Hi Backyardmomma,

Let's take the issues one by one:

YELLOW LEAVES: Yellow leaves on a tomato plant can signal any one of many issues, ranging from non-issues to serious ones. So, here goes:

1) Older leaves eventually age, turn yellow, and begin to die. So, if you have yellow leaves near the bottom of the plant and they do not have brown specks or spots or concentric rings, this is the most likely explanation. You can remove them and, on a well-watered and well-fed plant, new leaves will grow to take their place.

2) Stress. Leaves can turn yellow from various forms of stress including overwatering (very unlikely in your case on a twice a week deep watering schedule), underwatering (a possible cause but much less likely if you are watering deeply twice a week) or too much heat (likely, given that most of OK has been right at or over 100 degrees for quite a few days now).

3) Pests that feed on foliage. Check the backs of your yellowing leaves for any small pests that might be literally sucking the life out of the leaves. Be especially watchful for spider mites which will look like teeny tiny little red dots on the back of the leaves. If you suspect spider mites, hold a white sheet of paper under the leaves and tap or shake the leaves. If tiny red dots fall off the leaves and onto the white sheet of paper and then start moving around, it could be spider mites. I haven't seen spider mites on my tomatoes yet, but they commonly appear about this time of year. There are other pests that also cause problems, so see if you see anything on those leaves.

4) Nutrition. If your plants haven't been fed recently, they might have a little nutritional deficiency going on which could be remedied with a feeding of a water-soluable plant food.....something like liquid seaweed or fish emulsion if you garden organically or Miracle Grow for Tomatoes if you use chemical fertilizers. Plants often need a boost when they start carrying their first fruit load.

5) Disease. Many different tomato diseases have yellowing leaves as one of their symptoms. Look at the photos in the TAMU Tomato Problem Solver below and see if any of the Leaf diseases shown there match your yellow leaves. In our heat at this time of year, it is most likely Early Blight and if it is, you'll see brown concentric leaf spotting. Other possibilities are Septoria Leaf Spot, Bacterial Speck or Bacterial Spot. I will say that I do not often see Bacterial Speck or Bacterial Spot once summer's heat arrives as they seem more common in cooler weather, but I guess it could happen.

5) A serious disease like fusarium wilt or bacterial wilt. Any time you see yellowing foliage it could be FW, or BW but usually isn't. So, let's save this possibility for a last resort if/after you rule out everything else.

SUDDEN WILT/PLANT DEATH: This happens to a couple of my 80+ plants every year, and usually it is Bacterial Wilt. It seems to be a very common problem with yellow pear--I lost my yellow pear about 2 weeks ago to a wilt disease. I'd yank it out and, if you can find a transplant in a store, replace it...but with some other variety....not with yellow pear. Once you see symptoms, there is nothing you can do to save a plant from a serious wilt disease. Plants, like people, get bacterial and viral infections sometimes, and sometimes they die and that's just how it is.

3) LEAF ROLL OR LEAF CURL: Leaf roll or leaf curl are usually a sign of stress and at this time of the year it is usually heat stress. I am seeing it a lot on plants in containers, but not as much on plants in the ground. Some varieties seem to roll their leaves at the first sign of stress, others don't roll until they are really stressed. Because it has been so hot, the plant likely is struggling internally to carry enough water to all the foliage...and that doesn't mean you aren't watering enough, it just means the plant is working as hard as it can but the heat is just being very, very hard on it. Sometimes it can signal a plant is a bit hungry, so look at the curled leaves. If their plants are a significantly lighter green than the rest of the leaves on the plant, feed the plant. Otherwise, keep watering as you have been and keep your fingers crossed. I really think the 'cold front' that is coming and bring somewhat milder temperatures should help the plant recover.

If you start seeing a really excessive amount of curling foliage that rolls both inward and upward and the underside of the leaves have a purplish color, google and read about the symptoms/look at photos of Beef Curly Top Virus. Curly Top is fairly rare, but certainly not unheard of, in a home garden but is spread by leafhoppers and I've been seeing leafhoppers this week, so it could be a possibility.

It sounds like you're doing everything right--mulching, watering deeply with soaker hoses, keeping moisture off the foliage to the extent you can, etc. So, try to look at the linked problem solver and your foliage and see if you can figure out the yellow leaves.

