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Growing Tomatoes

Trouble in tomato paradise

11 years ago

My worst fear is coming true and my tomato plants are sick. I've been in love with them since I planted them and have been trying to take good care of them. They grew and set fruit (there are at least 50 tomatoes on them) and now they're sick and i worry they'll die. I was using an organic fingicide to spray them, but ran out and bought neem oil instead. So yesterday first I watered them well (at the base, I do not water overhead), then I sprayed them with neem oil. I noticed a couple of the plants have a slightly yellowing leaves, but thought it was because of the heat. It's been nearly 100F here for three days in a row. Here is what I found today after work. So sad!!! What should I do? Can I spray them again considering that I sprayed them yesterday? My first instinct was to pull the leaves that are browning, which I did and threw them away from the garden, but not sure if this was the right thing to do. Help please!

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Comments (23)

missingtheobvious
11 years ago
Before I try to say what's wrong, what time of day did you spray yesterday?
missingtheobvious
11 years ago
And where are you located?
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Battalina
Original Author
11 years ago
Hi missingtheobvious! I am in Lower Montgomery County, PA. I sprayed after dinner around 7:30 pm, but it was still hot out. I thought I would spray anyway because it has also been humid so I was trying to prevent......
missingtheobvious
11 years ago
Battalina, I asked that question in case the discoloration in the last two photos could be explained away by the spray trickling down to the bottom of the leaf and the sun burning the leaf (liquid acts like a magnifying glass for the sun). Didn't think that was too likely. Much less likely that late in the day, I assume.

First, the obligatory I-am-not-an-expert disclaimer.

The yellowing leaves are one problem. Could be a bunch of things. I'll guess Early Blight -- but that's just a guess.

Second problem: the last two photos look an awful lot like Late Blight. I'm not positive -- and I have seen too much Late Blight, so I'm surprised I'm not certain -- and that may be an indication it's not Late Blight. But they do look like it. You need more than my say-so on this ... but you should also start thinking about the possibility it's Late Blight, if only because it looks like this may be another one of those years.

Here is Cornell's Late Blight page; scroll down for the photos:
http://www.longislandhort.cornell.edu/vegpath/photos/lateblight_tomato.htm

And here is their Late Blight 'imitators' page:
http://www.longislandhort.cornell.edu/vegpath/photos/diagnose.htm

Here is a thread about Late Blight in southern Connecticut, possibly central Connecticut, and possibly New York State:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tomato/msg0621183011467.html?22

If some expert doesn't comment on this thread soon, you might want to post on the above thread and ask them to visit this thread for a look at your photos.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news -- hoping I've scared you all for nothing....
robeb
11 years ago
I'm not "some expert" but, it's not late blight.

You're going to get as many guesses as to what the problem is as there are members on this web site.

I'd wait for a reply from folks like Dave or Carolyn before taking any corrective measures. Many times the plant grower over does the fixes with "cures" that worsen the initial problem.
robeb
11 years ago
Forgot to mention:
Your pic #3 looks like early blight might be trying to show itself.
Battalina
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you missingtheobvious and robeb! Looking at the pictures in the links is does look more like late blight than anything else, but something else occured to me this morning. My beans were sick! So i took off the affected leaves and sprayed. That seemed to control the problem but every few days a new bean leaf or two would show the problem I would just snip those leaves off too. Could it be that it spread to the tomatoes? Should I pull the beans out? The tomatoes are much more imporant to me than the beans. Sorry beans! Below is a photo I took of my beans when they first got sick and the rest are some photos of my tomatoes I took early this morning. I went out to look for the white spores under the leaves, but it stormed last night and everything was still wet so it was hard to tell.
From Drop Box

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

From Drop Box
2ajsmama
11 years ago
Late Blight has been confirmed in 3 counties in PA - not sure if they're near you. Those last pix look like it to me too.

Here's a link to the national LB map.

Best to take samples to your local extension office on Monday. lionheart and I are still waiting to hear about our potatoes, but it doesn't look good (at least for me - I was told that nothing else really causes these types of lesions, regardless of what Cornell says, an expert can tell the difference by looking though he is also testing for spores).

I guess there are different kinds of bacterial blights on beans, but LB is a fungus and as far as I know only attacks members of the nightshade family, so you've got something different going on there. Best to post on the Vegetable forum.

Here is a link that might be useful: USABlight.org
Battalina
Original Author
11 years ago
The more I read and look at my plants the more certain I am that it's late blight. What are my options......Should I pull them out? Does laate blight affect all varieties? I have Early Girl, Bonnie Original, Cherokee Purple and Sweet 100. My sun gold is in a container and doesn't show signs yet. Can I plant something else this late in the season? So sad!
Battalina
Original Author
11 years ago
Dave and Carolyn your wise advise would be greatly appreciated.
remy_gw
11 years ago
It does look like Late Blight. There is one disease that mimics Late Blight in looks and that is Grey Mold. Either way, you need to remove the infected areas immediately.
Late Blight will kill them right quick. It will also spread and kill the other plants. Remove the infected stuff by putting bags around it as you remove as not to infect the clean plants.
Warm weather and good air circulation help stop Late Blight since Late Blight flourishes in cool moist conditions.
Grey Mold happens in warm and moist conditions. That is why it often occurs in greenhouses. It will also spread, but it is not as fast a killer as Late Blight.
Good luck!
Remy
Battalina
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you remy for responding! Your roses are stunning by the way!
I haven't pulled up the plants yet, but I might as well after work. Does anyone know if my soil will be contaminated for next year?
Bets
11 years ago
Battalina,

The leaves you show do look like late blight, but I don't see any lesions on any of the stems and that is characteristic of late blight, so it might be Gray Mold. Or it may be that it just isn't visible in your photos. Perhaps it is early for that to show, but not having dealt with the disease directly, I don't know if the "wet looking" brown spots on the stems are precursor to, concurrent with, or follows the spots on the leaves.

