[tjg911]

i don't know what your "worm" problem is but i suspect you mean caterpillars. you can spray the plants with BT and that'll end the cat problem. never heard of grey mold, you have diseases we don't have. from what i have read here over the years, growing in the south is much more difficult than up here due to diseases and bugs.

the single stem sounds good for air circulation but as you noted lose leaves and you have sun scald or the inability to feed the plant. i am surprised that a single stem will produce such a high yield, i would have thought this was going to severely lower your harvest.

i won't use the single stem method as i don't see it being necessary for me. last year a cp plant had some fruits out in the sun and sun scald ruined most of them, this happened another year to another variety so i want more foliage not less. this is why i never prune the suckers, more shade and more leaves to feed the plant. i space plants far enough they have good air circulation despite the humidity and the nasty habit of it raining before dark vs early in the day so things can dry out. trimming the lower leaves helps with air circulation. i get some foliar problems but usually nothing too bad. my plants usually have most of their leaves in mid september, in other gardens the plants are often dead by then.

tom