I know it is very discouraging for any gardener to have plants with problems, and especially to lose a plant that's gotten large enough to bear fruit, but it happens. One reason I plant a ridiculous number of tomato plants is so a few can die and I won't really miss them. For example, losing 4 plants, which is what I've lost this year so far, is hard if you have 8 plants, but not so distressing if you have 85 plants.

I'd try to use the plant illnesses and plant death as a "teachable moment" to teach your daughter that there are many challenges in gardening and that even when you do everything right, you still have plants that get stressed, you have plants that get sick and bounce back, and you have plants that die. Life as a gardener is a lot less stressful when you accept that occasionally a plant will die no matter what you do.

It is hard to get fruit set in these hot temperatures, but you may get some new blossoms and fruit set during the cold spell that arrive in some parts of OK today or tomorrow and by the weekend for the rest of us. Be sure the plants are well watered as the cold front arrives, and if you want to improve their chance of flowering and setting fruit in the cooler weather, feed your plants ASAP with a bloom booster fertilizer. (There's a recent thread on how I used a bloom booster to increase my plants' fruitset during the last cold spell.) I did that a couple of days before the last cold front arrived and got a lot of new blossoms and fruit set.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: TAMU Tomato Problem Solver

Howdy Backyardmomma,
Dawn covered the bases very well like always. I will add a few random thoughts. And these last 3 years has opened my eyes about diseases and plant troubles. So many symptoms like curling leaves can be associated with several causes. From stress to disease. The same goes for yellow leaves. Older yellow leaves on the bottom doesn't bother me much. The purple veins is another and underside of leaves is another case. That can be and often is the Curly Top Virus. I have a few now. But haven't made a final decision of them. Another cause if the plant not uptaking the nutrients they need too. The hard part is deciding whether you should pull or wait. You will see the purple leaves and stems in the spring during cold spells. I've also seen then in the summer in intense heat. I've found a foliar feeding like Dawn mentioned helps if it is not a disease like Curly Top. If overall the plant has good color but just some purple veins that is what I do. If it looks sick then I yank it. If I feed it and don't see an improvement then I yank it also. What you will notice is cycles. The plants I had that I thought about pulling 2-3 weeks ago most are dark green and growing and blooming. Some that were going gangbusters till the intense heat now look like they should be pulled. You don't want to leave them and infect other plants but you hate to pull one that may still recover. In many cases they ones that look the worst now have fruit set. Here in drought years you see more disease problems because the insect like to eat green food just like we do and there is very little around. So they swarm the areas where there is some.
Also like I told a coworker yesterday who was asking why all his plants that the tomato hornworm hit look bad and even some diseased. Which I've witnessed also. And the hornworms are at an all time high here this year. I picked two more yesterday. Think I will spray with liquid BT next year. I told him that I've been told a plant is a lot like humans in that while they are healthy there maybe certain diseases present but no sign. Then when the weather conditions get right or that plants is stressed(heat, hail, horn worm damage,ect) then the plant goes downhill. I've been told that is why you might get seeds from a person or even save them yourself and it was a healthy plant and then when you plant them you see a problem. A healthy plant can fight off some things. Like I said I've seen some plants rebound this year and then others succumb to the same thing. In the end as gardeners the best we can do is try to maintain healthy plants and like Dawn with over 80 plants I just yank them and often times probably prematurely.
In your case I expect with the weather change you will see a big improvement. I have sprayed mine with a foliar spray the last few days. Many with a bloom and root soluble from Fertilome(8-59-9) I think. And likewise I expect a big improvement with the cooldown. Now the next good thing would be a good soaking rain. But not sure that will happen. Yesterday one forecaster on Friday evening didn't show a percentage chance just said heavy rain. This morning the heavy rain part was gone and it says 40%. Jay

Hi Jay,

This week's temperatures, which have been about 102-103 officially, but 106-108 on several different thermometers at our house, are doing a number on many of my plants. They are looking so sad and they'd better perk up after the cold front or I'll be yanking some out next week after I harvest their fruit.

That was a great point about plant cycles and I have seen more of the good/bad cycling this year than usual.

We have a huge number of leafhoppers and grasshoppers, but so far no spider mites and very few stinkbugs. The leafhoppers are making me nervous since some of them vector Curly Top.

