This disease has been reported in two different greenhouse situations. Although the disease is not usually economically important, a brief review of the disease is offered here to help tomato growers differentiate pith necrosis from more important problems. Tomato pith necrosis causes dark brown streaks on tomato stems and leaf petioles (Figure 1). Often stems may[Read More…]
Solanaceous Crops
After a brief lull in pheromone trap catches, we have resumed catching earworm moths all around the state. Although most of the counts are relatively low (less than 10 per night), remember that for early planted sweet corn that silks before the neighboring field corn silks, the threshold for treatment is 1 moth per night.[Read More…]
Blossom end rot of tomato has been showing up in some protected growing structures. This article reviews the disorder and summarizes preventive practices. Blossom end rot is a physiological disorder caused by a deficient supply of calcium to the developing fruit. It is a common problem on tomatoes, but can also occur on peppers, eggplants,[Read More…]
2015 marks the 40th year of my career as an entomologist and I still am surprised on a regular basis by how insects behave. I put out a corn earworm pheromone trap on May 14 and immediately caught 7 moths that night. Over the next three nights, I caught 36 moths. Typically, the few earworms[Read More…]
Getting seedlings from the transplant tray into the field is essential for a good crop (Figure 1). Healthy transplants treated well will quickly establish themselves in the field, setting the foundation for a productive crop. Here I offer some suggestions for successful transplant establishment. Harden transplants by exposing them to higher light, cooler temperature, and[Read More…]
Symptoms of this disease include tomato plants with lower leaves that become yellow (chlorotic) and die; plants that begin to wilt; a lesion on the lower stem at ground level (Figures 1 and 2). If tomato plants are removed from the soil and carefully split open from the ground level, a discoloration of the vascular tissue[Read More…]
Last year at the Southwest Purdue Agricultural Center (SWPAC) we conducted a tomato high tunnel trial described here. In this article, I would like to talk about the trial we will conduct in 2015, a repeat of the 2014 trial. In particular, I would like to talk about what we have done for fertility.[Read More…]
This is the time of year when growers often call to complain about tomato transplants that do not look right. One possibility is that the seedlings suffer from heater problems. In particular, tomato plants are very susceptible to damage from the gas ethylene. In Figure 1, some of the seedlings have leaves that are curled down and stems that are twisted (epinasty in[Read More…]
Sometimes newly transplanted crops don’t take off like we’d expect. Consider the newly transplanted tomato seedlings in these images. In Figure 1, lower leaves are chlorotic (yellow) and leaflet edges and leaves curl downward. In Figure 2, lower leaves are chlorotic or bleached and some had necrotic (dead) spots. In Figure 3, some leaves have[Read More…]