Market Farming

["Wiediger, Alison" <alison.wiediger AT hart.kyschools.us>]

I thought early blight too, but here on our farm in SC Kentucky, even
deep mulch with or without plastic mulch only slows it down for a while.
We combat it with successive plantings.  Since the quality and size of
most tomatoes declines as they age, having a fresh planting every 5-6
weeks keeps our market offering of tomatoes better quality.  Some years
we don't get those plantings done because of other farming pressures
(haying, for example) and our offering at market suffers for it.  Early
blight is just a fact of life for us, less of a problem in dry years, a
terrible problem in wet years. We choose not to spray even with OMRI
labeled solutions - just plant 3-4 times (High tunnels, spring, early
summer, high tunnels)

Oh, and many of the heirlooms are more susceptible, some are less, so we
weed out varieties, heirloom and hybrid, that are most susceptible.

Alison Wiediger, Au Naturel Farm 

-----Original Message-----
From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Bill
Shoemaker
Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2006 8:14 AM
To: Market Farming
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Tomato Problem

I agree with Jay. If it's early blight, and it probably is, preventing
soil 
particles from being splashed onto the plant will reduce the risk of 
disease. In small plantings I like to put down newspaper around the
plants 
then cover the newspaper with a healthy amount of clean wheat straw. If 
possible, put drip irrigation down before the newspaper and push the
plants 
to grow. Use stakes or tall wire cages to elevate the vegetation. Also, 
space the plants far enough apart to promote good air circulation. This 
dries leaves down quicker after wet events so diseases can't get a
foothold 
on the leaf tissue.

Bill Shoemaker, Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops
University of Illinois - St Charles Horticulture Research Center
www.nres.uiuc.edu/faculty/directory/shoemaker_wh.html