Hello Folks,
I thought I might try planting some tomatos early this year using
wall-o-waters. What would be the earliest I should risk planting
tomatos in the garden using these?
I still suffer my "mystery killer" (that some of you may remember
me posting about long ago), and I'm hoping to get more than one large
tomato per plant prior to this hitting. I'm going to try the early
start method. (I have a volunteer from which I keep seeds year to
year, large cherry tomato that is somewhat resistant.)
the "mystery killer", it is not wilt (though all but that one
variety seems to get that), since it turns the leaves kind of black
and/or speckled, but when fall comes, the plant actually starts
sending out new leaves and branches with not enough time to produce
actual tomatoes. The ones with wilt are plain dead early in the
season.
The only plants that escape the MK are peppers, potatoes
(mostly), and basil. Also killed butterfly bushes, beans, mulberry
tree, blueberries (I think.... they just won't grow), and much much
more. I sure wish I could just identify this thing. MOST
discouraging.
Cheers,
Kira

Kira,

When I Googled for tomato + butterfly bush, in among the numerous catalog
listings I found "ringspot virus" which sounds like it might be your
culprit. It's known as tomato/tobacco ringspot virus.

The first link below is NCSU's "Virus Diseases of Greenhouse Tomato and
Their Management" which may offer some suggestions for you.

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/pp/not...notes/vg15.htm

http://www.apsnet.org/pd/searchnotes/2003/1106-03N.asp

Good luck, and keep us posted!

Anne Lurie
NE Raleigh


"Kira Dirlik" !! wrote in message
...
Hello Folks,
I thought I might try planting some tomatos early this year using
wall-o-waters. What would be the earliest I should risk planting
tomatos in the garden using these?
I still suffer my "mystery killer" (that some of you may remember
me posting about long ago), and I'm hoping to get more than one large
tomato per plant prior to this hitting. I'm going to try the early
start method. (I have a volunteer from which I keep seeds year to
year, large cherry tomato that is somewhat resistant.)
the "mystery killer", it is not wilt (though all but that one
variety seems to get that), since it turns the leaves kind of black
and/or speckled, but when fall comes, the plant actually starts
sending out new leaves and branches with not enough time to produce
actual tomatoes. The ones with wilt are plain dead early in the
season.
The only plants that escape the MK are peppers, potatoes
(mostly), and basil. Also killed butterfly bushes, beans, mulberry
tree, blueberries (I think.... they just won't grow), and much much
more. I sure wish I could just identify this thing. MOST
discouraging.
Cheers,
Kira

First the easy question: when would be a good time to plant tomato
seedlings in the wall-o-waters outside in the garden?

Thanks to those who replied to the group and personally to my e-addy.
I looked at the sites all of you recommended. Wow. Too high tech on
some of these... I'm not trying to save my livlihood here. Also I
hate to use chemicals (but do sometimes out of desperation: Raid and
Sevin).

So many of these symptoms are similar, that it is really hard to
pinpoint from just reading about them. And it effects different
plants differently. I just wish I knew if it were a virus, or a bug,
fungus, or what.
It hits beans first and hardest. I found that Sevin helps a bit, at
least prolongs life (but I don't use poison after plants flower).
I took about 8 infected species to Al Cooke, ag. agent, a few years
back and he thought it might be spider mites, but there were no webs.
I think this is the source:
I had a lemon tree, healthy for years, at work at Duke. Our dept
moved to Bio Sci Bldg (home of Botany... experimenters for new and
improved Agent Orange????). Something nasty hit the lemon. At first
I put the fallen leaves in my compost box (which I had at work for
coffee grounds, everyone's lunch leftovers, etc) and took them home to
my black plastic space capsule composter. WRONG! But eventually the
lemon tree died and I did away with it at work.
The first year, this Mystery Killer had that composter as its center
and affected a diameter of about 12 feet. The ring progressed outward
farther each year. Now about an acre. If only I'd nipped it in the
bud.
I have a pommelo tree that does well outside in summer, but in winter,
the leaves have these same sypmptoms, and I spray it with Raid
periodically. By spring the leaves are nearly all gone (they get
sticky, with dry patches, distorted, and fall off) but it recovers
gloriously when it goes outside again.
In bright sun in the house, I can see tiny webs and a tiny thing
dangling at end of it at times. If I squash between fingers, there is
a very tiny red smear. This is so tiny I can't see detail even with
the circle of great magnification that is set within my big magnifier,
but it moves. I can see them on some of the leaves and they are
smaller than this period: .
Can it be that spider mites keep killing all these things? No way to
wash off by hand thousands and thousands of leaves all through my yard
and garden. And the thought of putting malation in a hose like my
dad used to do and drenching everything, is not the way to go. I
prefer organic.
Infects/kills these the worst and in this order:
beans
butterfly bushes
citrus
tomatos
roses
mulberry
blueberries (hangs in but zero growth, no flowers) weeds thrive here

fuzzy purple with orange flowers houseplant
avocado
ivy
begonia
marigolds
morning glories

My apologies for length. (I try less gardening every year. boo hoo)
Kira