There are some common problems facing vegetable gardeners this time of year. Here's a sampling:

- Failure of tomatoes, peppers or eggplants to set fruit (blossom drop). If the plants are otherwise growing well, this might have been caused because it was too cool (night temperatures below 60 degrees) or too warm (above 75 degrees ). This also can occur if you use too much nitrogen fertilizer, especially when applied at or closely after flowering.

- Blossom-end rot of tomatoes. This occurs if there's insufficient calcium when fruits are forming. The rot is characterized by a large, dry, brown-to-black depressed leathery area at the blossom end of the fruit. Calcium deficiency usually results from improper soil pH, excessive nitrogen fertilization, rapid plant growth, dry soil and root pruning during cultivation. This happens more often to those who grow tomatoes in pots and let them dry out too much before watering.

- Poor growth or small fruit size of tomatoes. This is often a result of using old, large or overly-hardened transplants. Young transplants (five to six weeks from seeding to planting in the garden) with five to seven true leaves and just slightly hardened (toughened) normally produce the best yields and fruit size.

- Healthy green leaves rolling or curling up on tomatoes. This frequently occurs in summer, but doesn't affect yields, so no control measures are needed.

- The entire tomato plant suddenly wilts without yellowing, spotting or browning. This is a symptom of the soil-borne fungus, bacterial wilt. When cutting into a stem, the center becomes water-soaked, later turning brown and sometimes hollow. Woody stem tissue turns brown and roots form on the stem.

A simple diagnostic test can be used to identify the disease and distinguish it from other diseases such as fusarium wilt or tomato spotted wilt virus. Cut the lower stem off at the roots and submerge it in a glass of water. In no more than 5 minutes the bacteria, if present, will stream milky white into the water.

This disease doesn't normally show until we get into really warm temperatures, which is why most tomato plants are large when this occurs. The only solution is to pull up the plant.

- Cucumber plants suddenly start wilting, leaves might show dead areas and fruit might be mottled. Cucumber mosaic virus is a common problem in the Augusta area. Select mosaic-resistant varieties. A sudden rise in temperature or depleted soil moisture might also cause wilting, but plants will recover.