I think tomatoes know I am not a huge fan of them. At least not raw tomatoes. Ok, I also do not like fried, baked, boiled, or stewed tomatoes. I pretty much only go for ketchup and spaghetti sauce. I want to branch out and make my own. I even want to dehydrate and powder some down as a spice or garnish and I would love to be able to make my own tomato paste! Alas….I have serious tomato plant woes.
For two years running, we have tried to grow tomatoes in the greenhouse. I made sure the soil was wonderful each year. The first year, I planted seeds and tenderly, lovingly grew it up through the fragile stages and hardened it off until it eventually grew into two enormous plants in the greenhouse! I was so pleased and Mister Dreamer was excited, too. Even though I don’t care for them raw, he does and it would make me pretty darn happy to see him out there with a salt shaker in hand, gorging himself on bright red tomatoes. I would, of course, have to pretend outrage and make muttering comments about not having enough. And he would grin and say something like, “What? I am helping harvest!” or some such. Unfortunately, the fungus creeped in.
It started with a few spots on the leaves, the lower ones. I thought it was normal as they had been yellowing off anyway. The plant continued to grow strong and flowers were coming out in droves. The yellowing was creeping up and some of the leaves had purple coloring to them now. I was a little more concerned but just removed them off the plant and kept going. By the time little tomatoes started forming, I knew I had a larger problem. I began to research it and thought it was only some kind of bug problem. Another local gardener had ordered some lady bugs and asked if any wanted some. I jumped on it and released about 100 in my 9′ x 12′ greenhouse and shut the door. The upside is if there were any detrimental pests in there, the lady bugs took them out but they didn’t do any good for the creeping fungus problem.
By the time the tomatoes were getting large enough to perhaps start ripening, I noticed that where a branch that had 3 beautiful, bright green tomatoes growing was attached to the main stalk was fuzzy and darkened. My heart sank. I sprayed a few different home remedy fungicides but it didn’t have any lasting effects. To make a long story short, we ended up harvesting a whopping 4 tomatoes. None larger than a tennis ball.
What I’ve Learned
Of course, I began researching all I could about different diseases tomatoes can get and my conclusion was I had blight. A coworker confirmed it when I described what had happened and I showed him a few pictures on a Google search. I have learned a lot about growing tomatoes here in this very wet, cooler climate. First, ventilation and air movement are a must because you absolutely must grow them in a “hot house” or enclosed greenhouse. Being able to open the sides or doors/windows is all well and good but it does not always move the air. There is also the worry of it being too hot in there and that can also cause damage to your tomato plants. If you live in an area that has huge temperature swings like we can, it may be beneficial to install some kind of regulation system. We have certainly considered it more than once. With the prices of tomatoes here ($2.49 a pound on sale for ‘on the vine’ varieties; it goes up from there) it would quickly pay itself off in the first couple years. Especially if you intend on doing all of the things I would like to that will hopefully get us through the winter.
Mister Dreamer and I have agreed that we will have a separate greenhouse for growing tomatoes. Doing it this way allows us to create the climate they need to produce the big, beautiful tomatoes I have seen harvested from people’s private gardens. It increases our chances of success and honestly, makes companion planting easier. We are very hopeful that this time next year, we will be on our own property and in a new greenhouse we have built with our own two hands, looking at all of the red tomatoes shining in the sun. Maybe then, I can get rid of the tomato plant woes. 😉
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We had trouble with blossom end rot on our tomatoes this year because of inconsistent rainfall. So sad to see those beautiful strong healthy plants wilting away! 🙁 That said… I’ve always taken for granted how easy it is to grow them in this area. Toss ’em in the dirt and let ’em go and, more often than not, they’ll turn out OK. I’m not sure I’d have the patience and persistence to do all you described.
Thank you for the comment! I really believe that simply getting better ventilation in the greenhouse will help make a difference. We are very hopeful and plan on building a separate place strictly for growing tomatoes. I WILL overcome this!
The funny thing is I remember my grandmother’s p;ants just being in a container on the porch and they always did well. Perhaps that is what I am doing wrong? 🙂