears to have vermic. wilt. I compared leaf pictures I found online. What do I do with it? Burn it?
Suppose to dip to 41 tonite, but these plants are going out tomorrow. Some of my tomatoes in the 1 gal pots are over 18" high.
On Sunday, I took a pod of garlic and separated the cloves. I chopped them in half and added to the waterbeds to use as a repellent. I was surprised tonight (Tuesday) to see something odd floating in the water. Look what I fished out...
Hydro garlic this one was a whole clove but other chunks are sprouting too. Amazing!
My yellow cherry maters are turning! Won't be long now.
Amazing is right. That thing sure was lightening fast. I wonder can garlic grow through the summer. I shorted myself when I planted last fall and I know I'll be having to buy it later in the year. Pod if you pot that thing up I'd like to know how it goes.
Last January I got 2 bundles of onions from Dixondale. The Short Day Sampler foliage is seriously yellowing so I think they're finished. That's just in time since the onions from the store are bad in the center and expensive. Last week I used the last of my dried ones. The other sampler which I forget the name had Candy, Superstar and a red. That foliage is still decent looking. Best of all are the ones I started from seed. They were tiny little thread like things when I set them out and I got them started 6 weeks late. I will get some fresh seed and start onions in early September.
My point is that I've often read that onions don't like wet soil and that they're shallow rooted. Both claims seem wrong to me. I have some roots coming out into the water and no rot in sight even with the wet winter I had. I think this is a good example of why people think I'm crazy when I try to explain the waterbeds. It totally goes against everything recommended by the experts.
In my last post I mentioned my new glasses playing tricks on me...well the squash (4) was blooming. I expect to eat yellow squash by the weekend. Yaaaay! I'm starting more seeds today. I found a caterpillar on a tomato plant yesterday so get ready for it.
Msrobin I don't know V wilt from shinola but if it's contagious I'd be destroying it and not using that soil for anything else that could be affected by it.
Don you dog! I don't have anything even looking like turning. You and oldude will be eating tomatoes first. He hasn't shown us his maters lately but I know he's got some bearing. So tell me again what variety that is. The only cherry I'm growing is Koralik which is supposed to be ready in 55 days. They lie.
Twiggy, it's a Yellow Cherry hybrid. I got the sets from a pretty exclusive place.... Wal-Mart. I think I'll pick them tomorrow. I have this fear that the birds will see them and go after them.
I suspect with the moisture, yes, garlic could grow thru summer. May be wrong but it would not be the first time. My instinct was to leave this in the water but sounds like you would like me to pot it up and waterbed plant it just for grins?
Msrobin ~ on the verticullum or fusarium wilt, it acts as though the whole plant is damping off. I have one of these fungus in the ground soil here ~ another reason for the water beds. Here they call it cotton root rot. If it is, that lies in the soil. It will affect many fruits and vegetables and as it lives in the soil, you don't want to contaminate it with that ebag of soil. http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/3000/3122.html
Thanks, Podster. The article said "Whenever practical, remove and destroy infested plant material after harvest". It was a cherry tomato in an ebucket and had recently started blooming, but hadn't started producing yet. I didn't want to take a chance on the disease spreading, so I burnt the plant. Wonder if I sprinkle the soil over burn pile, if the heat of a bonfire would kill it. If not, what do you suggest I do with the potting mix? It was only 1 bag, so no big loss.
So, I harvested eight of my yellow cherry maters today. The flavor is awesome. Nice and sweet, but the skin is tough.
I honestly have no idea how the soil should be handled. It can be treated but I don't think it is an organic treatment.
Yum ~ Dgal. Not sure why the skin would be tough. Anyone have any thoughts?
Congratulations Don. I can almost taste them. I bet those are Sungold. I grew 1 plant last year and they tasted very good but had the tough skin as you said. They bear for a long time so you will get to enjoy plenty of them. I notice you are keeping silence about the strawberries. Any action with those? I got 2 today. That makes #4 and 5. I had visions of strawberry shortcake but I don't see that happening at this rate.
Pod I'm just curious to know if garlic will grow in our zone in the summer. Everything I read says plant in the fall and harvest in May or June. I'm interested in extending the seasons for lots of things. I had 3 leeks in a pot last year and they seemed willing to go on forever.
There has been a lot of wind here this spring and I finally just gave up waiting for calm and went wild with the Roundup in my front yard this morning. I got my new spot for the sweet potatoes sprayed. I also tried to kill everything around my 2 trellises so I can try some pole beans in the ground. Maybe the nematodes have starved to death or moved on since it's been so long since I gave them something good to eat.
