Advice for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Client's Request (from telephone conversation): Help!... I'm growing tomatoes in an enclosed courtyard. I'm now seeing tomatoes disappearing and some with gnawed portions of low hanging tomatoes. I've heard a lot about voles being quite prevalent this year. Do you think it is voles? Other than the disappearing tomatoes and gnawing, I haven't really seen signs of other “animals”.
MGCC Help Desk Response: Thank you for calling the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk this morning with your question about your disappearing tomatoes.
On the other hand, rats are excellent climbers and though somewhat larger, look similar to voles. (Voles can be up to 8 inches long, including the tail, and they have a short tail. While rats are much larger than the common house mouse or meadow vole, a young rat is occasionally confused with a mouse. In general, very young rats have large heads and feet in proportion to their bodies, whereas those of adult mice are proportionately much smaller).
Reducing the rat population should be the first step in protecting your tomatoes. Sanitation and making your courtyard less hospitable to rats, can go a long way to reducing the population. If you have bird feeders, either remove them or clean under them daily and take them inside at night. Also, talk with your neighbors about reducing rat habitat, as this is usually a neighborhood-wide problem. (Rat habitat outside of your courtyard might include woodpiles, moist areas in and around gardens, and dense vegetation such as ivy.)
Trapping can also work to reduce the population, but it is difficult to make a permanent dent in the population through trapping alone. Snap traps are the best traps to use as long as you can place them where other animals (squirrels, opossums, and birds as well as your dog or neighbors' cats) can't get to them. For roof rats, the traps should be placed in off-the-ground locations such as branches or fences.
If you use traps, check them frequently for dead rats. Do not touch rodents with your bare hands. Make sure you wash your hands thoroughly after handling traps. Dispose of dead rats by burying them or by placing them in a sealed plastic bag and putting them in the trash.
In the meantime, physical barriers can be used to protect your tomato plants directly. One approach is to erect a 1 foot tall barrier using metal roof flashing (obtainable at the hardware store) all the way around the planting bed. Rats are unable to gain traction on the slippery surface. Alternatively, you could build a small-mesh (no larger than 1/4 inch holes) enclosure around the bed or around each plant. Since rats, especially roof rats, are excellent climbers, the wire mesh enclosure would need to go up the sides and across the top of the plants.
We do not recommend use of rat poisons, especially out of doors, due to risk of harm to wildlife and pets either by eating the poison directly and/or indirectly in eating the rat.
For more information on rat identification and management, see: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74106.html
And for information on voles see: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7439.html
Hope this information helps you eliminate those disappearing tomatoes. From the inquiries Master Gardeners have received about rats this year you are not alone.
Please let us know if you have further questions.
Good luck with your tomatoes!
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (MCW)
Please Join us at "Fall for Plants" on September 9 for the workshops and the plant sale, Registration is optional, but it'll get you a free plant from the sale. Hope to see you there.
Note: The UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925)646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).
Advice for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Client's Request: Hello, I'm seeing these black “berries” growing on my Stupice tomatoes that I purchased and planted… or maybe they aren't “tomatoes”? The photos I've attached (below) show that the the straight thin stems with the berries do seem to come from the very base of the plant. The tomato on the same (?) plant also has a mottled look to it? Is that a problem. Thanks for any info you can provide.
MGCC Help Desk Response: Thank you for sending your photos to the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk. It looks like a nightshade weed has grown in the same place as your tomato. (Tomatoes are also members in the nightshade family). Most likely, it was a weed seed in the same small pot when you got your tomato plant. The best thing to do right now is cut the nightshade stem as close to the ground as possible. You don't want to pull it because it might damage the adjacent “real” tomato's roots. Dispose of the plant and the berries in your green waste can--you don't want these to multiply in your yard.
As far as the mottling on your green tomato, it doesn't really look abnormal. In my experience, as soon as the fruit turns red, you won't see that kind of mottling. The tomato diseases that cause mottled fruit don't look like your tomato.
Please don't hesitate to contact us again.
Happy gardening!
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SEH)
Note: The UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925)646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).
/span>/b>Advice for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
MGCC Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk with the photo of your bugs. These are leaffooted bugs in the nymph stage.
Leaffooted bugs seem to be an increasing problem in our gardens. They are not new to California, but they seem to be occurring more commonly in the past several years. Adults overwinter, often in large groups, in protected spots such as woodpiles, palm fronds, under peeling bark, or in tree cracks. In the spring or summer, they move into gardens looking for fruit that's ripening so they can lay their eggs. Tomatoes seem to be one of their preferred crops.
