A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 tomato problem....

these plants were fine at first. i left on the 20 and came back the 27. apparently it rained just about everyday (yes we have lots of flooding around this area) while i was gone. this is what i came back too (along with a crap load of weeds). what is this and how can i fix it??? bottom leaves are yellowing and spotting and some had turned brown and fallen off.

[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6d809b3127cce8a2e17d8644600000015100BbtWzduyYsZ[/img]

[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6d809b3127cce8a2e17ae643000000016100BbtWzduyYsZ[/img]

Pagarden, here is a link that JohnCt was kind enough to share on another thread. Tomato Diseases (What a valuable link it is!) Too much moisture does terrible things to tomatoes!! Hopefully with the pics you can figure out what you have and how to correct it. I think my tomatoes have the same problem as yours--possible bacterial speck... I've just picked off most of the infected leaves and am waiting to see if it gets worse... According to the North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Science "Copper-containing fungicides can help alleviate losses." I'm just waiting and hoping that it clears up on its own--not much of a chemical user anymore. Hope this helps some!

Sarah

Boy, it certainly looks like some sort of disease I'm sorry to say. Leaf speck, leaf spot. Hard to tell from the pic, but is it affecting the stems? Doesn't look like blight, although I wouldn't completely rule out early blight. I do see that your plants are not mulched. Mulching tomato plants is essential to aid in controlling diseases as many of them are soil-borne in part. Remove the diseased foliage and discard it. Mulch your plants with straw, grass clippings, etc., and consider starting a preventative spraying program to thwart any further spread of whatever disease is manifesting itself in your garden.

Ciao all,

Yeah, I was noticing that, too. I'm really heavy-handed with the straw. At transplant time, I put a good 4" of it all over the bed and around the plants. As the plants grow, I also prune the lower leaves of each plant until there are no leaves touching the straw to prevent splash back even more. I don't worry about it with a soaker hose which I have underneath the straw, but during a rainstorm, yeah, I worry about it. Take those leaves off.

Cheers,
Julianna

as i was browsing the net the pictures seemed to suggest septoria? i took off all the affected leaves and sprayed heavily with a fungicide i had in the cupboard. no fruits were affected and the stems were fine- it was just the leaves, so we will see what happens... *crossing fingers*

Keep us posted on the results pa.

Hi--i think you should remove all the diseased-looking branches on the bottom, and most other branches that are not carrying flowers, but not too many to put the plant into shock--removing some branches gives the plant more energy to focus on growing the fruit itself and increasing the strength of the stem.

Are you certain it isnt White fly? Look under the leaves and see if it has white things there
I been fighting all winter indoors with my tomato and white fly..........

spray and spray.

dodge