Hi All: I just bought myself a nice little Gardenia tree of the Veitchii variety. I've killed them before but I'm determined to grow at least one in my lifetime. I've found this while searching for care information on the web. Its from a California Nursery so the care should be applicable to us. GARDENIAS Soil Acidic, moist, well drained. Use an azalea/camellia type mix when conditioning soil. Light Filtered light inland, full sun on the coast. Water Evenly moist, never too wet or too dry. Adopt a consistent watering schedule. Fertilizer Use a fertilizer for acid loving plants once a month Spring-Fall. Gardenias love iron, also. Feed with iron after main flowering season. Problems Yellow leaves and leaf drop Changes in weather or soil moisture levels. Some leaf drop is normal in early spring before buds begin to appear. Yellow leaves with green veins Iron chlorosis. Feed with chelated iron or iron sulphate. Flower or bud drop Usually cold weather or inconsistent watering. Gardenias like warmth and even moisture. Tiny black or green insects on buds or leaves Aphids, spray with Ultra-Fine. Leaf tips and edges browning Salt accumulation. Leach the plant with water thoroughly. Leaves turn brown Too dry. Gardenias like to be evenly moist. Varieties of Gardenias: AUGUST BEAUTY 5 tall and 3 wide Large double white flowers May - November Heavy bloomer MYSTERY 6-8 tall 4-5" Very large flowers May-July Tends to have an open growth habit. Prune to keep neat. RADICANS 6-12" tall and 2-3 wide 1" double, white flowers. Summer bloom Small scale ground cover or container plants VEITCHII 3-4 ½ tall and wide 1 ½" white flowers May  November and through warm winters Heavy bloomer WHITE GEM 1-2 tall and as wide Dwarf plant with single, fragrant flowers Great in containers, raised beds. Blooms often. Courtesy of Sperling Nursery 24460 Calabasas Road, Calabasas CA (818) 591-9111

First of all, yellowing and brown spots on the leaves of tomato plants can be a sign of different types of diseases, such as early blight, late blight, or septoria leaf spot. These diseases are usually caused by fungi that thrive in warm, humid environments and can spread rapidly in crowded, humid conditions. Based on your description, your tomato plants may be experiencing some type of fungal disease. Brown spots on the leaves, along with the white residue you mentioned, are common signs of fungal infection. Additionally, the presence of fruit flies on plants could also indicate fungal growth, as fruit flies are attracted to the sweet odor produced by fungi. To address the problem, it is important to take some steps to prevent further spread of the disease. First, you should remove all infected leaves and dispose of them in the trash, rather than composting them. This will prevent the spores from spreading to other plants. You may also consider applying a fungicide spray to the remaining leaves, especially if you see new spots appearing. As for leaf yellowing, this could be due to a variety of factors, including nutrient deficiencies, overwatering, or pests. You mentioned that your soil was low in nitrogen and phosphate, so applying organic fertilizer was a good next step. However, it can take a while for the plants to recover, as the yellowing can be the result of previous stressors. As for fruit flies, you may want to try some natural remedies, such as using sticky traps or applying a dish soap and water solution to the floor. These methods can help reduce the number of flies without the use of harmful chemicals. Finally, since you mentioned that you are a novice tomato gardener, it's always a good idea to do some research and educate yourself on common problems tomato plants can face. I would recommend visiting a website like https://thegardenplants.com/pests-diseases/leaf-problems/, which from what I've seen has quite a bit of information on leaf problems on various types of plants, although I don't think there is an article on tomatoes many of the solutions for these problems are useful regardless of the plant in question. I hope this information is useful to you and good luck with your tomato plants!

That looks physiological to me, not pathogenic. There are a couple of possibilities, depending on what you do with your plants. Some nutrient deficiencies can look like that; magnesium, potassium, maybe molybdenum. If you haven't fed them recently, or if you have been feeding them a straight NPK food and your soil isn't the best, consider supplementing with a complete fertilizer or tonic, one which has trace minerals. (I'm fond of Superthrive for hard-to-pinpoint problems like this.) Low pH can also mimic nutrient deficiency. It could be fertilizer burn, though it's not perfectly typical. If you've been feeding them a lot, lay off for a bit and see whether it resolves. The last possibility I can think of is spray burn. Sulfur and some oils can burn foliage at high temperatures (over 85F) and even simple soap at high concentration can burn; it's common for the tips of the leaves to get higher concentrations of the spray as it runs off. You didn't mention any earlier sprays, but if you have done any, watch your temperatures and try to get an even spray without a lot of runoff. Don't mix different sprays together, either. I don't suspect a fungus because the yellowing pattern is so regular, and the dead patches are in the center of the yellow areas which speaks of it either being the center of the toxicity/deficiency, or being a victim of sunburn as the leaves get too pale to handle the sun. I hope some of that helps. :) --Alison

I'm not finding photos of necrotic blight, but other blights show darker spots with a circular pattern not seen on my leaves. Also my fruit is unaffected. Septoria Leaf Spot sounds and looks similar to what mine have. Either way, the treatment is removal of affected leaves and a copper spray. I will do both as well as a preventative spray on my other tomatoes. Thanks, Omni.