Today, we are all about tomatoes! We do some tomato troubleshooting with Don Shor, owner of Redwood Barn Nursery in Davis, CA. We tackle typical tomato issues: the flowers fall off (it will solve itself, unless you are loving it to death with too much nitrogen fertilizer); blight diseases (avoid overhead watering, unless it's rain-caused. In which case, prune out and discard the damaged parts); whiteflies (a forceful spray of water or neem oil); blossom end rot (deep, infrequent watering, maintaining an even soil moisture level...not too soggy, not too dry); sun scald (shade cloth); wilt problems (good luck); and, of course, tomato hornworms (scissors or snippers, Bt, Spinosad).

Every tomato needs support. The best tomato supports, and the longest lasting, are tomato cages you make yourself out of either sheets or rolls of six inch mesh concrete reinforcement wire. Those little "tomato cages" that are widely sold? They're not big enough to support a vigorously growing tomato plant...but are great for pepper plants!

This episode is brought to you by Smart Pots. Visit smartpots.com/fred for a money-saving offer on the original, award-winning fabric planter, made in the USA. Listen to learn how to win a free, Smart Pots 6-foot long bed! (By the way, if the podcast service you listen to doesn't have a ratings/comment section, you can send your ratings/comment here to enter this contest.)

It’s all part of Episode 21 of Garden Basics with Farmer Fred. Gather a few cherry tomatoes to munch on, and give us a listen. We will do it all in under 30 minutes. Let’s go.

More episodes and info available at Garden Basics with Farmer Fredhttps://www.buzzsprout.com/1004629.

Garden Basics comes out every Tuesday and Friday. It's available just about anywhere podcasts are handed out. Please subscribe and leave a comment or rating at Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.

Got a garden question? There are several ways to get in touch: call and leave a question, or text us the question: 916-292-8964. E-mail: [email protected] or, leave a question at the Facebook, Twitter or Instagram locations below. Be sure to tell us where you are when you leave a question, because all gardening is local.

All About Farmer Fred:
Farmer Fred website: http://farmerfred.com
Daily Garden tips and snark on Twitter
The Farmer Fred Rant! Blog
Facebook:  "Get Growing with Farmer Fred"
Instagram: farmerfredhoffman
Farmer Fred Garden Videos on YouTube
Garden columnist, Lodi News-Sentinel 

Thank you for listening, subscribing and commenting on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast and the Beyond the Garden Basics  Newsletter.