Promising Tomato Varieties, The Fight Against Late Blight

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

How I saved the crop from late blight

Heavy spring rains and hail have taken over our area and summer months. We, in the Stavropol Territory, have not had this for a long time. From an unprecedented rain expanse, potatoes grew like leaps and bounds. Even the Colorado potato beetle, while laying its eggs, could not eat the mighty bushes.

True, before planting, I treated the tubers with Tabu and Prestizator preparations, which protect plants from diseases and beetles. This protection does not adversely affect future healthy crops. And during the growing season of a new crop, all hazardous substances evaporate and do not have a side effect on the body when using potatoes.

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But tomatoes from such a heavenly soul begin to suffer. Or rather, not from the rain, but from its consequences. After all, the humidity of plants and temperature changes create ideal conditions for the development of a dangerous fungal disease of nightshade crops - late blight (drying of leaves, flowers).

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I have a long history with this disease. Soon it is possible to defend a dissertation on this topic. I went out into the garden, I look - some leaves on the tomatoes are beginning to curl, it's time to start the war. I prepare weapons for such a battle in advance. There is always copper sulfate, Fitosporin, Baikal, whey, copper wire, and heavy artillery - Strobi, Ordan (in extreme cases). I throw the sprayer over my shoulder and go.

Just like in that saying: "It rains, but we will stack." First, I passed "Fitosporin" over the leaves and stems, the main thing here is to capture all parts of the plant. The neighbors used to look at my actions with disbelief, but now, seeing the final result, they are interested in: what am I spraying in such rain? I always give my simple advice, share my experience with you.

It rained for ten days with short pauses, all this time I sprayed the tomato plants with Fitosporin every day - 2 teaspoons per 6 liters of water and 1 liter of milk whey per 5 liters of water. Once I sprayed it with Baikal. And most importantly, I poured half a teaspoon of copper sulfate under each tomato bush. The root quickly absorbs copper in this rain. For some it is poison, but for others it is salvation. Add copper sulfate without fanaticism, strictly observe the norms, because it can be deposited in future fruits. After such foliar feeding, eat tomatoes only after a month. During this time, copper sulfate is partially volatilized.

Simultaneously with the processing of the plants, he spread the under-ripe hay and rotted chicken droppings along the aisles. I remind those who read about this for the first time: in such hay there is a hay stick, which also actively fights against late blight and does not allow it to develop from the soil.

Mineral fertilizer - nitroammofoska - also does not hurt, but make no more than 1 teaspoon under the plant.

In mid-June, when the plants gained growth, he proceeded to the laborious and lengthy procedure - piercing their stems with copper wire. For these purposes, I cut a wire 70 cm long, then pierce the stem with one end through and through. I set the wire so that the two segments are approximately equal. Then I wind the wire in several turns around the stem. When it grows to a serious size, it presses on the wire, and it grows into the stem. But in tomatoes, unlike a tree, growth does not stop from such a tug of the trunk, but, on the contrary, each plant receives a so-called implanted chip or a talisman against diseases. The plant looks healthy and the fruits are pouring to your delight. Spraying for prevention I continue to carry out harmless solutions - milk whey and Fitosporin, at least once a week,up to the mass collection of fruits.

I tie the plants with twine to wooden stakes, the height of which is 1.5-2 m.

Promising varieties of tomatoes and cucumbers

From year to year, the same question arises: what to plant this season? I have been growing tomatoes for a long time - a good part of a century. I have studied and tried many tomatoes of various tastes and colors. The main thing for everyone who grows this crop is to have a high yield so that the plants do not get sick. And, of course, the taste of tomatoes is important.

In 2016, knowing my weakness for tomatoes, you, dear readers, sent me about 300 varieties - they were mostly amateur varieties: someone in their outback grows such a variety from generation to generation, with others someone has previously shared the seeds … But from such a huge assortment sent, alas, only a few can be distinguished. These are the exception varieties I represent.

Bulgarian Challah is tall, has flat-heart-shaped fruits weighing up to 500 g, high-yielding, literally covered with them.