Leaffooted bugs have piercing-sucking mouths they use to suck plant juice. When they feed on small tomatoes, the fruit will sometimes fall off prematurely. Feeding on mature tomatoes can cause a slight discoloration that doesn't really harm the tomato--they are still edible.
For control of leaffooted bugs right now (July), hand pick them when you see them (wear gloves because they don't smell very good), and look for and remove eggs which are usually laid in a chain on the underside of leaves. If you experience a heavy infestation this year, remove overwintering sites, clear weedy areas around your garden site where the adults feed before the fruit ripens, and next year, you can try using row covers to protect crops if you see the problem again. Use of an insecticide for control is rarely warranted.
This link will take you to more information about leaffooted bugs from the University of California: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74168.html.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have more questions.
Happy gardening!
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SEH)
Note: The UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925)646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).
Advice from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Subject: More Summer Tomato problems as well as Crop Rotation and Fertilization
Client brought tomatoes from her garden with “production problems” to the Help Desk.
Response from the Help Desk: Thank you for bringing your tomato plant samples to the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk office. You mentioned that you have been planting tomatoes in the same area for a number of years and have not had problems before this year. We found 3 different conditions in your samples that could explain why your plants are not thriving.
place year after year can favor a build up of this pest. The pest can also persist in petunias, morning glory, and other plants in the tomato family like potato, peppers and eggplant. We recommend that you remove the infested plants, all fallen leaves and weeds in the area, and put them in your green waste container (not in a compost pile). This will reduce the potential that russet mites will still be in your yard next year.
Additional information on the russet mites can be found here http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/VEGES/PESTS/tomrusmite.html.
Sulfur dusts can be used to reduce an infestation of russet mites but will not help if the pest has already killed most of the plant. If you do decide to try a treatment anyway, safety warnings applicable to the use of sulfur include wearing eye protection, long pants and long sleeves, and a hat, and avoiding contact with eyes and skin. Additional information on sulfur is here http://ipm.ucanr.edu/TOOLS/PNAI/pnaishow.php?id=67 .
Finally, we strongly recommend that you not plant tomatoes or other plants in the tomato family listed above in the same area more than 2 years in a row. Rotating your vegetables will help reduce the pests and diseases that you have been experiencing this year. You may also be interested in a good overall UC reference on growing tomatoes in the home garden that can be found (free) at http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/repositoryfiles/8159-54222.pdf
Please feel free to contact us again if you have additional problems with your garden.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (JL)
Note: The UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).
Advice from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa County
Client: I'm having some early summer problems in my garden. I'm reluctant to use pesticides in my garden since I have several small children. Would you please provide some recommendations to either cure and/or minimize the problems:
- Tomato plants are doing reasonably well but there are some funky looking lower leaves that I'm concerned about.
- My roses' leaves are mottled with brown-red markings.
- The flowering pear tree's leaves are mottled and dropping; an arborist recommended injecting a chemical into the tree to cure the problem
- I suspect that my garden soil is too alkaline (i.e. previously tested pH@7.1). How can I test it and what can I do to reduce pH? Will just adding compost reduce pH?
UCMGP's Help Desk Response: Thank you for the photographs, which were very helpful. Our responses follow:
Flowering Pear Tree: The photograph from the flowering pear confirms that it is infected with Entomosporium, another fungus that is spread by splashing rain. http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/PLANTS/DISEASES/entomoslfspt.html. We do not think that this disease warrants fungicide treatment. I do not know what chemical the pest company was
Soil pH: Home test kits for soil are fairly reliable as long as the instructions are followed carefully. A pH of 7 - 7.5 is borderline satisfactory, but may go up over time because our municipal water tends to have high pH. We recommend that you wait until the plants have been harvested and then add garden sulfur to the soil in the fall according to label directions. Lowering the pH with sulfur takes time (i.e., months), so you must be patient. Adding compost will not lower the soil pH.
I hope that this information is helpful. Please do not hesitate to contact us again. Good luck on a successful summer garden.
Editor's Notes: It is likely that the tomato, rose, and flowering pear tree problems may have been caused by the late rains creating conditions conducive to fungus: cool, humid conditions. Warmer, drier weather should minimize these types of fungus infestations provided there is adequate air circulation and not overhead watering early evening.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (JL)
Note: The UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).