This is #4, Twiggy. However, the squirrels got to #1 just before I did (there is a chicken wire cage around them now) and some sort of insect or worm got #2 and 3. Whatever is was ate a groove out of them. I dusted them good with Seven Dust. Hope I can still eat them. Any suggestions on something to put on them that would be better? There are a bunch of little ones coming on.
Twig
Here is a miniature waterbed that I did because I miscalculated my soil mixture this year. I was attempting to get better aeration with the use of rice hulls and the mixture just did not hold enough water. It works fine outside where I have the irrigation system coming on twice a day but I did not get around to installing it for the caged tomatoes in the greenhouse. I came home from work a couple of times and found the tomatoes wilting so I tried this and it is working. I hold a bout 3” of water in the red dustpans and that is just about the same level of water that I use for 5-gallon buckets in the kids pool.
You guys have really nice crops in the waterbeds and anyone looking through this post should not have any apprehension to try it.
Oldude
Twig as per your request about pruning.
Boy I am really reluctant to get into a discussion about pruning tomatoes but this is what I do. When I grow tomatoes “indeterminate” trained to a single stem and supported by string and tomato clips, I cut every sucker that I can find. I cut away the bottom foliage and force the plant to grow continuously upwards. As soon as a cluster of tomatoes ripens I remove all the foliage below the cluster. Having said that about indeterminates, I do not trim “determinates” at all except to remove some of the lower foliage near the soil.
This is a picture of the indeterminates in my greenhouse that I quit pruning when I picked my first tomato from the outside grown crop. This is the left side towards the outside wall of the greenhouse. In the previous picture you can see that I just kick the vines to the side or clip to maintain a walkway between the caged determinates.
Again this is such a controversial subject that you just have to come to your own conclusion.
Oldude
Don I think your problem with the strawberries is either slugs or pill bugs. I haven't had problems with those in my pots although they used to get some of my strawberries on the ground. I've read all kinds or remedies for them. Some people say crushed egg shells work. Some say a saucer or jar lid with beer works. I know all the garden centers sell Sluggo or some other kind of bait. Maybe someone will come along that knows more.
Oledude I knew you were enjoying tomatoes while the rest of us are still dreaming about a nice BLT. That's a good solution to the problem. I will have some maters in the greenhouse next winter and maybe the kitchen too. That will be my watering mechanism.
The season is barely started and I'm already all messed up with a lot of my pruning. I've been so busy planting and replacing plastic that I've neglected to keep up. The plants are growing like crazy. I got so aggravated with some of my jungle that I cut the main stem so I can restart with a low growing sucker. It should also extend my peak harvest somewhat.
I'm also experimenting with the MO method. I'm trying a lot of hearts and pastes that have very wimpy foliage. I fear that they'll suffer sunscald as it is so I'm trying to leave as much as I can without having a bunch of suckers. I pinched out the growth tip on some so the leaves would continue to grow but hopefully not the stems. I really think it's going to take a few more seasons to get all this figured out.
It has been threatening rain for 3 days and finally just started about an hour ago. I rushed around like the chicken with its' head chopped in anticipation and then just wait, wait wait. I managed to get all the tomatoes, squash and cukes side dressed and the rain should make them jump. I think rain has a lot of dissolved oxygen that they like.
Msrobin did you get any of those awful storms? I sure hope it didn't damage anything. There sure seems to be plenty of troubles to go around. I'm just worried sick about the seafood and all the birds and critters here on the coast.
My main garden was looking like it was going to become a waterbed garden. After 2 days of rain, with over 6" total, my nice high wide rows were totally surrounded by 18" wide moats of 3-4" of standing water. This morning only about one 12' length of one path has standing water. Not too bad for drainage! All night Friday and Saturday nights we were under severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings, but nothing came of it, not even any strong winds. Very fortunate here.
Suppose to have 4 days of 70-80's and sunshine, so hopefully can get some more of the garden in. I started several seed trays a couple of days ago of squashes and melons and a couple of lettuces and greens. By the time they are ready to transplant, I should have all of the garden rows prepared.
Glad your garden received moisture but no damage.
We received virtually no moisture so once again, glad to be waterbed gardening. This a.m. I fished out a couple of sprouted garlic and potted them up. We will test drive garlic in the waterbed. I won't know what kind they are as I didn't dig from my own patch. The ground is too dry and packed. These were from the grocery ~ 25 cents a pod.
