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Old August 5, 2019   #27
b54red
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Alabama
Posts: 7,068
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Just a few days ago I was fighting the return of the spider mites in near 100 degree weather in drought conditions. We had over 3 1/2 months with less then 3 inches of rain during that whole time with daily temps at or near 100 almost every day and now in the past 4 days we have had 3 inches of rain with some rain every day. The result is a bunch of split fruit and even some exploding fruit. Temps are still getting above the mid 90s but at least I don't have to water. I am seeing the first damaged peppers and tomatoes from either stinkbugs or leaf footed bugs. I have also removed at least 3 tomato plants and 4 or 5 bell peppers that had TSWV. It is a good thing I planted far more bell peppers than usual as I have never lost so many to TSWV before and I have lost a few more to other diseases. Gray mold has also been a problem on most if not all my black tomatoes. I have also sprayed twice with the bleach spray and also once with copper and Permethrin for the spider mites which now seem to be under control. Knock on wood.

I have been pruning and removing dying plants every day for the last 3 days and it looks like I still have plants to remove. Seems like with all the rain it would cool down a bit more. I would love to have a day or two that didn't get out of the low 80s but I may have to wait a couple of months for that. My ISPL plants are just pumping out tomatoes for now but there will be a big gap where the spider mites ruined all the blooms. Hopefully my treatments got rid of most of them and the plants will resume setting fruit again but I won't be able to give them any TTF until I get a few days without rain.

I have fall cucumbers started in the greenhouse and will have to remove some plants to make room for them. My hot peppers are all producing like crazy and have been hotter than most years. We put up a nice batch of red hot sauce made from ripe Cayenne peppers, ripe Jalapeno's and ripe Pappadews. Even though I quit treating my squash stems to stop SQVBs with Sevin I am still getting a few squash but will remove those giant old vines as we are just tired of squash and the plants are such a big mess now.

Bill
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