Tree Damage From Crop Spraying

[Mad Professor]

Dertiminate plants ony grow to a certain height. Indeterminate are more sprawling and can grow 6 feet or more. They determinate are much easier to grow because of the plant size.The tomatoes my friend and probably all big growers are piced with a machine. Pretty much every tomato in the field is picked. The good and bad. I personally thought what I saw on his trailer were pretty nasty. I do know they have high tech sorting machines nowadays but I don't think they are 100% accurate. Some of mine from years past.View attachment 996194View attachment 996195

Nice!!!

My best year I put up/canned 13 gallons of tomato/spaghetti sauce. I'll have ~30-35 plants this year, ~30 peppers.......

This year I've got an outside 4-burner commercial propane stovetop so won't have to can inside when it's already too hot.

Good article. Another story. A Mennonite produce farmer bought hay to feed his cows. He then spread the cow manure on his fields. The next spring he planted tomatoes. A few weeks later they started to die. Extension office was called and they determined it was herbicide injury. They traced it back to the herbicide that was sprayed on the hay field and it passed through the cow and into the manure and was the taken up by the tomato plants. !fter I heard that I always checked with any hay producer I was buying hay from to find out if it was sprayed. 2,4D is not one of the herbicides that is that pers

Another thing to watch for is horse manure. Some wormers will pass through the horse and will kill nightcrawlers/earthworms. Not sure how long that needs to compost?

I used to get free dumptruck loads of horse manure from a friend, he told me about the different wormers and that his horses only got the dirt worm friendly wormer. He sold the farm ,I miss that as used to be able to cover the whole garden with ~6" of rotted manure in spring before spring plowing.

 

[Del_]

Not sure what @Bill G is refering to but commercial maters get a ton of fungicides sprayed on them.

Only OG stuff I know of is copper based.

I grow my own maters and use copper if there is weather that will encourage blights. PITA as it is preventative only and washes off easy

Bill G. is likely referring to the fact that the whole field of tomatoes is sprayed to kill the tomato vines and ensure more even ripening before machine picking.

 

[Mad Professor]

Bill G. is likely referring to the fact that the whole field of tomatoes is sprayed to kill the tomato vines and ensure more even ripening before machine picking.

Any idea what they use?

 

[Del_]

Any idea what they use?

Nope. I'd have to google it.

They've been doing it forever though.

 

[farmer steve]

Any idea what they use?

Ethephon is used to speed up earliness and to increase ripening of all the fruit. It is a plant growth regulator. Not a herbicide. I used something similar on mums when I grew them. Kept them compact and had more uniform flowering.

 

[farmer steve]

So, it's still a mystery what they spray on tomatoes in the field - that are sold to consumers?

Most but not all herbicides for tomatoes are sprayed preplant. I only know of 2 or 3 that are labeled to spray post planting. Most have restrictions on how soon you can pick them after spraying. Same with insecticides and fungicides.

 

[Bill G]

Do you not realize how frustrating it is to try to converse with someone like that?

Yes I do since I try to converse with you

 

[Bill G]

Not all of them Bill. Most of mine are dertiminate except the grape tomatoes. Big boy,beefsteak and betterboy to name a few are inderminate. IIRC most of the heinz seeds I looked at over the years were determinant. That being said I have a friend that grows tomatoes for the local cannery and I saw a tractor trailer load one time and makes you think twice about eating ketchup.