Twiggybuds ~ when you say you sidedress, what do you use?
Msrobin it's good to hear you escaped the worst of it. All my beds are running over for which I'm grateful. I actually watered two beds late yesterday because it looked like I wasn't going to get any. I found out last year that if my tomatoes get too dry and then I get a big rain that they can crack just like growing in the ground. I've got some good sized ones and they really should start turning any day.
Pod I use the micro nutrients from the following site but don't follow the recipe exactly.
http://foodforeveryone.org/fertilizers/
Last year I used the last of my triple 13 at planting time and ever since I've been using triple 8. They seem to work equally well. I got a 50lb sack of Epsom salts from the farm store. I save all my big coffee cans for my fert mix. I use an empty 8oz tomato sauce can to measure. 2 cans = 1lb. To a coffee can I put 5lbs fert, 12 oz Epsom salts and 2 oz micro nutrients. When they start blooming, they get a rounded tsp. every week to 10 days. I make up several of the coffee cans at a time and they work very well to keep out the moisture that would make it clump up or turn to stone. The Maxwell House cans have a nice handle.
Some people add extra nitrogen and lime but so far I haven't. I don't have to use nearly as much fert as I used to when I grew stuff in the ground. I really think the water allows the soil microbes to build up and work optimally along with the micro nutrients. I plan to add a tablespoon of lime to all my pots this fall because I had some issues with my cole crops. They didn't get the micro nutrients either. I really need to buy one of those ph testers.
The garlic will make a nice experiment. I just fed mine a couple days ago. It came from the grocery store too.
I'm sick. Sunday all my tomato plants looked perfect. Yesterday before dark I looked them all over and found 3 plants severely wilted. This morning there are a couple dozen. Plus I found 3 caterpillars eating up one plant. It looks like I have some serious problems. One pepper looks like it might be affected. The eggplants are still in the greenhouse.
I've been reading on the net and there is no cure. It can persist in the soil for 6 or more years. The only constructive advice from the universities is to plant resistant hybrids. I have seeds for 4 of them but no plants. I guess I'll start some seeds.
Right now this is just too big to get my head around. I think I'll take a wait and see. Whatever is left standing is what I'll have.
What a bummer, Twiggy. I feel your pain, my friend.
Twiggy, I think I still have a few of the seeds you sent me, that I could return. I'm so sorry to hear about this happening.
I am sorry to hear of your misfortune. If it were wilt, it does live in the soil and I would be reticent to use it again. I had wondered about reusing the soil but I did dump the pots and mix all together before refilling.
On the other hand, I wondered also when you said you had recently sidedressed your plants prior to rainfall. Is it possible that burned the roots or caused the damage?
Thank you all for your sympathies. All day that old saying about pride going before a fall has been replaying in my gourd. I've had so much good results in years past that I guess it's just my turn for the crud.
I think this is a soil borne disease called fusarium wilt or another one called Southern Blight. I've been using some of the same soil since 2005 and purchasing more every year as I've expanded. I can't blame any one source because I mix it all up.
I just want to reassure you that this is not related to the water bed culture. This mess is distributed around the world.
Tomatoes are my first love but I've got plenty more going on. I've even got some more tomato plants just up. I'll try to show some pics tomorrow.
Hope you get some maters, Twiggy. I think I counted around fifty on my six plants. Getting some nice strawberries now too. As for me, I'm sold on this water bed business.
This is a Sequoia strawberry.
Yummm ~ mouthwatering strawberry.
On the wilt, we have it in ground here which is another reason I like the waterbed gardening method. It is odd though as I have had two tomato plants in ground within 10 feet of each other, one wilts and dies and the other is fine. Here it is commonly called cotton root rot and the soil can be chemically treated but I suspect only financially feasible for commercial growers. And in thinking about it, when I have lost plants to wilt, it has been right after a good hard rain. It always appears when the soil is drying out and a person thinks surely that plant can't need more water. I wonder what it is about rainfall that triggers the wilt.
Not to worry, your waterbed garden hasn't lost this convert. Please keep us posted on your thoughts and research. Life is a learning process. When I am too old to learn, I will be pushing up... tomatoes.
Pod your description sounds right on the mark for this mess. I couldn't find any more plants wilting today so maybe it's stabilizing. They're just holding steady and nothing has turned brown yet. As long as it doesn't wipe them all out I can live with it.
This photo is typical of what they look like.
