It has been a long time times since I've joined in Garden Bloggers Death Day which is hosted by Kate, but it seemed like a good time. Two days ago I had noticed that the groundhog had eaten two of my butternut squash. Well today I noticed that all five of them had been eaten. I guess my squash need to be grown behind a fence next year.
The cucubits seem to be very hard this this year. Above is the squash vine borer damage in my zucchini.
Then my cucumbers are getting some kind of disease. Usually powdery mildew takes them down, but this year it looks like something else will.
And last but not least are my tomatoes. They look healthy there I guess, but you will notice a lot of missing foliage. I cut all the yellowing leaves out. Some disease is turning them yellow and the leaves slowly die. Above are the Chinese tomatoes that all seem very hard hit.
These are the Heinz. Again the tomatoes themselves look great, but the plant is mostly defoliated. I hope they turn before the plant dies horribly. Not all the plants seem affected. Cherokee Purple, San Marzano, and Opalka seem totally unaffected by it. And Gabrielle, Principe Borghese, and Market Miracle see only mildly affected.
I couldn't leave you will just devastation so here is the photo of the first Cherokee Purple tomato. It was delicious.
My tomatoes are doing the same thing. Every few days I have to cut a lot of yellow leaves off. I pulled the one plant two days ago. I think that they will only last about a month. Oh well, I am getting a great harvest of tomatoes this year.
ReplyDeleteSo happy to see that you have enjoyed your first Cherokee Purple :)
My tomato plants are doing the exact same thing. When I was out weeding today, I was cutting off yellow leaves on the tomato plants. Not sure what is going on!
ReplyDeleteOh no! Not the butternut squash....wildlife sure can be a problem for a garden.
ReplyDeleteGlad you ended with a positive item - these blogger death day posts are kind of depressing! LOL! Sorry about the squash and the vineborer - although I am already getting a bit weary of the zucchini so having a few of them go down would actually not break my heart at the moment. They are however, hale and hearty and producing like mad. ;D
ReplyDeleteYum, I still haven't tried a Cherokee Purple, so I took a bite of yours ;-)
ReplyDeleteI will be pulling one sickly tomato tomorrow, before it decides to spread its yellowness to another plant. It wasn't one of the better tomatoes being tried this year, so no big loss. This is a year for tomato testing, after all. If they don't perform and taste well, out they go. By the way, we had our first Market Miracle for dinner tonight, and it got a thumbs up.
Oh my...don't even get me started on the tomatoes....it makes me feel a little bit ill. Last year it was late blight. This year they just look so pitiful. This year their doing much the same thing that your plants are.
ReplyDeleteThen there's those infuriating tomato hornworms. One was caught early, but then we kept looking...and looking...and looking. Nothing. Then, today while spraying an OMRI fungicide (LB preventative and hopefully enough to help them recover from whatever it is that they have) on the plants one of the stems moved. He was a fat sucker...emphasis on the *was*.
Out west, when tomato plants start getting yellow leaves starting at the base, we suspect tomato russet mite. Michelle has a good post on it from a while back . They come with hot and dry weather. You guys have been having a very hot summer, could the russet mite be the culprit?
ReplyDeleteRobin, I can't wait to add up all the tomato yields with all the varieties. Now if they would just get ripe. Most are just starting to turn right now.
ReplyDeletemeemsnyc, me either
EG, I'm so sad about the squash. The plants were doing so well. The groundhog likes to snack on the leaves too, but the damage there wasn't too bad.
kitsapFG, lol yes they are a little depressing. They only show the bad and not the good. For instance the cukes might be diseased, but they don't seem to care. They keep putting out nice new leaves and fruit. I hope they last. Sadly the zukes have never produced well this year. the SVBs got them early and they are struggling along.
Annie's Granny, I guess I might be willing to share one bite, but not with the whole commune since then I think I wouldn't get any bites at all. I'm glad that you liked Market Miracle. This year it isn't doing as well for me. I put it on the wrong side of another plant and it is mostly in shade. It still has lots of tomatoes though, just not as prolific as last year.
mamaraby, I'm glad the hornworms haven't shown up on mine yet. Last year I had a bumper crop of them. Ick.
Angela, Hmm I wonder if that is my problem. We usually don't have this kind of weather for any length of time so mites are usually not an issue. Usually we deal with the blights and the fungi. I haven't seen any rust colored stems though. I'll have to look closer and see.
That stinks about the tomatoes. My mother is having the same problem. I do wonder what it is, since it certainly isn't the same blight we had last year.
ReplyDeleteHi Daphne! So sorry you were able to participate in GBDD :( That squash is a shame... I'm glad that on my long list of problems I don't have groundhogs to contend with.
ReplyDeleteBugs were a nightmare in my garden this year - I've heard from a lot of people that this was one of the buggiest years they've had... Weird.
Thanks again for participating!