A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 tomatoes

hi, hope you can help me.
I'm having a problem with my tomatoes in that the stems are showing brown patches about 2 inches long on several places, I thought this might be tomato blight but I'm not having the the tomatoes going rotten as you do with tomato blight. This has happen to my greenhouse tomatoes and also to the outside ones too. I would to hear if someone has had the same problem with there tomatoes. I grow over 30 different kinds and this problem does not seem to affect just one variety.

Helllllllo and Welcome to The Garden Helper's Forum, we are verrrrry glad you found us...

You wouldn't happen to have a picture would you???
That would greatly help...

In the meantime, questions???

How do you have them planted?
In containers/pots?
In the garden?

if in containers/pots, is it garden soil or bagged soil...
~~>if bagged soil, what kind, ie: Miracle Grow?

If it's in the garden, what conditions are the soil, have you ammended it with anything?

Also, what are your watering practices???
Do you use a hose, let mother nature water, drip hose, soaker..

And finally do you have anything under the tomato plant and on top of the soil/dirt???
ie: landscape fabric, mulch, newspaper???

hi
thanks for your interest, this is the first forum I have entered so I'm still on a learning curve. I only use bought compost and to this I add some well rotted horse manure, but not to them all so I could tell if this is the problem but it is happening to ones without manure and ones with. I've just had to clear out a complete green house because of this so I would dearly love to find the cause. I have tried spraying them Dithane which combats tomatoe blight but this does'nt seem to be helping.

Hi Weezie
The tomatoes in the green houses, I have 2, I plant some in the soil which is taken from the garden and some are in plastic 10" pots. I water them using tap water with a hose. I had well over a hundred plants but these are getting les by the day, once again thanks for interest. I'm sorry but I don't know how to install pictures on my pc.

Are the plants showing any powdery mildew on them. If so, sounds like a fungus. Wash the tomato plants with a product called Soap Shield. You can buy it on line from Gardens Alive: www.gardensalive.com. Good luck!

Ironside

It does not sound good. Certainly sounds like blight or some other fungal disease if the stems are affected also. Without pictures though, it's hard to say. What do the leaves look like? What has the weather been like? Cool and wet? Can you post any pictures?

Are the tomatoes themselves affected by this? The color? the taste? Are they even growing on the infected plants?

Hi
Thanks for all your interest, the plants have no powdery mildew, but patches of the stems turn brown and sometimes this goes to the leaf stems and the fruit stems, some of the leaves turn grey and brow at the ends. Not all my plants are affected but a great many is. The tomatoes are just starting to form so its too early to say if they will be affected. I've grown tomatoes for years but never experience anything like this before. I have read lots of books but none mention anything like the problem I've got.

Did you say you had a picture??

Also, are you getting new pots/containers
and new dirt/soil EVERYTIME you plant each season?
Or reusing the same stuff???

Weezie, I tied to PM you my thanks about the new button, but it keeps saying your mailbox is full.
So thank you and Bill !

I sent you a PM back...
*(I can't figure out how it gets so full.. )*

Because you're popular !

Or sssssssss~llllllllllll~o~wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!

It's going to be hard to diagnose with so little info. What you are seeing is most likely a general care issue rather than a disease issue.

Compost, manure and garden soil are not good potting soils, as they will not drain well. Consider using a high-quality potting soil instead.

Tomatoes need a lot of sun (appx 6 hours minimum) and ample room for their roots (10-15 gallons minimum). A 10" pot will be too small for all but the smallest patio types of tomatoes.

Hope that helps!

Hi
Thanks for all interest, much appreciated, I always use new compost each year and sterilize all my pots each year. I have been growing tomatoes for more than 15 years but have not encounter this problem before, I was hoping that maybe someone had a similar problem but it looks this is unique to me. The spraying with Dithane seems to be stopping it spreading so hopefully I've sorted the problem. Many thanks again.

Hi'
Just one more thing, the 10" pots I use are more than adeqate as I stop all my plant in pots at 3 trusses, and don't have any problems with them, and tomatoes don't need sunlight to ripen but are ripen by the temperature. I'll close this topic now so until I have another problem or perhaps can help someone else, many thanks again.

Didn't mean to imply anything. When things go wrong it's typically a good idea to go back to the basics. You've got your system down pat and it works well for you. Best of luck!