Comments on: Not Tomatoes! http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/2009/09/28/not-tomatoes/ A Bird Blog with Kate St. John Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:52:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.4 By: Alice http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/2009/09/28/not-tomatoes/comment-page-1/#comment-14429 Alice Thu, 08 Sep 2011 08:21:30 +0000 http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/?p=10675#comment-14429 Thanks I had always called it deadly Nightshade too. Now I know better. Thanks I had always called it deadly Nightshade too. Now I know better.

]]> By: Anne Curtis http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/2009/09/28/not-tomatoes/comment-page-1/#comment-8168 Anne Curtis Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:07:09 +0000 http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/?p=10675#comment-8168 Kate--Not directly on point, but did you know the "early blight" which has destroyed so many of our wonderful tomatoes is caused by the same fungus that caused the Irish Potato Famine 1850-53? Since potatoes and tomatoes are in the same family (as you wrote) each is vulnerable to diseases affecting the other. Although it is thought the fungus was brought to this area by "big-box nursery" plants from the South, it is airborne, so has destroyed entire fields of tomatoes. Plants must be totally eradicated--pulled up and bagged, not composted--so the fungus can't winter over. In Ireland, the farmers harvested healthy-looking potatoes, only to find them blackened and watery/shriveled the next day. Same w/ our tomatoes, according to the farmers I've talked with. Irish farmers were essentially share-croppers, exporting wheat, produce and meat, mainly to their British landlords, and surviving on their potato crop only. When that failed, they were turned out of their farms and starved. The lucky ones emigrated. A boon for USA, Canada, and Australia, but not so good for Ireland! Anne Kate–Not directly on point, but did you know the “early blight” which has destroyed so many of our wonderful tomatoes is caused by the same fungus that caused the Irish Potato Famine 1850-53? Since potatoes and tomatoes are in the same family (as you wrote) each is vulnerable to diseases affecting the other. Although it is thought the fungus was brought to this area by “big-box nursery” plants from the South, it is airborne, so has destroyed entire fields of tomatoes. Plants must be totally eradicated–pulled up and bagged, not composted–so the fungus can’t winter over.

In Ireland, the farmers harvested healthy-looking potatoes, only to find them blackened and watery/shriveled the next day. Same w/ our tomatoes, according to the farmers I’ve talked with. Irish farmers were essentially share-croppers, exporting wheat, produce and meat, mainly to their British landlords, and surviving on their potato crop only. When that failed, they were turned out of their farms and starved. The lucky ones emigrated. A boon for USA, Canada, and Australia, but not so good for Ireland!
Anne

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