it is amazing how some things can change.
the tomato crop looked really good on the
9th, picked about 20lbs on the 16th and
they were great.

from the distance everything kept looking
great and i was due to pick and process
again several days ago except almost the
entire crop was rotting on the vine. after
looking at the on-line resources it seems
to be buckeye rot but they say it affects
tomatoes from contact with the ground and
most of these are not in contact with the
ground at all.

neither of us has seen this rot before
and it isn't like the other spots of rot that
am familiar with where i can cut the spot
away and leave the rest of the fruit to be
used. it seems to affect the whole fruit
rapidly. i can smell it being off even after
cutting away the obvious rotten part and some
significant margin besides.

i'm suspecting that the cold snap of
several weeks ago is the likely culprit for
setting things up so badly. all plants in
several different areas (with different
soils) are affected. many have now lost most
of their leaves (but the stems are still
green and look healthy). i'm hoping the
newer green fruits will come through.

the other day i picked about 50lbs and
ended up burying about half that as rotten.
today i picked about 60lbs and all but
10lbs were rotten. i still have more to
pick tomorrow.

the cherry tomatoes seem to be ok for now
and are coming along well.


songbird