Steve,

I can see how my post was taken a bit out on context. I am not a variety expert but the tomato is by nature a indeterminate plant. If you look at the heirloom varieties I believe you will find that but heck I may be wrong. When you are planting them in a home garden they will continue to set fruit until they cannot due to freeze. I grew up raising tomatoes for commercial production. I was not around when we personally raised tomatoes for Heinz as we stopped in about 1970. I was most certainly involved until the bitter end of all Heinz tomatoes in 1991. After we stopped raising for Heinz around 1970 we were started only selling to home canners and supplied all the fresh tomatoes in the supermarkets of a town of about 22,000. The Heinz plants were determinate to a point but not completely hence the spraying. The 1357 was one of theirs they wanted pushed. When we were all fresh market I can assure you they were indeterminate. We had one variety for fresh market and one" for canning. A good portion of our business was "pick your own" Grandpa would just put a ad in the newspaper and folks would come out and pick. Now no one came out to pick just a few but they came for canning. We charged 35 cents a pound for eating fruit if they only wanted a few but I do not think anyone ever did that. We charged $3.50 a bushel if you picked them and $4 if we (my brother and I) picked them. The top quality fruit that went to the grocery stores was at 30 cents a pound and they sold it for 99 cents. As the season would start to wind down we would "bush hog" off the plants but some still set fruit til it froze. I can remember seeing folks go out in the sections we had mowed and still pick fruit. We finally wrapped it all up in the late 1980's as the supermarkets were not satisfied with getting them for 30 cents anymore and tripling the price

 

[Bill G]

The way they grow and fruit. Deternimant are more compact and reach a certain size, tend to produce fruits over a short period. Indeterminant plants continue to grow almost like vines and produce fruits until frost kills them.

Exactly

 

[Bill G]

Dertiminate plants ony grow to a certain height. Indeterminate are more sprawling and can grow 6 feet or more. They determinate are much easier to grow because of the plant size.The tomatoes my friend and probably all big growers are piced with a machine. Pretty much every tomato in the field is picked. The good and bad. I personally thought what I saw on his trailer were pretty nasty. I do know they have high tech sorting machines nowadays but I don't think they are 100% accurate. Some of mine from years past.View attachment 996194View attachment 996195

Those are nice fruit but not what goes in Ketchup

 

[Bill G]

Good article. Another story. A Mennonite produce farmer bought hay to feed his cows. He then spread the cow manure on his fields. The next spring he planted tomatoes. A few weeks later they started to die. Extension office was called and they determined it was herbicide injury. They traced it back to the herbicide that was sprayed on the hay field and it passed through the cow and into the manure and was the taken up by the tomato plants. After I heard that I always checked with any hay producer I was buying hay from to find out if it was sprayed. 2,4D is not one of the herbicides that is that persistent.

If they had grown he would have been subject to ecoli although cow manure is not as bad as others

 

[Bill G]

As for what I said in an earlier post about tomatoes being sprayed. I will say that prior to the Heinz fiasco in 1991 all commercial production here has ended but I really, REALLY doubt it has gotten better. I will assure you they were sprayed and quite heavily. Those familiar with farming can remember the first "highboy sprayers". The somewhat looked like a airplane cockpit and had 3 wheels. Well everyone had to get them to do all the spraying when Heinz forced everyone to go to machine harvest. Prior to that all fruit was picked by hand by migrant workers. They could and did select only the ripest and best fruit. The company got a quality fruit to make a quality product. Well in the mid 1980's the political climate changed and it was seen as slavery to HIRE migrant workers to pick tomatoes. The company did not want that image so they forced all growers to go to machine harvesting. I think it is funny as the machines took up to 16 people to run on the sort belts so some farmers just hired the migrants. Anyway when they were harvested by hand you go go over the field a few times picking fruit as new fruit would ripen. With a machine it is one and done. Once it goes through it is all over so all the fruit is harvested regardless of quality or ripeness. Even though the varieties Heinz made you plant were determinate they still are not all going to ripen on the same day. Also it is hard to harvest with heavy vegetation. A set amount of time prior to harvest you would start spraying them to kill the vine and to force ripening. I am not sure how long ahead of time but probably 7 days. The plants would die and the fruit would ripen

 

[Bill G]

Bill G. is likely referring to the fact that the whole field of tomatoes is sprayed to kill the tomato vines and ensure more even ripening before machine picking.

Yes

 

[Bill G]

Not sure what @Bill G is refering to but commercial maters get a ton of fungicides sprayed on them.

Only OG stuff I know of is copper based.

I grow my own maters and use copper if there is weather that will encourage blights. PITA as it is preventative only and washes off easy

They have for years the fungicide is all through the season the ripen spray and herbicide is prior to harvest.

