worst year ever for tomato sedlings- thoughts?

13 years ago

I have been starting tomato plants from seed since I was a child 30+ years ago and never had any problems whatsoever. Last year I was away on military duty when time to start seed came around. My wife did it for the first time and did just fine. I do not claim to be an expert; I do claim to be successful or lucky depending on your own opinion.

I will provide as much background as possible before I get into symptoms.

All seeds were started in the first week of February 2011.

some in jiffy peat pellets and others in peat pots with a sterile seed start mix in them... looks like a peat-vermiculite mix. They were placed under grow lights for 10-12 hrs a day and receive tertiary sunlight from N and W facing windows nearby. The room temp averages 68-75 degrees typically.

Varieties:

Celebrity- started in peat pots 2-5-11

Celebrity Bush variant- same as above

Opalka- same as above

Burpee 4th of July- Jiffy pellets on 2-8-11

Cherry Belle- Jiffy Pellets on 2-8-11

2nd batch of Opalka- Jiffy Pellets on 2-8-11

San Marzano "Redorta"- Jiffy Pellets on 2-11-11

San Marzano "scatalone"- as above

San Marzano (regular)- as above

The first thing to show signs of illness was the first batch of Opalka and the celebrities. They all took on the purple hue of failing to get adequate phosporous (no big deal on that) then the cotyledons turned yellow (estimate it was excess water so I held back). The celebrities looked fine in a week but the Opalkas began dying. branches would break off just by lightly bumping them. As the Opalkas became less foliated I discarded them (trash, not compost)

Then the cherry tomatoes began showing signs of difficulties. The bottom leaves began withering and dying. It appears that transplanting them and adjusting water to less frequency has improved them as well but I am leery.

The oddest of them all is the 4th of July ones. entire branches begin to wilt and die from the leaf tips inward. I have re potted them today and culled a few really bad ones. They are getting cyst-like blisters on the undersides of the leaves and the main "veins" of the leaves are swelling and becoming malformed. I have semi- isolated them and watching but if they continue to decline they are gone too. This hurts because they are my favorite. I love picking tomatoes in May while others are just beginning to plant them a few weeks before.

The second batch of Opalkas is trash bound tonight. The stems are curling up (this is normal for that variety on a limited basis)but doing so excessively and entire branches drop off to the touch. Once again, bad loss. My favorite for sauces.

Overall, The Marzano varieties appear to be holding okay but because they were exposed to the other culprits I worry their decline will follow next. I am re-potting today.

I am thinking this is bacterial wilt and if I am correct; all is lost right?

I should add that peppers and eggplant were started beside them and they show no problems at all.

Tonight I will add some pictures to build the discussion a bit.

looking for some insight and possible solutions.

I already have a back-up flat started in another room but they will be very late.

cheers,

Brian

Comments (5)

briank82
Original Author
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
some pictures... lousy images. sorry

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/O_HO_Nfanatic/DSCF0588.jpg
cherry tomato with yellowing/dying leaves

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/O_HO_Nfanatic/DSCF0571.jpg
4th of July with spots on top of leaf

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/O_HO_Nfanatic/DSCF0572.jpg
another 4th of July with curling leaves, dying/spotted

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/O_HO_Nfanatic/DSCF0574.jpg
underside of 4th of July shows swelling and blistering

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/O_HO_Nfanatic/DSCF0579.jpg
4th of July, spots wilting

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/O_HO_Nfanatic/DSCF0580.jpg
Marzano varieties- some signs of similar irregularities

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/O_HO_Nfanatic/DSCF0580.jpg
Opalka- disaster, note peppers and celebrities in back ground... no issues noticed. Is the disease resistance of celebrities a clue?
Bets
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hi

I can't tell much from your photos, but you may want to look at Tomato Leaf Symptoms to see if you can narrow the problem down.

You mention bacterial wilt, is it a problem in your area? (Your local extension office should know if you don't.)

Any chance you can get some photos with a better focus? Even if you have to back off some, we might be able to get a better idea of what is going on if the pictures are sharper.

Sorry I don't have any answers for you.

