Friday, July 8, 2011
The First Black Cherry Tomatoes
Well actually, they aren't the first and they've been on the vine for a while now. My black cherry tomato plants are growing well. Lots of flower clusters and a number of green tomatoes here and there. These plants appear to be growing faster than everything else on the balcony. One of the Opalka plants is doing fine also. Lots of flowers on the Gold Medal tomatoes but nothing on the Zapotec or German Green yet.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
My daughter brought me 3 types of tomato plants for my balcony a few weeks ago. I know nothing about plants or gardening. I water them regularly and give them Miracle Grow weekly and have no idea if I'm even doing that right.
My question to you is this ~ I went out to tie the one plant up to the balcony railing this morning, and thousands of TINY white bugs flew off the plant where I disturbed it, then returned to the plant leaves. Personally, I hate bugs of any kind and now I'm not sure I even want to bother with them anymore... however, I did a little google research (that's how I found you)and posters said to spray them with a solution of dish soap and cooking oil a few times, then hose them down to get rid of the soap/oil ... this is not practical on a balcony. Do you have any suggestions that would help me or should I just ignore them and let the plants die.
Many thanks, Barbara
It certainly sounds like whiteflies. I've had them on tomatoes plants in the past but don't recall doing anything to get rid of them. Mind you, for me, they didn't reach plague proportions and the plants weren't bothered by them.
Spraying them down with a light dish soap solution will apparently do the trick but I've never tried it on whiteflies, just spider mites. I keep a small spray bottle handy just for the occasion. Fill it with water and a small squirt of dish soap. Spray the undersides of the leaves as that's where the whitefly nymphs will be hanging out. Once the leaves start to drip they've probably had enough. If the dish soap solution isn't too soapy, the plants should be fine. No need to hose them down after.
Other than not making the solution too strong, the most important thing is to remember to spray the underside of the leaves. Otherwise the eggs and nymphs go about their business unaffected, turning into adults and multiplying.
Post a Comment