I do have a Homestead tomato plant in a container that has had severely curled leaves for a solid month now with no improvement whatsoever, so I suspect it has a virus. It doesn't show any other Curly Top symptons, but the rolling is pretty much from the top of the plant to the bottom, and doesn't improve with watering or feeding. It hasn't set any fruit either, so I'll likely yank it next week if I don't see any improvement in it by then and then I'll probably replace the dirt in that container and put a fall tomato plant in it.

The whole hornworm thing completely baffles me. Y'all have so many and yet I have seen 4 or 5 this year which is almost nothing compared to what you've seen, and keep in mind that I plant flowers--daturas--that they love. I probably have 20 or 25 datura plants scattered around, and only a couple of those have had hornworm damage. I do have a theory though. Since the pupae overwinter in the ground, I have to think that maybe the 12" of rain that fell in that one day at the end of April may have killed a lot of them. I often see them crossing the roads most years (our pastures here are full of wild nightshades that they eat) when I am out walking the dog, and I've only seen 1 crossing the road this year. We also do have a lot of the parasitic wasps and I think they must be controlling them pretty well.

I saw rain on the radar in parts of Kansas yesterday, but figured it would miss you because it always does. I hope this coming front brings you rain. We still have to get through a very hot day today (forecast high of 106 expected) and slightly cooler tomorrow (99!) and then the cold moves in and I think our high for Sat-Sun is forecast to be 89. Eighty-nine! Oh, I can hardly wait.

Backyardmomma, I hope Jay and I have given you some ideas. If nothing we have said about the yellow leaves feels like the right diagnosis (you know, you gotta trust your intuition and see if anything you hear or read about 'fits' and 'feels right'), tell us and we can talk about it some more. Also, watch and see if the yellow is speading upward....and if so, watch how quickly (or slowly) it moves.

I feel like Jay and I both have had plants with almost every tomato disease found in this part of the country--though, thankfully, not all at once---so we ought to be able to help you figure it out, and other gardeners here may think of something we've missed too.

Dawn

Dawn one thing I touched on and didn't go into depth about is rainfall. Many feel that it is just the natural water that is so important. But in my opinion the thing it does that is as important if not the most important is it cleans the air. I've seen some improvement is some plant with the 2 tenths rains we've had. Nothing cleans things like an inch or more of rain. I relate a lot of my gardening to my years involved with livestock. Although I've seen it many times I always remember in my Dad's later years he was cowboy boss at a big feedlot. They were having sickness issues and had sprayed the hospital ect. Sent off autopsies and tried different medicines. Finally they had a meeting including some outside vets to discuss the problems. When they asked my Dad what he thought would help the most. He said an inch or more of rain. Can't remember how long but in a few days a good rain fell and in a week the hospital was back to normal levels. As I've said modern medicine and science can do a lot but in the end Mother Nature swings the big stick. Let a good rain come and temps moderate a little and in a week you will think you gave all your plants a tonic. Mother Nature's tonic is the best their is.
I'm sure I've pulled a few immaturely. The thing is do you wait to determine if it is just stress of some sort or a disease or do you yank them to prevent spread? I tend to meander on each side of the middle on this issue. If it is one I really want I give it more time. Early in the year I tend to give them a little more leeway. A good example is True Black Brandywine this year. Both started out great and then one started struggling and then the other. I decided I would pull the worst one and give the other one a little longer. When I got to the garden the worst one had a fruit so I pulled the other one. The fruit died and fell off then I was second guessing myself. It showed gradual improvement for several weeks. Then about two weeks ago just before the last cooldown I gave several a shot of the MG bloom booster. And it has gone bonkers even during the heat. Had a few of the other strugglers do the same. Then like mentioned earlier some that had looked great all summer are suddenly struggling. I done some more spraying the last two nights. And like you I have a few that are curled from top to bottom basically. Especially since the heat has hit. I've had them in previous years rebound when the weather moderated and improved. As long as the color is good and it is growing some I usually leave them. If they start showing lighter color I foliar feed them and then see what they do in a week. I also watch new growth. If it looks ok I don't worry much about the old growth. The one Kanora plant I have left is curled. It is also the one I've picked my first 4 fruit from. And has several more and setting more. Noticed this morning it is looking better. Just 2-3 days ago it was a lighter green almost yellow tint. I think nutrient uptake in hot weather hurts as much as anything. If the soil has it but the plant can't take it up through the roots it does no good. I did pull a Black Cherry last night. It had went south then rebounded and then I noticed one fruit turing a brownish color and shriveling last night. That is one thing I don't wait to see improve. My experience is you might as well yank them and save the water. Cooler today. I took today off and been mowing all morning. Heading back out now to run the push mower. The small rains we've received have been just enough to grow a few things and the yards look patchy like the top of my head. LOL. Dawn if you and I haven't had a tomato disease or problem it probably isn't in our area yet. Jay