 

[farmer steve]

If they had grown he would have been subject to ecoli although cow manure is not as bad as others

Lots of new guidelines on manure spreading the last years. I believe it's 120 days from spreading to harvest for anything that is in close proximity to the ground. Something like sweet corn is less.

They have for years the fungicide is all through the season the ripen spray and herbicide is prior to harvest.

Fungicides/ pesticides yes. Season long. I can't find anything in my grower guides that talk about herbicides for pre harvest. I research more in the morning when I get on the on the puter.

 

[mar5690]

Yes correct. But we don't know the degree of drift on huggers soil.

Yes correct. But we don't know the degree of drift on huggers soil.

 

[mar5690]

if vegetation is already coming out of injury it wasn't severe

 

[Mad Professor]

Exactly

Bill,

I've been growing maters since I was a toddler. My Mother was saving her own seeds back then......

I will plant some hybrids but have been trying to grow open pollinated heirlooms and save the seeds.

Tomatoes and peppers are not too bad to save seeds for. Beans are reals easy, and squash just about forget it if you have two or more varieties in the same garden. Other things easy to save for are parsley, kale, taters (save the tubers in root cellar), garlic (plant cloves in fall), asparagus, ......

These are what I've grown for heirloom tomatoes, past and present :

The cut and paste didn't go well.......

MP

Beefsteak Indeterminate , fruits up to 2 lb heirloom

Eva purple ball heirloom indeterminate

Roma VF heirloom Disease resistant determinante

Abe Lincoln Heirloom 12 oz. acidic indeterminate continuous harvest

Box Car Willie Heirloom inderterminate 12-18 oz. Blight resistant

Amish paste Heirloom ½ pound indeterminate

Big red Heirloom indeterminate 1.5 pds

Rutgers determinante heirloom Wilt resistant

Large red Heirloom Indeterminate Med size may be lobed

Manitoba determinante

Moskvich Semi-determinante

San Marzano indeterminate

 

[Bill G]

Bill,

I've been growing maters since I was a toddler. My Mother was saving her own seeds back then......

I will plant some hybrids but have been trying to grow open pollinated heirlooms and save the seeds.

Tomatoes and peppers are not too bad to save seeds for. Beans are reals easy, and squash just about forget it if you have two or more varieties in the same garden. Other things easy to save for are parsley, kale, taters (save the tubers in root cellar), garlic (plant cloves in fall), asparagus, ......

These are what I've grown for heirloom tomatoes, past and present :

The cut and paste didn't go well.......

MP

Beefsteak Indeterminate , fruits up to 2 lb heirloom

Eva purple ball heirloom indeterminate

Roma VF heirloom Disease resistant determinante

Abe Lincoln Heirloom 12 oz. acidic indeterminate continuous harvest

Box Car Willie Heirloom inderterminate 12-18 oz. Blight resistant

Amish paste Heirloom ½ pound indeterminate

Big red Heirloom indeterminate 1.5 pds

Rutgers determinante heirloom Wilt resistant

Large red Heirloom Indeterminate Med size may be lobed

Manitoba determinante

Moskvich Semi-determinante

San Marzano indeterminate

I have no reason to argue and that is fine we will disagree. I will say I do not see any Walter and Ace's in there? If you do not want to believe what I say then that is fine. You could call Evans or Piedmonts. Chances are the folks we dealt with 40 years ago are sadly passed. I know I got 300 pepper plants from them last week and the fine lady I spoke with sounded to be of a bit of a older age.

 

[mar5690]

Vegetation is NOT coming out of injury - and, from all sources reviewed, likely never will.
Some will just die sooner than the rest.

Are you blind?

let me just say i have seen lots of things in my 29 yrs as a commercial applicator. i have applied thousands of gallons and or pounds of chemicals. that being said i understand your concerns but what about all the medications doctors push regurarly and also what about all the non necessay ingredients put in our food supply after it leaves the producers control-read ingredient labels on food products.