It's all out there, somewhere
May. 11th, 2016 18:26![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torquillYou really do see everything in this job. Tomatoes are my crop of choice: they give clear signals of illness or health, their requirements are pretty simple and easy, and the results are really very rewarding. So I've seen a lot of things happen with tomatoes, and I understand how they function in most situations.
I got sent some pictures today by the help desk, which has been stumped for a week by a diagnosis problem. I did have a reply, but only after my eyebrows hit my hairline. I'd never seen edema on tomatoes before -- technically, just about any dicot can get it, but while I've encountered it on a host of plants (citrus is particularly prone) this is a first for me. Edema presents differently on every plant, but if a tomato were to get it, I can believe that's what it would look like.
It wasn't just the lumpy stems that looked like they were ready to sprout adventitious roots across 75% of their surfaces (but no roots were growing). It was the combination of cold rain (thus wet conditions) alternating with bright hot sun *and* a fertilizing regime of 19-19-19 every two weeks. Bingo!
On the plus side, they'll be fine, as long as the gardener lays off for a while. It's left me shaking my head, though... I guess now I know what it takes to spur widespread edema lesions on tomatoes.
I got sent some pictures today by the help desk, which has been stumped for a week by a diagnosis problem. I did have a reply, but only after my eyebrows hit my hairline. I'd never seen edema on tomatoes before -- technically, just about any dicot can get it, but while I've encountered it on a host of plants (citrus is particularly prone) this is a first for me. Edema presents differently on every plant, but if a tomato were to get it, I can believe that's what it would look like.
It wasn't just the lumpy stems that looked like they were ready to sprout adventitious roots across 75% of their surfaces (but no roots were growing). It was the combination of cold rain (thus wet conditions) alternating with bright hot sun *and* a fertilizing regime of 19-19-19 every two weeks. Bingo!
On the plus side, they'll be fine, as long as the gardener lays off for a while. It's left me shaking my head, though... I guess now I know what it takes to spur widespread edema lesions on tomatoes.
