Our wait for a garden-related calamity may be over: it seems many of our tomato plants have been afflicted with some kind of illness. The plants started to yellow from the bottom and middles-up. Clipping the dying portions didn't do too much to stem the problem. Now, fruit on some of the cherry tomato plants is starting to wither, suggesting not enough water is getting through the plant's vascular system.
At this point in the season, it's actually not that big a deal to lose some plants. We're overflowing an entire colander with tomatoes right now, and there's at least a dozen more stupice and many cherry ripening out there today. The tops of the plants also remain healthy, so more fruit may be possible. And three cherry tomato plants are relatively if not completely unscathed. How much fucking tomato salad can one couple eat? We're about to find out. And I don't love tomatoes, either.
Google tomato disease and try to self-diagnose a problem. Good luck with that. I think what we've got is this, or maybe this, or this. One is caused by a virus spread by aphids; the other two by fungus. It doesn't really matter the cause because the only treatment is not to grow tomatoes the next season or even two seasons. So I suppose our experiments with this version of container gardening will start next year if we want tomatoes. Or do it in Bruce Monroe's community garden.
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