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: I noticed some leaves “browning and yellowing, maybe dying” on my Paul Robeson tomato (see photo), do you have any suggestions?
MGCC Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk. It's been a busy season for the Help Desk, and we apologize for our delay in responding to your inquiry!
We understand that you are concerned about your Paul Robeson heirloom tomato plant's yellowing and dying leaves. The photo of your plant that you provided does not indicate a reason for concern for us. Overall, the plant looks healthy. It is not unusual for tomato plants to have browning leaves (especially lower leaves which may now be shaded from the sun) as we are headed toward the end of the growing season and have experienced some extremely hot weather recently.
We do have a few suggestions on how to extend your plant's production and growing season by giving it the best cultural care you can:
- You can lightly fertilize and be careful to consistently but not over water.
› After plants have set fruit you may want to fertilize with more nitrogen every 4 to 6 weeks.
› Water plants when the soil dries in the top 2-3”. Tomatoes need regular irrigation during the growing season - You may want to trim off the browning leaves as they won't be adding to the tomato's growth or production and could improve the plant's appearance.
- We notice that you have black weed cloth on the ground near your tomato plant. We suggest removing that cloth as it may be contributing to more heat in the soil. Instead use 2–3” of a wood or straw mulch around the plant instead of the cloth to block weed growth and keep the soil cooler. Be sure not to place the mulch against the plant stems.
We hope these suggestions help extend your tomato's production and growing season! Please let us know if you have any additional concerns or questions.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SLH)
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>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/).
By Liz Rottger
First discovered in the Andes more than two thousand years ago, the tomato was cultivated extensively by the Aztecs where it grew like weeds, year-round. Spanish explorers first took tomatoes to Europe in the sixteenth century. Initially, it was thought to be poisonous because it was a member of the nightshade family (Solanaceae), famous for its toxins. Early on, tomatoes were used only as table decorations. Italians were the first to discover the tomato's culinary prowess and introduce it into their cuisine. The earliest cookbook with tomato recipes was published in 1692 in Naples. Once it caught on, it spread across Europe and adapted again and again to the climate and soil of that specific region.
Tomatoes come in a dazzling spectrum of colors; belying that aphorism that ‘red' is synonymous with ‘tomato.' Colors range from black, purple, pink, green, orange, and even white to every shade of red imaginable. There are also spectacularly beautiful striped tomatoes like the striking Big Rainbow with its neon-red striping throughout its rich yellow flesh or Chocolate Stripes with its dark shoulders draped over a deep red. Each color has its own unique taste. Some are sweet and fruity; others have rich, complex flavors, acidic and tangy.
Today, there are literally hundreds of varieties of tomatoes whose names like Aunt Ruby's German Green, Black Sea Man, Caspian Pink, Nebraska Wedding, or Black Krim attest to their place of origin. There are tiny, bite-size cherries, colossal, one-to-two pound Hawaiian Pineapples, plum-shaped San Marzanos grown for tomato sauce and the beautiful, perfectly round Japanese heirloom, Mandarin Cross.
The word “heirloom” is difficult to define, but nurserymen have used it for decades to indicate varieties of plants and trees, which have a well-known and established provenance and breed true. Heirloom tomato varieties are by definition open-pollinated and their seeds can be collected from one year to the next with the same characteristics as the parent plant.
Many tomato varieties have been preserved for generations by home gardeners from their family gardens (Mortgage Lifter, Brandywine, San Marzano, etc.). Each year, they carefully selected and saved their most flavorful fruits in order to plant their seeds again the following spring. Some of these tomato varieties were even brought to America in a form of reverse-migration by immigrant families (Czech Bush, Azoychka, Eva Purple Ball, the Russian “Blacks,” etc.). Saving tomato seeds has preserved the genetic diversity of tomatoes.
There is no doubt that the tomato is the undisputed queen of the summer garden and nothing tastes better than homegrown!
PS. The Great Tomato Plant Sale is happening now! April 4th at Walnut Creek Our Garden and April 11th at Richmond - come find your new favorite tomato.
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Help for the Home Gardener from the Contra Costa Master Gardener Help Desk
Client's Question and Problem:
CCMG Help Desk's Response:
I'm writing to respond to the questions that you left in your Help Desk phone message. I understand that you are growing two tomato plants in containers as well as some peppers. You mentioned that the tomatoes have produced fruit, but most of it is still very green (as of early September). You asked whether there is something you can do to speed up the ripening process.
