It is a miracle any tomato makes it to maturity, when you think about it. The phalanx of pests and diseases lined up to assail them at every step of growth is bewilderingly vast: if they aren’t being eaten by something, they’re being infected by some horrible fungus, or ravaged by hideous viruses.
And that’s not even counting all the many tomato problems caused by gardeners. Tomatoes are more prone than most to a hissy fit as soon as you slip up and forget to water, or water too much, or…. Well, any one of a dozen little misdemeanours. So if a mouse or a blight spore doesn’t ruin your harvest first, you can do it anyway, all by yourself.
Actually, given all this, tomatoes are remarkably easy to grow. Most of the time, they are left alone by slugs, so seedlings tend to sprout and grow to planting out stage with barely a hitch. Plant them well (I explained how earlier this year) and they grow, like mad, given the slightest encouragement.
So all goes swimmingly until, well, about now. This is prime tomato problem season: when it’s warm and wet enough for fungal diseases to spread, and the fruits are temptingly deepening in colour and sugar content to lure in mice, slugs - and caterpillars.
This last has been this year’s OMG moment for me: I have been growing tomatoes every year for 30 years now and never, ever have I had caterpillars in developing fruit before. I had to send off to the RHS to get the definitive diagnosis (you can do this if you’re a member) – read on to find out what it was below. Just goes to show: you never stop learning when you’re a gardener.
Anyway: so I thought it was about time, while we’re doing our Totally Tomatoes growalong this year, to get down and dirty with the most common tomato afflictions: how worried you need to be, how to avoid them, and what to do about them if you’re unlucky enough to encounter them.
Then (if you’re a paid subscriber) I’m throwing open the floor for you to Ask Me Anything: if your tomato problems aren’t in this list, post in the comments and I’ll do my best to help you solve them. And if you have anything else that’s bothering you in the garden (or delighting you, of course!) just go ahead and ask!
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