How are everyone's plants holding up? The weather has been hot lately. Forecast is 117 in Phoenix this Saturday.
I've been watering every other day since about the middle of June, though I'm thinking I'll go to daily or 36 hours at most with 115+ highs. How often have you been watering in this heat?
My plants have had some kind of issue for at least a month. I don't have enough experience to know what it is. A friend with similar issues was told powdery mildew by a local nursery, but I've had that on other plants in the past, and this doesn't match. Leaves pretty much dry out to a papery consistency. It's on the oldest growth. I've trimmed off the bottom 2' or so of foliage, but it is creeping upward.
A couple weeks ago I found a young hornworm on one plant. Later that day I saw another. I sprayed with BT. Two days later, when harvesting, some gunk dribbled on my arm. It was a rotting, dead hornworm clinging to a leaf. Found another in the same condition. I haven't had any catepillar issues since. BT is wonderful stuff.
I've been tracking my harvest by plant, weighing everything and keeping track using a spreadsheet. So far, 15 large variety plants and a couple potted Sophie's Choice plants have produced 138.75 pounds. More tomatoes are growing. I don't know if they will turn into good tasting maters this late in the season. Time will tell.
My biggest tomato so far is a KBX at 18.84 ounces. A few Ernestos and Cherokee Purples have been about a pound. So, large-fruited varieties can certainly work in these conditions. And taste good too.
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