| Author |
Message |
paul
3/6/2003 11:20:00 AM
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| my tomatoes wont pollinate |
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My tomatoes have been growing for 90+(?) days now in a homemade flood and drain. (the ghetto MH works well enough) They have been flowering for about a month. Every day i shake their flowers, trying to get the pollen in the air, but I see no evidence of fruit set. the plants grew to be diffrent sizes, on the largest there is 10-15 flower sets on the smallest 3-5. The plants are not totally healthy they seem to have tobacco mosaic virus. the leaves are deformed, assymetrical. In some cases the branch flips over. The branch may become thin and spindly between the leaves and in some cases may fall off all together. The less light these leaves get the more pronounced these symptoms seem to be. Any ideas?
Thanks again,
Paul |
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The Green Thumbs
3/6/2003 11:40:00 AM
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| Re: my tomatoes wont pollinate |
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| Paul, if you have the tobacco mosaic virus, the only cure is to burn the plants. Humans have yet to find a cure for any known virus, including the common cold. As long as you have the virus, your plants will suffer dramatically. Sorry for the bad news. The only suggestion I have for the future is to find a strain that is immune to the virus (there are plenty). |
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paul
3/7/2003 12:49:00 PM
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| Re: my tomatoes wont pollinate |
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Thanks for the bad news. :) Will the virus be present in my system after I remove the plants? Should I discard the expanded clay and net pots i used? Should I flush the system with a 5% bleach solution? Somthing stronger?
thanks again |
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The Green Thumbs
3/7/2003 5:39:00 PM
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paul
3/9/2003 8:35:00 PM
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| Re: my tomatoes wont pollinate |
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So according to the article the only way to sterilize the medium is though high tempratures, correct? If so I'm not sure how to clean the hydroponic system. Will removing all traces of plant matter be enough or should I grow species not affected by TMV?
thank you |
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The Green Thumbs
3/9/2003 11:46:00 PM
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| Re: my tomatoes wont pollinate |
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| Yeah, you've got some issues to resolve. I've never personally experienced TMV, so I can't give you any personal stories. The virus only lives on/in plant matter, so I guess if you just remove all plant matter from the system and clean it with a solution like Physan 20, you should be on the right track. I would suggest that in your next trial of plants in that system, I would keep the number of plants down, just to check to see if they acquire the virus. Growing strains immune to TMV might not be a bad idea as well. |
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Christopher
5/2/2006 10:09:36 PM
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| Re: my tomatoes wont pollinate |
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| Any virus on earth can be killed with elentric acid which is found only in the olive tree and contains the most complex calcium ion on the planet. I use the alcohol extract found on ebay under the name Ozarks as it is all organic. Kills the flu in two hours at 15ml. Plants can grow with up to 5% alcohol so should be good to go. |
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Biologia
2/27/2007 12:06:55 PM
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| Re: my tomatoes wont pollinate |
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Christopher said:
"Any virus on earth can be killed with elentric acid which is found only in the olive tree and contains the most complex calcium ion on the planet. I use the alcohol extract found on ebay under the name Ozarks as it is all organic. Kills the flu in two hours at 15ml. Plants can grow with up to 5% alcohol so should be good to go."
Well, let's see . . . where to start . . . .
"Elentric acid"? Where does this exist? I suspect only in Christopher's mind, or perhaps his imaginary stomach. Neither Olive tree biochemistry, nor Calcium has anything to do with virus control.
Nice try, but no banana. The link provided by The Green Thumbs, above, is a good one.
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