Dawn,
I forgot to comment about the rain. I was outside at work around 3 yesterday and the construction inspector came and found me and said Jay look at those cloud you are going to get the rain you've been wanting. I said when I feel it on bald head I will believe it. He said look they are headed this way and I looked at the radar and it is a wide band headed right towards us and we are in the middle. I said they will change directions, die or split. About two hours later as I was getting ready to leave I said look at this radar. They died down went over us and then reformed and rained east of us. One formed ten miles east of us. I said as a lady on the Oklahoma gardening forum said you have an umbrella over you like Dawn did last year. It is as frustrating a year as I can remember if you let it be. Hopefully with the cool temps we will see a turn an increase soon. Jay

Jay,

I know that natural rainwater is always preferable, but we usually don't have enough rain to catch and save and use. I'd love to have a big above-ground swimming pool right beside my garden (not gonna happen since I garden on a steep slope LOL) that could catch and hold the rainwater until I could use it to water the veggies.

The last two or three times that it rained, the plants did perk up and look so much better--especially when the rain was accompanied by a couple of cooler days.

We mowed and weedeated this morning too. The weather felt pretty decent until about 10 a.m. and then we stopped for the day, but hope to do the rest of the mowing tomorrow.

Your rain is doing EXACTLY what ours did last year. It went around us so much that I would joke that the rain was falling in a doughnut shape and that our part of Love County was the doughnut hole. It was so frustrating. When your drought finally ends, I wonder if you'll get oodles and oodles of rain like we did in April/May to end ours? Isn't that a nice thought?

Hey, with regards to curling leaves, check out my latest post on herbicide contamination. In a way I cannot believe it is happening again, but on the other hand, I suspect it always will happen because there's too many herbicides out there that have too much staying power. I don't think herbicide contamination is an issue for your plants or mine, but we need to keep it in mind when less experienced gardeners post a 'curling leaves' questions! (Great....one more possible threat. That's all any of us need here.)

And, I knew the rain would miss you. I saw it on the radar, and saw it was splitting and was patchy, and knew somehow it would manage to avoid falling at your place. It is like a curse!

Dawn

Jay,

I also looked at the radar loop yesterday and thought it might have jumped you. Maybe you will get lucky in the next few days.

I have not seen one tomato hornworm this year here in South Tulsa. (That may be different when I get back home on Sunday, but none as of two days ago)...

I wonder about this natural water business. Last year we had lots of rain, plants did great. This year, little rain (but lots of sprinkler system water), plants look about the same, maybe a little more stressed due to the high heat. Tomato quality is definitely poorer this year.

It is appearing to me that a mild summer equates to better quality tomatoes here in the south. (or mid-south, or southern plains, or wherever the heck Oklahoma is.)

Bad luck for you again, Jay? Looks like you are dry still.

Scott, I noticed that on the radar too. Somebody is not having any luck with rainfall at all this year, is he? Sorry, Jay. Maybe tomorrow will be the day your part of the county rediscovers rainfall and moisture.

Dawn

Maybe we spoke to soon. I just checked the loop and maybe he got some after all from a late, quick-moving one that came through.

The one headed our way may die out before it gets here in about 30 minutes, but at least I got everything ready for it. If we get more than half an inch I will have to pick about 50 lbs of tomatoes pretty quickly before they all crack.