Poplar M is tall, the fruit is a huge ribbed pear, extraordinary, weighing 800 g each. As a Russian machine, it is happy to shoot for you.

Cream of China - tall, fruit - brown-green cream, growing in clusters, 50-60 g each, high yielding. Super-grade, unusual fruit color. “Oh, dear mother! I can't imagine how to close all banks."

Neptune is a tall variety, smooth, rounded fruits weighing 600 g. High-yielding variety. Class and power all put together, perfect for a salad.

Melon - medium-sized variety, flat- round fruits, tasty red-yellow color, weighing up to 500 g. High-yielding variety. Wow tomato, take a bite - and you will be glad.

Florentine beauty is a tall variety, tomatoes are flat, strongly ribbed, weighing 300 g each. They are similar to the fruits of the Lorraine beauty variety, only yellow.

Brown sugar is a tall variety, the color of the fruit is a mystery: they are yellow-brown-raspberry, racemes, 400 g each. High-yielding super-variety.

And you never dreamed of it - a tall variety with long-stored fruits. Miracle bush, strewn with dense, standard fruits weighing 200 g, high-yielding.

Tasmanian chocolate is a low-growing variety up to 1 m high. It has an indescribable fruit color - brown-red-blue-violet, weighing 200 g each.

In the greenhouse this year I planted an assortment: cucumbers, tomatoes, tobacco, eggplants, peppers, corn around the edges, for shade. The size of my greenhouse is 3x4 m, so it is not difficult to guess that the number of plants in such an area is small.

Cucumbers tied up with twine, as professionals do, you can look at the Internet. He adopted an excellent method shown by Alexander Ganichkin.

I also want to tell those readers who have a limited vegetable garden. You can successfully grow tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers in five-liter cut bottles. Make sure to puncture the bottom of the container for drainage. Lay prefabricated soil in layers, the main thing is that the top layer is loose.

I use my hybrids for planting cucumbers. I will tell you how to get them. And then you don't have to buy expensive seeds. Prototypes must be signed and isolated from all pumpkin crops. Temporary shelters made from nonwoven fabric are great for this purpose. Buy bee-pollinated hybrid seeds (which you like). Plant one seed at a time in 5 liter bottles. Ten plants are enough for you in abundance. You will also need one or two known cucumber plants for male pollination. For these purposes, I use the varieties Phoenix and Nezhensky. They usually have a large number of male flowers. They need to be planted a week earlier. And then, when the female flowers appear, start pollination. You can open the botany textbook for grades 6-7, where we studied pistils and stamens. At first sight,everything is simple - transfer pollen from the male cucumber flower to the stigma of the pistil of the female flower. In short, work as a bee.

When creating new hybrids, you can resort to a wide variety of test specimens, but do not forget to make notes of what you crossed with what. It already depends on your imagination and free time. Three years ago I had a long-fruited cucumber hybrid Tusk I, the fruit of which stretched up to 50-60 cm, had a rough prickly pubescence. This is a type of cucumber, about which they write a lot, they say, part of the fruit can be cut off, and it will continue to grow. These cucumbers do well in heated greenhouses and can bear fruit almost all year round.

The next year, for the experiment, I planted hybrids of the II generation in open ground, which, as everyone knows, do not bear fruit. But I planted them in a company with 1st generation hybrids and varietal cucumbers. There were about 20 different hybrids and varieties in total. I can't say which variety or hybrid was dusted with one of the tested specimens, but the cucumber grew much larger in volume, but it was shorter and much lighter. It is clear that I left it for seeds.

The next year, already realizing that the selection was a success, they occupied a whole garden with them. I will tell you that I have not eaten more delicious and aromatic cucumbers. There was a sea of cucumbers. The whole family ate: they both salted it, and twisted several cans according to the method of spinning the barrel ones (when the pickle with cucumbers ferments for 2-3 days, then boil and close). I noted this hybrid for myself as "Tusk II". Maybe he spoke too colorfully and vividly about his new variety, but this is like a child - mine is the best!

Igor Kostenko, experienced gardener

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