I'm on the Carolina Piedmont. I'd better not complain about other
vegetables. They may have grown fairly well, but I have planted only
tomatoes in the last couple of years. For several years, the plants
would thrive until the first fruits were big. It reminded me of what
borers would do to a squash plant.

Volunteer tomatoes thrive on the compost pile. The plot has lots of
compost, some chicken manure, and some wood ashes. No smokers live here.



Thomas wrote:
Where are you located? How often do you fertilize and what kind of
fertilizer do you use? From your description of symptoms, I suspect
fusarium wilt, and not nematode damage. It is a good idea to rotate your
crops and not plant nightshades in the same spot over and over. What other
kinds of amendments have you added to your soil if any?


"Sawney Beane" wrote in message
...
Twenty-five years ago I made some thriving little vegetable gardens by
digging 4 x 4 holes two feet deep and using a lot of compost when I filled
them in.

I moved away. Ten years ago I moved back and built a new garden near
where the others had been. It has never worked very well.

Tomatoes are an example. Each year the plants seem to be doing well until
the first fruits are big and green. Then, branch by branch, leaves begin
to shrivel and fall, and I won't get any more big fruit.

What could be wrong?