Dawn and Scott,
I wrote a message last night and must not of submitted it. Yes it missed us again. Guess you saw it split into and then the one went on south and maintained intensity and the north half stalled out and died. Got ten inches of lightning and thunder and just a sprinkle of rain. Think it might of rained pretty good at my station. Which is about 20 miles as the crow flies from here. I mowed most of thel day as I knew as dusty as it was I was going to have problems with my allergies and sinus. Had two attacks. If I do anymore before we get a good rain will have to use a dust filter. Then the cool down didn't arrive as they predicted. They are now saying Friday for here. It did only get 97 and supposed to be around that again today. I had watered the garden while I mowed. And thought I was done. Then decided the tomato plants in the old garden had better have a drink with it getting hotter again today. And didn't think I was going to get done with the lightning. Watched the cloud for over 30 minutes. Thought it might actually hit us till it split. Came in the house when the tornado siren went off and looked and it showed the split on radar. Not sure if the siren shorted out or someone got excited thinking it would rain. It blew for sometime but was never even a watch for here. Picked one Cowlick's yesterday. It was blushing. Going to pick the other one and pull the plant. I have some thoughts about was it is but can tell more when I pull it. Most of the others are still hanging in there. Jay

Jay,

So, another day of being passed over by the rain. Getting old, isn't it? At least you still have your sense of humor. The comment "Got ten inches of lightning and thunder" made me laugh. I wish that sprinkle had been a downpour.

You and I are living in parallel universes....we mowed and then I had allergy problems all day too, and we are going to be 98 degrees today and we don't get real relief until Friday, when I think it is expecte to be 92. It is odd how similar the cool-down is affecting us even though we're so far apart geographically.

Are you thinking Cowlick's BW has Bacterial Wilt? I just hate that. I know how much you were looking forward to trying it. And I am curious: do the Cowlick's tomatoes look like a Brandywine?

My tomatoes hang in there as well, but the ones in the molasses tubs are SO much healthier than the ones in the ground that I am tempted to switch to all containers, although I don't think I will. Imagine the expense of trying to fill 80 to 100 large containers in one year? Maybe I'll just add a few more large containers every year until I am mostly or completely growing in containers.

Oh, and I should add that even though the plants in containers are healthy, the plants in the ground that have struggled with Early Blight and Septoria Leaf Spot have produced very good harvests of great-tasting tomatoes in spite of the plants' appearance.

Dawn

I have one tomato plant that I have pulled, it yellowed and wilted.

When I read this, from Dawn, above:
SUDDEN WILT/PLANT DEATH: This happens to a couple of my 80+ plants every year, and usually it is Bacterial Wilt. It seems to be a very common problem with yellow pear--I lost my yellow pear about 2 weeks ago to a wilt disease. I'd yank it out and, if you can find a transplant in a store, replace it...but with some other variety....not with yellow pear. Once you see symptoms, there is nothing you can do to save a plant from a serious wilt disease. Plants, like people, get bacterial and viral infections sometimes, and sometimes they die and that's just how it is.

I wonder if I need to do anything special to the soil in that spot before I replant? I had already treated the area with cornmeal...what else can I do to protect my new plant from the maladies of the plant I removed?

Thanks for any help!

Rob

Rob,

I don't know what Jay does before he replants, but I always add a bit of compost and composted manure to the area and a handful of Tomato-Tone organic plant food as well. The cornmeal may help and won't hurt. If you replant into the same area, use a different variety of tomato plant as the new plant since you already know that the variety you had there was susceptible to that particular disease.

If it is a container-grown plant, I dump the soil in the container into my compost pile, wash out the container and sterilize it with a bleach/water mix, put fresh potting mix in and then plant the new tomato plant. I do this because it is harder to overcome a soil-borne disease in the soil within a container.

Hope this helps,

Dawn

The original tomato plant was in a raised bed, so I shall refresh the soil there as you describe and give it another go.

Thanks for the help!

You're welcome.