Betsy

Here is a link that might be useful: Photos of Tomato Bacterial Wilt on Google
Related Discussions
Worst Year Ever
Q
Comments (48)
I can't complain about the weather as it's been pretty good for me. Most people in Michigan have been getting steady rain this summer but somehow it's been missing me for the most part. It would be pouring down rain less than a quarter mile from my house and yet I'd barely even get a sprinkle. That is until the last few weeks and I'm thankful for these recent rains. Tomatoes and zucchini were coming in nicely. The tomatoes were mostly early determinates so they are pretty much done producing and would have done better if I could keep them fertilized properly. I planted them all in new garden beds that I made this year and I should have known better than to do that. Zucchini has powdery mildew and I'm ripping them out today. Green bush beans (Jade) didn't peform as expected but the wax beans (Pencil Pod) did well. Beets did well, peppers are producing, cabbage is heading up, lettuce was great earlier this year, shallots were okay, and garlic was hit or miss. Definitely the year of the wasp. Found two large nests recently. They've taken up residency in the mole tunnels (I've got moles, mice, and shrews but no voles that I'm aware of). I was stung a week and a half ago for the first time in around 17 or 18 years. It got me on the pinky finger and both my finger and a small part of my hand swelled up for three days. That was bothersome. Slugs are an issue in the garden I started this year at my grandma's. Never had a problem with them in my home gardens before so I was completely unprepared for them over there. I only get over there about once a week and it seems like whenever I do, it is forecast to rain so I'm hesitant to put slug bait out if it's just going to get washed away. I dehydrate excess sweet peppers and grind them into a powder. They are too sweet on their own but if you mix them with hot peppers you get a nice sweet and spicy powder that goes good on meat (especially pork), in beans, and in chili. Rodney This post was edited by theforgottenone1013 on Tue, Aug 19, 14 at 10:50
...See More
Worst year ever???
Q
Comments (36)
olpea: I really don't have that much experience with peaches. I've only got fruit on one peach variety this year. I think peaches are a different beast than nectarine. They probably don't lose as much water through the skin. That shouldn't completely mask the water effects but might mute it. Nectarine are always sweeter on the tip than around the stem. Are peaches that way? Water loss through the skin might concentrate the sugars near the tip of the fruit. I think this may be involved on nectarines. Also fruit that is overly water stressed can be very high in brix but not taste sweet. I've seen this for certain on sweet cherries, 35+ brix and not even sweet. Not sure this would occur with peaches. You don't want so much stress that photosynthesis shuts down completely. I think this happened on a few of my second leaf trees this year. They still weren't up to competing with older trees for limited water, not rooted deeply enough. A $40-50 refractometer would educate over time.
...See More
Worst garden day ever
Q
Comments (28)
Marcy, thank you for thinking of my poor plants. I'm almost to the point that herbicide is the only logical option, but I'm still having a problem with it. Would it not affect my cucumbers or squash at all or at a different rate? I haven't lost one of those so far (knock on wood really hard!). Dawn, thank you but this is only the second time I have had a garden. I just spend many hours reading up and researching. This and the other forums have helped me immensely. I have been going crazy all weekend. 11 plants gone and about 6 more wilted. I took a limb to work today and had some of the guys look at it. We dissected it and looked under a (weak) microscope. Everything in the vascular system looked good, except the pith was kind of hollow and white and webby looking. I will cut open a healthy one tomorrow to see how it looks and compare the two. Plus I plan on going to the extension office and possibly contacting a local master gardener that the other rangers have recommended. To answer your questions: No walnut trees anywhere near. I learned about this in my field botany class. I tried explaining this to my dad, but since he is older and wiser, and his garden is doing fine, he thought I was mistaken. :) The others are wilting. Very random pattern, but I assume some varieties are more succeptable to the problem than others. It had been doing well at avoiding my hybrids, but I have a wilted beefmaster and big beef now. No one would have used a weed-n-feed near the garden. I wonder though, since the lady that owned this house before me was apparently obsessed with flowers and weeds (I pull up plastic weed blocker all the time, all over the place) what she might have sprayed or put in the ground. But, I'm stills stumped, because why would it take two months to kill the plant? It seems like every avenue I go just has something that doesn't add up. I really hope to get some answers tomorrow. Er, today. Thank you again for your concern and input. I hope to stop this before all the plants are dead.
