GARDENING Q&A by Rett Davis

Gardening Q&A by Rett Davis appears in Alamance County's daily newspaper, The Burlington Times-News, every Sunday in the Accent section. Each week's installment is posted to this website, beginning with January 1998. Scroll to the bottom of this page to navigate to other Gardening Q&As. Please contact Rett via e-mail with questions or comments in regard to this column.

Answer:
This is a disease that is known as cedar apple rust. In the winter time the disease can be spotted in the tree as reddish brown galls or 'cedar apples'. In the spring these galls extrude a very gelantinous substance that resembles horns. The spores from these 'horns' will become air borne and will infect susceptible apple leaves. The leaves of apple are most susceptible when they are 4-8 days old. This disease when on cedars is really not of much concern. The cedar tree will be just fine without any spraying of a fungicide. It is another story for apples. Apples trees should be sprayed immediately to prevent infection with either Captan, ferbam, or Immunox. Several sprayings one week apart will be needed.

Question:
I want to try some new varieties of tomatoes this year. What are some of the better ones to grow?

Answer:
Answers to questions like this are not so cut and dry. Every one has there personal favorites based on tradition and taste. It is just like choosing a car or truck. If you want tomato plants best suited for cages that only grow about 4 feet tall, then select from Celebrity, Mt. Fresh, and Mt. Pride. If you stake your tomatoes then choose from Whopper, Beefmaster, Better Boy, Floramerica, and Big Beef. These tomatoes should have the letters VFN behind their name indicating that they have resistance to several wilt diseases and nematodes. This is a little insurance policy against a few of the diseases that attack tomatoes during the summer. Of course no Alamance garden should be without a few German Johnson tomatoes. Although they have little if any disease resistance, are rough shouldered, and not all that pretty, they sure taste good between white bread that is saturated with mayonaise. If you can find a few, try some heirloom varieties such as Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Missouri Hauler, and Arkansas Traveler. In addition, plant some cherry tomatoes and Roma types for salads.

Question:
Last year so many of our tomatoes rotted on the bottom and the vines died before mid-summer. Is there anyway to prevent that this year?

Answer:
Growing healthy plants is the key to getting the besttomatoes. Rotting on the bottom of the tomato is the result of low calcium levels in the soil. Liming corrects this if done in the fall and at the proper rate. If you did not lime last fall, add at least one cup of the pulverized dolomitic lime to each hole before planting. Mix the soil and lime together before placing the plant in the hole. To avoid the summer diseases you can take several approaches. Spraying the plants weekly with either Mancozeb or Daconil will retard the development of many foiliar diseases. I would start with Mancozeb and switch to Daconil when the tomatoes begin to ripen. Spraying must begin the first week of planting and continue throughout the growing season. Waiting to spray when the diseases appear is often too late. If you do not want to spray, mulch the plants well, stake them, and do not get the leaves wet when watering.

Herb Group Meeting:
The monthly meeting for Thymes To-Gather will be held at 10:00 am on Saturday, April 20, 2002 at the Alamance County Historical Museum on Highway 62.

Herb Festival:
The Fifth Annual Herb Festival benefiting the Women's Resource Center in Alamance County will be held on Friday, April 26 from 8:30 am until 7 pm and Saturday, April 27, from 8:30 am until 3 pm at the First Presbyterian Church on Davis Street in Burlington. Lunch served on Friday from 11:30 until 1:30. Fresh herb plants and perennials will be for sale as well as vendors and demonstrations both days.

Piedmont Farm Tour:
The Piedmont Farm Tour is planned for Saturday, April 20 and Sunday, April 21, 2002, from 1:00 - 5:00 pm, both days. This annual event is sponsored by the the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association.

For more information on the above events, call the Extension Office at 570-6740. Farm Tour brochures are available at the Agricultural Building on N. Graham-Hopedale Road in Burlington.

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If you have any horticultural questions, please direct them to Rett Davis