Dawn,
I pulled the Cowlick's tonight. Thought I had an idea now I don't have a clue. The roots looked good. I cut two pieces of main stem and suspended them in water and nothing. All I found were 3 long splits from just above ground level lengthwise up to the first lower stem. The pith looked good. Nothing on the stems that looked bad. A few scrape marks but nothing that I consider a telltale sign. I haven't pulled a plant yet that has had bad looking roots. The root system has looked great on all of them. I pulled the volunteer that had the sudden wilt and hadn't improved much. Again nothing I could find that told me anything. Roots great, stems clean, leaves wilted but good color. No purple veins or anything to suggest an insect transmitted disease. The last Goliath I have was all wilted when I got home tonight. Watered it good and will see if it rebounds. It is acting like the other one did last week but this one is in a container a ways from where the other one was. Hopefully it was just dry. I have about 4-6 more I will watching for the next week. Hopefully some cooler temps will let them rebound. I still have about 60 plants that have been in the ground for some time and then 12 that are smaller. And a few of them have blooms. Seeing more fruit set from the last cool spell. Sprayed some with a blooming foliar feed the other night. Will spray some more in a few days. Hopefully if the long range I'm watching is right by the time it takes effect it will be cooler again. Had great blooms on my True Brandywine during all this heat. Hopefully it isn't too late for a few too set during this cool down. I won't make any statements about how the plants are doing overall. Think I jinxed myself last week when I did.
Missed the rain again today. Was just south of us. My sister got some. We got 8 tenths at my station last night. And the west edge of town got 2 tenths. I didn't even get enough for a drop to run out of the gauge. I told them today that a GPS system couldn't do a better job of steering them around my garden. My garden and rain clouds are like the same ends of a magnet. Repel each other.

I feel the Cowlick's maybe a little premature. Sure it would of got some bigger if the plant hadn't went into distress. I would say it looks a lot like the other Pink Brandywines I've grown. Although I have very few to compare it too. I still have a little hope for the one left but not much. Going to do a little searching tonight for what I saw on the stems of it tonight. Shriveled areas that at the early stages have a purple cast to them. The leaves don't though. And they don't encircle the stem. They can be splotches or just an irregular area. Where the color is the stem then shrivels. Otherwise the health of the plant looks fine. I also have hope for Ed's Millenium. Don't want to jinx it but it is setting some fruit. Hopefully it will pick up. If it makes it through the season it will be back next year. Security has set and the Red Defender is finally blooming and growing after the hornworm attack.
I picked five more of the rascal hornworms tonight. One plant had just started recovering from the first attack. Which i could of found the BT spray. Up to 40 now. The most ever. Had two on one plant tonight. One even reared up like he wanted to fight. It has been 3 weeks. Usually ten days to 2 weeks.

I'm rethinking my plans for how I will prepare the tomato area next year. About to decide the area in the old garden I may turn over with the 2 bottom moldboard. And let it stay bare all winter and see if that won't help. I will prepare the holes after I turn it over.
What I do when I pull a plant and put another in varies. I have even went back with the same variety with good results. It also matter how long the plant before it was in the hole. If it has been a while then I will add either some Tomato Tone or a little of the mix I use. It has cottonseed meal, soybean meal and sometimes I add a few alfalfa pellets. This year I added the fungi right next to the roots and watered with a molasses solution. It also matters on why the first plant failed what I go back with. I add the manure when I prepare the holes in the fall and early winter and don't add anymore. From my soil tests if they look the same this fall I won't add any. Another reason I may mold board. Will move some of that down lower. When I pulled the plants tonight the roots had earth worms all through them. So the worms thought everything was well.

My thoughts on corn meal is be careful or you may over do it. And to be honest I haven't used corn meal much. Would like to get some gluten to apply to the area where I will have sweet corn next year. Jay

Jay,

The more I try to diagnose tomato plant diseases, the less I feel I know....and I bet you feel the same way after pulling that Cowlick's. Isn't it frustrating? I am at the point where I think it is mostly the heat and humidity making plants look odd and unhappy since so often the symptoms aren't matching 'known' diseases.

You see, just from knowing your sandy soil and very dry conditions in terms of rainfall and also low humidity, I would have felt like you'd see purpling and other indications of insect-borne diseases, but you aren't, so that shows how little I know. It is hard for me to 'believe' you're seeing fungal issues because your humidity and soil moisture are so low. I just don't see how the commonly seen tomato fungal diseases could manage to survive in your weather conditions. So, what would that leave? You know all the symptoms of systemic diseases and aren't diagnosing them. You know all the physiological things and haven't really found those. Your 'sick' plants on top of healthy roots just scream that it is environmental, don't you think? I just have to wonder if the low humidity and high heat have made it incredibly difficult for the plants' vascular systems to transport nutrition and water to the stems and leaves. Nothing else makes sense to me.

I'm glad you're seeing blooms and fruit set. This weekend's cool spell is arriving at the perfect time for your plants.