You probably won't be able to speed up the ripening of the tomatoes. The timing of getting ripe tomatoes depends both on when you started the tomatoes and on the variety you are growing. In my own garden, I planted eight different heirloom varieties this year. Two of them are in pots. I planted seedlings from four inch pots in early April. Most of the tomato varieties starting giving me quite a few ripe tomatoes by late July. However, one of them only produced an occasional ripe tomato until about a week ago, when I started being able to harvest three or four ripe tomatoes per day. The two tomatoes I have growing in containers are likewise producing ripe tomatoes at different rates. One has produced many ripe tomatoes and only a few green ones remain on the plant currently. The other was much slower to start producing ripe tomatoes. I've picked quite a few of them, but it still has lots of green tomatoes which I know will continue to ripen over time.
So my advice is just continue to be patient. For earlier tomatoes next year, you could pick a variety that produces early fruit. Or, if the weather cooperates, you might be able to plant your containers somewhat earlier next year. (I generally wait for night time temperatures to regularly reach 50 or above before planting. That target temperature occurred somewhat earlier this year than it does in many years.)
As for your question as to why your pepper is producing green peppers when the variety is supposed to be red, again the answer is that you'll just need to be patient and wait a while longer. All pepper varieties start as green peppers. With time, varieties that produce other colors will begin to ripen and change color. It sometimes takes several weeks after the green peppers have developed to their full size before you will start seeing a color change.
Both peppers and tomatoes can easily be sunburned. The sunburned area turns a light brownish color. It's still fine to eat the fruits, but you generally have to cut out the sunburn. To prevent your green tomatoes and peppers from getting sunburned, try to be sure that the developing fruit has some leaf cover. If not, you can also erect some type of sunshade to keep the sun from scorching the fruit.
Finally, as we approach fall and cooler temperatures, you may find that the ripening process slows. I generally leave my tomatoes in the garden if they still have green fruit until the night-time temperatures start to dip into the 40's. Tomatoes are quire cold sensitive so the plants will start dying when the weather cools. At that point, I harvest all the green tomatoes and put them on my kitchen counter. They will continue to ripen there. The fruit that ripens that way isn't as wonderful as a vine-ripened fruit, but it's still better than what you can buy in the grocery store. Unfortunately, peppers won't change color after you harvest them, but the green colored peppers can be just as tasty as those that have taken on their ripe color.
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A post script...
I hadn't realized from your phone message that the main question you have is “Why has the ripening of the tomatoes slowed down so much from what it was in prior years?” Thanks for clarifying.
Here are a couple of possible causes.
- A key resource that tomatoes need for ripening is plenty of leaf surface for photosynthesis. Often by late summer, some of the leaves on the tomato have started to dry up and wither and are no longer helping to nourish the plant. The plant is less vigorous than it was earlier in the season so it takes longer for the green tomatoes to ripen.
- High temperatures are also a major cause of slow ripening. The tomato plant produces several compounds that are needed for tomato ripening. When the air temperature rises above 85 degrees, tomatoes stop making carotene and lycopene pigments, two of the most important components in the ripening process. We have had some recent hot weather spells which are probably affecting your tomatoes in this manner.
- Finally, soil temperatures are also important. For optimal growth, tomatoes need soil temperatures that are less than 80 degrees. Hot air temperatures raise the soil temperature. Containers may be particularly vulnerable to soil temperature rise if they sit in the hot afternoon sun. Mulching can help keep soil temperatures lower. Also, if your tomatoes are hit by afternoon sunshine, you might consider erecting some shade barriers to keep the sun off the containers.
If you've run out of patience with slow ripening tomatoes, one thing you can do to speed up ripening is to remove some of the green tomatoes. Then the tomato plant can put all its energy into ripening the tomatoes that remain on the plant. You can ripen the green tomatoes you remove on your kitchen counter. As I responded earlier, they won't be as yummy as the ones that ripen on the vine, but they're still better than store bought tomatoes.
As a final caution, don't be tempted to fertilize the tomato plant thinking it will speed up production. Fertilizing now will probably just cause the tomato to go into a vegetative growth mode that is too late in the season to be helpful.
Hope the above explanations clarify what is occurring. You're welcome to contact us with any additional questions.
Contra Costa Master Gardeners Help Desk
Editor's Note: The Contra Costa Master Gardener Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday 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, and we are on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/