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Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: planetearth on July 10, 2023, 18:12:56
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I bought some gardeners Delight as usual, but they are nothing like normal, the foliage and main stem above a metre has turned yellow, below that the leaves and trusses are thriving. The trusses are very sturdy and so far growing to 3 ft long and fruit is both larger, some appears segmented (like beefsteak variety) and leaf curl virus is obvious. What on earth is going on? I've grown GD for 25 years and seen nothing like this. They have been fed normally, automated water from a tap and tap water and Tomorite from a dedicated watering can.
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No idea, apart from the obvious suggestions of the heat and your supplier being at fault.
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In recent years. I am getting around to thinking the previous season weather may have an affect,particularly when plants are producing seeds.
A thought is are the plants getting properly pollinated?
Over the last few years I have noticed that March/ April/& Mayhave become a bit of a mixed bag in terms of weather where for example at times when we would expect cold weather we are getting quite warm weather,thereafter as we expect the weather to be warming up It can be quite cool/cold.
I have noticed insect life( pollinators) are coming out earlier because the weather has warmed up but there are very few pollen bearing plants around at this time so I am guessing that many insects are dying off due to starvation.
Then when the pollen is around there are fewer pollinators around meaning that pollination is not being carried out as efficiently as it used to be.
In effect where we had was called Spring with its March winds( blizzards) April showers (sodden ground) then May where the soil is warming up.
So as I see it because of these changes the seed available is not as plentiful,perhaps not as viable and maybe even cross pollinated.
As I mentioned this is my guess relative to many of the abnormalities we are getting with our seed these days.???
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Who checks that seeds sellers in Britain follow strict standards these days? What are the standards? EU standards that guaranteed germination rates, clear variety distinction and stability, so that the variety name ON the packet is the actual variety IN the packet etc, presumably no longer apply. And as there are no import controls from the continent yet, some seeds might not be conforming to the EU market rules, but could legally be imported into Britain. Time to choose trustworthy seed sources carefully, who keep their standards high. And who tell you where the seed is grown. It is not always the weather or the gardener who are at fault. There has been a change in seed legislation too.
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Toms in the greenhouse seem to be performing OK - Shirley and Moneymaker with a couple of Cour di Bue and Big Rainbow. A couple of the Big Boys seem to be suffering magnesium deficiency - but a solution of MgS)4 has not really had much impact. In the polytunnel the Big Boys are doing phenomenally well. Outside Crimson crush, Ailsa Craig are doing "OK". I only grew Gardeners Delight once and did not do very well with them - but others on our site grow them regularly and they are doing well.
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Over the last few years I have noticed that March/ April/& May have become a bit of a mixed bag in terms of weather
Well isn't that the truth. Overall winter was rather wet until we hit February which was astonishingly dry at less than 10 percent of usual rainfall. Then March and April very wet, and May and June very dry. Nothing very average anymore - more and more extreme weather.
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Not saying this is any more likely than the other possibilities, but the first thing that came into my head was that the metre high boundary could mean spray drift over a fence or hedge - anywhere between the source end or the destination end. The weird changes also suggest auxin-type weedkillers like 24-D.
In smoothly flowing air the height boundary could also be explained without fences - laminar flow means the upper layers stay smooth while the lower ones are gradually slowed - think how shallow water flows more slowly (and dumps its impurities) - ending as an oxbow lake.
I'm well past my Aero/Hydrodynamic skills at this point.
Cheers.