I THINK I read somewhere that one of the reasons to change where one grows tomato plants yearly is that the plants have a slight allopathic tendency.. . . and that all parts of the plant is poisonous (except for the fruit!)......so what is the consensus about composting tomato plant parts (stems and leaves) to use next year??

Any restrictions? (ie not on next year's tomato plants)

It's not advisable, not because of toxicity, but because it might transfer diseases. Best to throw all remains in the garbage.

I always throw my tomato plants into the woods. I don't compost stuff with hard stems of stalks anyway. I agree about the disease thing to.

Yes, so much better to pollute the woods. The bunnies and the birdies won't mind.

Hortica said: It's not advisable, not because of toxicity, but because it might transfer diseases. Best to throw all remains in the garbage.

Exactly. The increasing availability of disease-resistant hybrids in the last few decades has reduced the need for —and understanding of the need for — rotating tomato crops to prevent reinfection by soil-borne diseases. It was Gardening Law when I first started growing tomatoes. I've been wondering if the current popularity of growing heirlooms will require a return to that practice.

Lucy68 said: Yes, so much better to pollute the woods. The bunnies and the birdies won't mind.

First thought that came to my mind too. And other plants.

Hi Folks,
Looks like I am the outlier here. I have been tossing my tomato plants along with everything else into my compost ever since I began gardening. And I'm talking big piles of tomato plants. I grow about 50 plants every summer and they are mostly indeterminate so they produce lots of biomass. And I've never had a problem. In fact my compost is Awesome! I wish I could make a ton of it every year because it's worth it's weight in gold to my garden. Truly great stuff!

I only grow heirlooms but I admit that none of my tomatoes have ever been diseased. (Except for that super weird thing that happened to 2 of them last summer and I did put them and their pots in the trash). If they had I would not include them or any diseased plants in my compost. For a few years a lot of my beans got a bacterial wilt that was probably brought to my garden by all the Colorado Cucumber beetles that were here. Those I tossed in the trash. The beetles disappeared last spring and so did the wilt.

My big problems are usually bugs and the weather followed by mildews (powdery and downy), nutrient deficiencies and more weather. I don't get a lot of diseases here so not a problem. If it's a perfectly healthy plant it goes in the compost.

I'm sure I have planted my tomatoes next to all of my other plants at one time or another and I've never seen the tomatoes inhibiting other plants growth. If pronounced allelopathy was happening among my plants I'd send them to their rooms for a time out.

I rotate my crops because they each deplete the soils to one degree or another of different nutrients and as I amend each year it gives the beds time to rejuvenate. And because certain beetles love to leave their eggs near my bean/brassica/ tomato etc. plants to feed their larva and grubs the following spring.... but surprise, I have already moved their favorite plants somewhere else.

We're all aware of some seriously allelopathic plants like black walnut, tree of heaven and eucalyptus but lots of plants, including the vegies that we grow are mildly allelopathic to some other plants like sunflowers, brassicas, onions etc. etc.

If you just search the word 'allelopathy' you will quickly see on the very first page lots of super scientific papers on the subject which are guaranteed to put you to sleep instantly. A whole lot of them have new great ideas about plants that could be used 'organically' to control weeds and lots that are about plants that are allelopathic TO tomatoes. I have included a link to one of them that is not too terribly sedating if you want to know more. I just skim over the dense scientific jargon and I still learn a lot.
http://web.uni-plovdiv.bg/moll...

I don't mean to rock the boat. Just telling you what 13 years of gardening has taught me.
Happy Gardening.

You're not rocking the boat at all, imo. I think the key point you make is that you don't compost diseased plants — tomatoes or otherwise. Plus, you articulated the textbook argument for crop rotation.

I can't access your link. Maybe just my phone, but perhaps you could check it?

Zoë, it links to a pdf file, the size might just be taking too long to load on a phone, or it's automatically downloading the file somewhere on your phone to read that way.

No not the outlier. But you said it, don't compost diseased plants and rotate your crops.

The only thing I don't compost (other than diseased plants) are weeds going to seed.

Nancy, I just directed my phone to download the file (usually a simple click suffices; in this case, no). It told me it can't download it securely. Interesting. I'll try it later on my computer.

I thank you all for your kind responses, likes and the acorn! And my computer didn't want to load the page at first because it is a http file and my laptop ordinarily only accepts https files because they are more secure. But I gave it permission anyway because it is a well known research website. O.K., it's in Bulgaria but it sites research papers from around the world. Anyway, it is a really good read that I can stay awake through. Happy gardening everyone.

NMoasis said: Nancy, I just directed my phone to download the file (usually a simple click suffices; in this case, no). It told me it can't download it securely. Interesting. I'll try it later on my computer.

I tried it on my phone and the file opened nearly instantly, but I use Firefox. I reenabled Chrome and tried it and nothing... just a blip on the screen and back to the forum. It does load on Chrome on my desktop though.

Yup, exactly what I got, Nancy. I've got Chrome. Thanks for confirmation.

At the end of the season when we cut down the tomato plants, we run over the up-rooted plants with the mower, bagger attached.
Whatever does not get chopped up gets thrown on the burn pile, while the chopped up bits go into the compost bin.
We do not have problems with rampant seedlings or disease.