I watched the radar and saw the rain missed you. We had a lot west of us that missed us, although we had brief high winds and thunder and a couple of raindrops (not enough to show up as anything at all in the rain gauge). Then, later storms went north of us. Some of them caused a little damage, so I am glad they missed us.

Stay tuned to the forum for hail issues because parts of OKC got slammed with hail and high wind. I suspect there will be some questions about hail recovery once people's power is back on and they've had a chance to insepect their gardens.

Also, there's a thread about mold on squash plants that also has tomato questions in it and I feel like I don't know exactly where to go with that one because the OP looked at the TAMU Tomato Problem Solver and thinks Verticillium or TSWV but I am not convinced. When you have time, will you look at that thread?

Can you not find Bt because the stores there don't have it? Let me know if you want me to pick up a bottle and ship it to you. I wouldn't mind doing it and it is easy to find here.

Dawn

Dawn,
I just felt I might be the only one that feels the more I research the less I know about diseases. I think the hard part of diagnosing a problem is there is so many problems and diseases that share some of the same symptoms. Eliminating each and deciding if it is environmental, fungal,bacterial, insect borne, systemic or possibly spray is the hard part. And usually the only time I will send one off to be analyzed is if I feel several plants might be affected. My feeling on the problems I'm seeing is I think I have some of most this year. I was out early this morning looking at them before I came to work. I have seen some purpling of veins. I'm sure some is due to stress and the inability to uptake the needed nutrients. I've had some with the minor coloring improve and are looking ok. I have two I'm not sure about. When asked what I look for when deciding whether to yank a plant or not I guess it is several things. Like I said before I like to look in the morning. I identified 4-6 plants last night I'll be watching over the next week or so. My Cherokee Purple and Indian Stripe maybe my next ones removed. And they were very good in a bad year last year. And two of my favorites. Not sure how I only ended up planting one plant of each. That won't happen again. I'm working on my temporary list for next year now. One thing I have learned that is a good indicator of plant health is the blooms. If a plants shows some indications of struggling but still has healthy blooms even if they don't set I have found they will usually rebound. If the exterior of the blooms get a bad color and then start dieing before opening on the whole plant I've found most times you are best off to yank it. I have one plant that had purpling of the veins that seems to be improving. Feel that is stress. I have two others that maybe disease. Will watch for a few days. Can't find many insects on the plants. But some spiders so know they are finding something or they wouldn't be there. Yes I have been surprised by the health of the roots. Like I said before I think my high fertilizer content in the soil is contributing some. I'm sure I have some insect borne problems but feel the garlic spray has helped.
I will go look at the thread you mentioned. i can find BT dust but not the spray. I have one more place to check today if I make it too Guymon. Hope to get that rain today. Jay

Jay,

I was looking at a Tropic plant today that is not sick with anything, but which just has so-so color and vigor, and I told Tim that the more I know, the less I know. LOL

Tropic is in a large container (molasses feed tub) and has good days and bad days even though I am doing my best to keep it evenly moist and fed. (sigh) Sometimes I think the plants are messing with our minds and trying to make us crazy even when nothing is really 'wrong' with them. I also am very perplexed by one Ildi. You know, it has the multifloral bloom structure like Riesentraube, so it has hundreds and hundreds of flowers. The plant looks good, the flowers look fine, but they don't turn into fruit. I bet this plant has had a thousand flowers and set 10 fruit. I am guessing it doesn't like the 5-gallon container it is planted in although it has done well in containers in the past. The one in the ground, though, has much fewer flowers but a lot more fruit. These tomatoes would drive us crazy if we'd let them.

I'm working on my tentative list for next year, and am returning strictly to 'old favorites' with very, very few experiments. I think I am just about done with all the experimentation.

Waiting for rain, and watching for rain, and hoping for rain....and seeing no rain, no way, no how.

Dawn

I got sprinkled on around 4 this afternoon....was welcome, I was hot from turning the dirt for the fall corn. Does that count as rain?

We had a good soak in OKC last night, I can't complain.

If it is wet and you can feel it falling, I think that counts!

Y'all did have a good soak in OKC last night, although some folks unfortunately had a lot of damage.

Still hot and dry here in Love County.....but the 94 degree high today sure is better than the 102s and 103s we had earlier in the week.

