- Author: Carolle Juliano
I've often thought how hard it must be to exist as a garden plant. There you are, stuck in the ground, unable to move, subject to the whims of the wind, rain, sun, and general environment, and worse of all, the fickle, precarious treatment of your gardener parent.
Well, I'm afraid this gardener parent may have dealt a fatal blow to one of her children through too much love. Back in July, we were setting record-breaking temperatures day after day. In fact, from July 1 to July 12, we experienced some of the hottest, driest stretches of heat known in the region. So what does an anxious plant tender do when she sees her “green children” wilt under the oppressive stress of too much heat? She adds water, of course! Lots of it. And therein lies a problem.
Trying to soothe my tomato's stress, I created a new one. Saturated soil. Although the tomato plant was clearly thirsty, excess water was not the solution. In fact, it partially caused my plant to experience edema (oedema), anabiotic disorder that occurs in plants like tomatoes, peppers, and geraniums when roots absorb water faster than the leaves can transpire it. The cells can't hold the water, expand and burst, eventually forming blisters or edema. My poor tomato's disorder became so severe that the raised,corky lesions actually became hard and necrotic with open vascular wounds.
As if that wasn't enough, the fruit that had formed on this vine exhibited a strange lumpiness with ring spots and blotches. Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV) caused by nasty little Western flower thrips in my garden! Apparently they're vectors forTSWV. When they nibble on the tomato leaves the virus is passed directly into the plant. The good news is that the disease isn't infectious, so nearby tomato or pepper plants won't getTSWV unless visited bythrip carriers. The bad news is the fruits are too gross to want to eat (although not disease causing if consumed) and once the plant is infected, it can't be cured.
Alas, my poor parenting skills probably did contribute to the eventual demise of this tomato vine. But a lesson was learned and future tomatoes that enter the gates of my garden will receive more seasoned consideration and care.