...See More
Worst tomato year ever?
Q
Comments (36)
I've picked 2 BK (ripened inside) and 2CP, 2 Grandma Mary's (but 1 seems to be softening without really ripening), multiple Latah (but the plants aren't setting any more), and a 16 oz cup of cherries (off 10-11 plants - I forget now if I snuck an extra SS100 in). A few Chadwick's cherries that are too large for cherries (crossed, saved seed) but all have concentric cracking. Have Rutgers, BW, Rose de Berne on the vines (Rose de Berne looks esp. healthy and prolific), but haven't picked any and Grandma is loaded but not turning. Oh, picked a few Cosmonaut too just starting to blush, would have left them a little longer but I watered since we hadn't had any rain since those 5 inches 10 days ago, and I didn't want them to crack. Still nothing off the Burpee plants but those and the volunteer cherry are the healthiest looking though they get less sun. Rose and SS100 don't look bad, neither do the leftover BW, Rutgers, CP I put in the row with my beans, but the CV, some of the Grandmas, and everything in 1 long row (2nd year growing tomatoes there, maybe I should have rotated) looks pretty bad. I thought I saw stem lesions on 1 Monday, didn't get out there yesterday to pull it (back to school shopping) but will have to do more cleanup today - may pull the entire row (app 50 plants). I'm afraid it may be late blight since it's been reported in the state. I thought the bush beans were about over (and hadn't been very productive) but they were full on Monday, the pole beans are coming in too, so after watering (by hand) I spent a couple of hours picking green beans and edamame, no time to clean up the tomatoes. The yellow squash and cukes are doing well this year - zucchini not so much (SB and SVB). But I only sold 1 lb of green beans, 2 yellow squash, half my cukes and no edamame last week at market, so I'm not even going back until (unless) I have tomatoes. This may be the year that puts me out of business. Everybody wants tomatoes and corn, and I don't grow corn.
...See More
barrie2m_(6a, central PA)
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Some of the symptoms mimic herbicide injury. You didn't happen to purchase a "Weed & Feed" product with 2-4D in the ingredient list? Even if you didn't notice any source I'd switch potting mixes & start again.
helenh
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I think bad potting mix. I did not keep track of what I used but I have good plants and bad plants. I think mine have a deficiency of some sort. Some of my other plants are beautiful little things. Earl of Edgecombe has the cutest plants, Glacier started early in jiffy mix and repotted in potting mix looks awful. Get them out of those Jiffy Pellets. I am usually lazy and cheap and use potting mix to start seeds; this year I used Jiffy Mix and I hate it. I think the pure fine peat rots roots and with no root system the plant looks sick.
briank82
Original Author
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hi,

thanks for the responses and links; they were useful. I ended up 90% sure that this was bacterial wilt. Most symptoms matched. It was a total bummer. I tossed all of those tomatoes and I will be tossing the peppers and eggplant next as they have begun showing the symptoms too. I would have considered the contaminated grow mix but I used multiple bags and different brands.
The tomatoes were not a complete loss because I cleaned the grow light trays with bleach water and restarted some seeds. Yeah, they'll be later than I like but I still get my extra early 4th of July varieties and my rare versions of San Marzanos that can't be bought at local stores : )

As far as peppers go; another story. I will be going store bought for most which I hate and really late on pepperoncini, pimento and other varieties I can't buy in nurseries here. I will also have to buy eggplant.

Later I will post my lessons learned to help others not make my mistakes thus wasting time and money.

thanks,

Brian

worst year ever for tomato sedlings- thoughts?

Comments (5)

briank82
Original Author

Bets

Related Discussions

barrie2m_(6a, central PA)

helenh

briank82
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

worst year ever for tomato sedlings- thoughts?

Comments (5)

briank82Original Author

Bets

Related Discussions

barrie2m_(6a, central PA)

helenh

briank82Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

briank82
Original Author

briank82
Original Author