If it is wet and you can feel it falling, I think that counts!

Y'all did have a good soak in OKC last night, although some folks unfortunately had a lot of damage.

Still hot and dry here in Love County.....but the 94 degree high today sure is better than the 102s and 103s we had earlier in the week.

Dawn,
Got home late and been out in the garden. Decided to come in and go eat at my sisters. Not sure I'm dong any good out there anyway. Did pull some nice big onions.
Think I'm seeing the first big amount of insect borne disease. Afraid my Ed's Millennium has it. It will be back next year. Wish I had planted more plants of it in case this happened. Yanked two more tonight. The Ed's will be one of the few that gets much time right now. It has set better than any Brandywine type I've ever grown. Will try the Cowlick's again next year. Yanked the last one tonight. But Ed's M has set way more than the two of them did together. It set several during the last cool spell but looks to of set a couple during this last heat. But seeing the purple tinge on the leaves and some more than I like to see. Will watch the blooms and see how the health continues to look. It had done well till the last few days. Still don't look that bad but signs I don't like to see.
Pulled another hornworm off. 41 now for the year. The extension people are saying the reason this area is starting to see more insect induced problems is like you said they are looking for anything green. The areas around us aren't seeing it but they have green weeds ect for them to graze on. So hopefully if we ever return to normal rainfall we will see a decrease in some of these problems. Pulled the other Goliath tonight and no sign anywhere why it was wilting. Maybe I should of left it but just a little nervous now. Still have some nice plants and would hate to infect and lose them. Like I said earlier afraid my CP and Indian Stripe will have to be yanked also. The IS has set well. Will watch to see how the ones left respond during the cool spell. Hopefully that will revive them. We got to 85 today. What a pleasant change.
Like you said every plant I look at the more I think I know. Going to do some searching tonight to confirm my thoughts on a couple of plants. Will post what I decide. Jay

Just to add to the above post. Not sure this was meant to be my year. I have been eyeing my first slicer and savoring the thoughts of my first BTP(bacon, tomato, pepper) sandwich. A 5-6 ounce Glicks 18 Mennonite that started blushing yesterday. Started to pull it and thought I would give it one more day and then pick it. When I got to it this evening a bird had found it today and had a feast. Picked a few smaller that had just blushed. Guess I will have to pick them sooner. I usually don't have problems with the birds. Growing tomatoes has sure been frustrating this year. Jay

Jay,

It has been a horrible year there this year. I guess the birds were either hungry for tomatoes or thirsty.

I noticed this week that either the birds or rabbits or something else are emptying out the large flat pan of water I fill up for them twice a day just outside the garden fence. It is one of those big flat metal pans you install under a water heater. It has been out there for weeks but they've only begun emptying it out this week. Maybe the creeks and ponds have dried up enough that they're coming to it instead. Two of our five ponds are dry and the third one has less than a foot of water and it is stagnant 'yucky' water.

In my 'dream garden', I'd grow all my tomatoes under a high tunnel. The high tunnel first would have a layer of window screening material to keep out almost all the insects and bugs, and then it would be covered in winter/early spring with plastic to keep the plants warm. Am I ever likely to have a high tunnel like that? Probably not, but it sure would be nice. Tim has rejected all my pleas for a domed building with a retractable roof over the garden....but the high tunnel has a somewhat better chance of happening. LOL

Most of the time I love having the birds around, and since I put out several kinds of food for them, we always have a bunch. The only birds that I've ever seen peck tomatoes are Mockingbirds, although I'm sure there's other birds that do it too. The Mockingbirds like to taunt me....sometimes when I am in the garden they come and sit on the scarecrow and sing. Clearly, the scarecrow is not scarey enough.

I'm waiting to hear about your suspicions about an insect-spread disease and I hate to mention any specific disease because it might 'jinx' you, but I have to tell you that the two I'm thinking of are not good. So, of course, I hope I am wrong and I hope there's nothing spotted or yellowing and curling. I think I'd be just crushed if either of those two diseases hit my tomatoes.

We had rain this morning. I could tell because the grass, porch steps and car windshields had droplets of water on them. The Mesonet station northwest of us recorded nothing and our rain gauge has a miniscule amount of water that was maybe 1 or 2 one-hundredths of an inch. I was kind of hoping for a bit more than that!

Dawn