What’s a tomato problem on the East Coast got to do with me?
You might wonder how tomato blight on the East Coast will affect your gardening practices? According to The TimesUnion.com Bonnie plants, the wholesale nursery where the blight was first found, has decided that next year, “the company will reduce the risk of blight attacking its plants by shipping only hybrid tomato seedlings, rather than heirloom tomato seedlings…” Yes, If you shop at one of the box stores that carry Bonnie Plants (they all do) your varietal selection was just reduced to hybrids. Can’t blame the company for wanting to do this, but if you like Heirloom tomatoes you had better shop somewhere else (hey nursery owners, did you just hear that? Huge opportunity next year).
According to The Gloucester Daily Times, to combat these types of problems “Bonnie Plants sprays seedlings before shipping them to stores, but that doesn’t happen after the plants arrive.” What are they sprying with? Bonnie advertises they are “going greener”. I don’t think the adevertise being organic? Never the less it would be prudent of the company to tell us what it is they are spraying the vegetable starts with. I don’t have a problem with this, but some people may.
I think these questions should be addressed by Bonnie, and their customers (the box stores) on their web sites. Why no mention of this, or what to do about it? It would help dispel rumors, which can sometimes be more damaging than the original problem.
I’ve long been concerned about what is sprayed on young veg starts to keep them pest free. I’ve still bought, however, not knowing. I don’t want to pay a premium for “organic” starts. So I began starting by seed. However, I still like the convenience of buying starts. Quandary.
We are dealing in living things here, and much is up top chance. I think seasoned gardeners are somewhat comfortable with this, but beginners may be dismayed by so much “chance.”
By the way, Trey, I wondered aloud why vegetable starts don’t have pot or planter instructions as well as soil-bound row planting instructions. My sister had her pepper in an 8 oz cup not knowing it would need a bigger pot until I saw it!
http://nycgarden.blogspot.com/2009/07/future-of-farming.html
Went to the local Lowe’s and all of their Bonnie Plants were still there as of this morning. No signs about the blight or anything indicating any problems. The vegetable plants were not in the best of shape but everything else looked at first glance looked good.
So, here on the east coast in our little town, not a word of the blight.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/nyregion/18tomatoes.html
Have you seen this article, Trey? I wanted to leave a comment to the effect that I read about it here, first, but comments are no longer being accepted.
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