Category Archives: Diseases

Blossom End Rot and Fried Green Tomatoes

Posted on by
DSC02580

Fried Green Tomatoes

 Our latest issue has been with our tomatoes.  First, some of them are getting blossom end rot.  The ends start to turn dark and leathery and will eventually start to rot the whole tomato.  We found this with several of the green tomatoes on our plant last weekend and, in order to save the fruit, we went ahead and picked the tomatoes, cut away the bad areas, and made fried green tomatoes.  I had never tried fried green tomatoes before since I’m not a big tomato fan, but these were great.  Thanks Drew!

Apparently, one way to quickly stop blossom end rot is to dissolve Tums in the water that you pour over the plants.  This condition is caused by a lack of calcium which is exactly what Tums are made of.  We’ll see if it works.

The other issue is that we have some sort of critter starting to eat our tomatoes before they ripen.  We’ve harvested a few and are trying to ripen them in brown paper bags.  If that seems to work we will go ahead and take them all.

Posted in Cooking, Diseases, Fruits, Pests, Vegetables

Bacteria Wilt

Posted on by

I believe our cucumber plants have a problem.  For the past week or so they have been getting droopy leaves that seems to get worse everyday.  Eventually they crinkle up and die.

DSC02549

I did a little research and found that there is a cucumber beetle (I’ve seen the yellow and black spotted variety) that can infect your cucumber plants with bacterial wilt.  Once they do this, there is really no way to save the plant.  I’m just happy that we’ve already gotten 56 cucumbers.  I’ve also seen the squash bug on our cucumbers, which apparently does damage as well.   Well, it’s been a good run.  Maybe next year we will cover our plants until they bloom to keep these guys from laying eggs on the leaves.

Posted in Diseases, Vegetables