Florida Growers Thread

[captnkirk]

M arge i knew better than to ask,what a bummer.What are the sighns they are showing.I pulled a plant earlier in the year that had it for sure.The top of the plant just was stunted and the leaves were yellow with green outline.I was looking at one of my plants today that looked a little stunted at the top but the leaves still had good color.Hope its not the virus.Can you actually see the flies?I Havent noticed none but i havent really looked for them._______________I started some of the sophies choice,red robin and new big dwarf yesterday thinking like you,they are small enough to bring in if we ehave a cold front.My neighbor will be here nov 1st so he can help me with them when im out on the road.He grows alot of plants up in kentucky every year so he wont mind helping me out at all._______________________________Hope them 2 plants you got that are supposed to have resistance make it ok and have some flavor to them.Would be great for us here in florida to have some plants that resist the tylcv. good luck

[MargeH]

Yea, it's a real bummer.

The first sign that I am recognizing as the virus is a yellow-green mottling on, not the very newest set of leaves, but the ones before that. And the leaves also have a thicker look to them most of the time.

Then the yellow starts taking over on the edges of the leaves and with each set, they get smaller and lighter in color on the edges. On some varieties, the shape of the leaf starts getting longer and thinner, too. Black Krim, the first place I noticed it over the weekend, snuck up on me. The newest leaves are taller than I am. Where I caught it was on a sucker in the middle of the plant. Those leaves were very yellow on the edges and much longer and narrower.

I have had very good germination rates with the Sophie and NBD seeds. Let me know how they do for you.

____
Marjorie

[dice]

Whitefly control suggestions:

http://www.ghorganics.com/whiteflies.html

http://www.greenharvest.com.au/fact_..._whitefly.html

[MargeH]

Thanks for the whitefly control suggestions. I have tried most of them except the sticky traps. I plan to get some of those for the spring. I also read somewhere about covering the whole plant. I will try to find some fine enough before spring. I at least could use it on the dwarfs for a longer length of time.

The problem is that in the reading I have done, it only takes one infected whitefly sucking on the plant for 15 minutes to spread this stuff. I have never had that many of them. Now that I am really looking for them, when I inspect my plants I might see a couple when I shake the plants. It's not like a cloud flies away.

If it weren't for the virus, I probably wouldn't use any insecticide at all because I don't see that many insects on my plants. Now, worms, before I started using BT. That's another story.

I haven't talked to the local extension folks yet. Before spring, I probably will do that to see if they have any other suggestions for me to try to control the whiteflies.

_____
Marjorie

[dice]

I don't mind spraying harmless organic compounds
like Neem oil (in a solution of castille soap or Murphy's
Oil Soap) for pests. I try to stay away from anything that
would kill a ladybug, a lacewing, the tiny parisitoid wasps,
etc (I read somewhere that parsley in flower attracts
those).

Edit:
Actually I mind spraying anything. It is a pet peeve.
But if I have to treat plants for some pest, I prefer
the minimal impact organic preparations that don't
poison natural controls in the local environment.

[captnkirk]

So far all of the SC and RR have germinated no NBD yet,thinks its only been 5 days since i started them so should see some in next couple of days.

Marge hows yours coming along?Is the virus spreading to more plants?Im back on the road now so i wont be able to keep a close eye on the one plant that i was a little worried about.I should be back home middle of next week so hopefully if it was infected it wont get spread to the whole bunch of my plants.

Anne do you see any sighns of TYLCV down your way?any toms set yet? keep us posted.

[annecros]

No signs, but plenty of whitefly. Gardener's Delight has set - others are blooming.

Oh, and tomato hornworm. Too many to count - but I check and squish every day. Unless they have parasites, then I relocate.

[MargeH]

A couple more are starting to show signs of the virus. I am learning to live with it. Several of the plants have close to 20 tomatoes on them. I just have to plant more plants than I probably would if it weren't for the virus.

I am finding that some varieties (the blacks I have grown so far) seem to get it FAST once they start showing signs and don't set many more, while others take longer to get the tiny, deformed leaves and will set some more.

My mystery plant from last fall (a red beefsteak) set tomatoes until I pulled it in December, but the tomatoes were about a third the size of the ones that had set before it became infected. They were still bigger than Kimberlys, though.

The two plants that are resistant still look great but neither of them is setting very well. I have more tomatoes on most of the infected plants than I do on those two. They were all set out at the same time.
____
Marjorie

[captnkirk]

I think planting more and like you said in the beginning of this thread,making sure the plants are started early and put out as strong mature plants will help in getting more toms.

What we really need is a sunroom,im dreaming now.

Marge it is still pretty early so maybe the Inbar and Polina will come on strong with the cooler weather.


Anne i havent noticed any hornworms so far but il keep a look out.How do you know if they have parasites?are the parasites on them?

[MargeH]

There are pictures out there of hornworms with the wasp larvae growing all over them. If you had one, you would know it. I had hornworms last year, but haven't seen one this year. I started using BT in the spring. I have still seen a few other types of worms, but none of those monsters. I didn't realize what was eating my plant last year .... and then I saw it. YUCK. That was my first experience with them and I don't look forward to picking them off again.

I'm still hoping those two plants will start setting better. They have plenty of flowers on them. Weather is supposed to start feeling more like fall the end of the week .... lows actually making it to the high 60s.
We'll see if that makes a difference.
______
Marjorie

[annecros]

I can tell by the quality of light that the season change is here. I'm glad, FPL gets enough of my money.

The parasites are VERY visible. Not mistaking them - and I do no want to insult anyones sensibilities by posting an additional pic.

They are nasty. A hornworm will eat a tom plant in a day - easily. Just a catepillar - but a nasty destructive machine.

[captnkirk]

Ewwwwwwwwwww........I did a search on here and saw a pic of the hornworm with the parasites,thats pretty nasty looking stuff.lol

Guess it wont be long now il have to be on the look out for all the other pest that go after the ripe ones.I have a mockinbird nest in a tree in front yard and alot of squirrels in the neighborhood to.

I cant wait to get back home and see hows they are doing,should be home wed if things go well.

Anne good to hear you have toms set and no sighns of the virus down your way yet.

Marge did you actually pick them off with ya bare fingers lol

[MargeH]

Yes, I did. Then I threw it down and stomped on it. It had eaten about a third of my plant before I figured out what was doing it.

[annecros]

Yep Marge, me too. Stomped that sucker flat.

Mockingbirds generally prefer insects. They'll take care of a hornworm for you - IF they can find them.

Time to put out some snail bait...

[captnkirk]

Well i made it home today to find whiteflys on my cukes and tomato plants.Seems they like the cukes more than the maters.From what i can tell only one of the tomato plants might be swhowing some sighns of tylcv but im not sure.All the plants have set alot more tomatos while i was gone.As many whiteflys as i have on the cukes chances arent in my favor,i sprayed with soap and water mix heavy and will check tomorrow morning to see if it helped.Im pretty sure what im seeing is whiteflys,they are mostly on the bottom of the cukes leaves and if i shake the leaves they fly off.One thing for sure there is a bunch of them.I do see a few fly off when i shake the tomato plants allso so its prolly just a matter of a few days before i see the sighns of the virus.

Marge do you notice alot of the flys when you shake the plant or not?