I am assuming that as a 6B zone, you have freezing weather in the winter time, that will kill the late blight spoors (according to the University of Massachusetts.) Any plant tissue you remove this year, it is a good idea to double bag it in black garbage type bags and lay it out in a sunny area for a day or two before disposing of it. That should solarize it at high enough temperatures that it will not spread if the bag happens to get torn. Don't burn infected plant parts, that will spread the spores with the smoke.

If your plants are not badly infected, you may be able to keep it from getting worse by using a fungicide that has maneb, mancozeb, chlorothalonil, or fixed copper as an active ingredient AND has tomato and potato late blight on the label.

If you can stay ahead of the LB, you can still get a crop of tomatoes. Again according to UMass, the pathogen for late blight is not seed borne, so you could save seeds from you tomatoes if they are heirloom or open pollinated.

Good luck.

Betsy

Here is a link that might be useful: Preventing Late Blight
missingtheobvious
11 years ago
No, the soil will not be contaminated. The only carryover problem is if you have infected potatoes which winter over in the soil.
Battalina
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you so much Betsy and missingtheobvious! I was worried about the soil. One of the plants has lesions on the stem and I did buy a fungicide that says it's supposed to suppress late blight, but I already removed tons of leaves from the plants....so I'm not sure that I'll be able to suppress it long enough to get a harvest. I'm still debating if it's worth a try or if I should pull them out if there is enough time to plant something else. I know there is plenty of info out there, but I came here for help because with a full-time job and a needy two year old I don't have as much time to surf the internet anymore. Thank you to everyone that responded!
robeb
11 years ago
Battalina,

Please keep posting updates.
I can't imagine having to go through the nightmare of LB. I really feel for you and hope that it's something else.
2ajsmama
11 years ago
If it's got lesions on the stem pull it and dispose of the remains. It's just going to die anyway. You may be able to save the others if it's just leaves. Have you sent samples (or at least pix) to local extension office?

I'm fighting the same battle with my potatoes (though LB has not yet been confirmed). No stem lesions, I just keep pulling leaves and throwing them in a black plastic bag, and I sprayed today (no rain!). We'll see how long they last, though if state lab gets back to me to confirm LB I'll just pull them rather than risk my tomatoes (and peppers, though I hear peppers are less susceptible).
Battalina
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you robeb and ajsmama! I decided that I'm not ready to pull the plants yet. Ajsmama, all four of my plants show leaf signs, but only one (so far) has lesions on the stem. I will take photos tonight and post them, but over the weekend I removed tons of affected leaves and sprayed really well on Sunday. Since then I've removed only about 10 more leaves and I don't see any spots on the fruit so I think if anything I slowed it down. I did put some leaves in a ziplock bag to send for testing, but dear husband forgot to put them in the mail so they got moldy. I'm still planning to send some for testing as I remove more leaves. Overall, the plants don't look too bad considering the battle and if the LB (or gray mold - still not sure, but I hear the treatment and outcome are about the same) doesn't get used to the spray and start spreading more quickly I might actually be able to harvest some tomatoes. I have over 50 green tomatoes on my 4 plants....I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Of course I'm also worried that even if they ripen on the plants they won't taste good, but come on - it's my first year and I'm not giving up without a fight. The spray says to apply every 7 days, but I'm really tempted to spray again tomorrow. I wonder if there will be any benefit to that, if it won't make a difference or if it will actually do more harm......
2ajsmama
11 years ago
Keep to the schedule on the bottle, unless it rains and gets washed off. I don't know if you can see the residue on the plants, but the copper sulfate leaves a blue-green "dust" and even though we must have gotten some rain (and lots of wind?) while I was out yesterday b/c I saw some wet leaves and some branches down, there was still copper on the tomatoes I sprayed in the AM so I sprayed half the potatoes and then sprayed the other half this AM.

My "infected" potatoes are still looking pretty good - no more black/gray spots, no spores, some more tan withered brown spots (which is strange considering we had over 2" of rain Fri to Mon) but I'm wondering if the black is some other fungus or mold and the brown is sunscald or drought stress or insect damage/stress? Since no leaf lesions and overall the plants look healthy, standing tall (except for a few sprawlers but those still have firm stems) and green and flowering (some older flowers withering). It's been a week - if it really were late blight I think they'd be on their last legs by now. Wish the state lab would get back to me...
Battalina
Original Author
11 years ago
ajsmama, good luck with your potatoes! It would be really sad to lose them. It sounds like you are winning the battle so far. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
I took a picture of the Cherokee Purple that started it all.
Here is the trouble maker.
From Drop Box
cole_robbie
11 years ago
I concur that it is blight of some sort.

If I were you, I would paint the sides of your raised bed white, and try to make the mulch around the plants a lighter color as well. When the roots get too hot, the ends of the leaves wilt, and that opens the door for the blight damage.
Battalina
Original Author
11 years ago
Cole Robbie, that is a great idea! I did notice some of the leaf ends getting a little brown, which doesn't quite look like the blight damage, so I think that maybe the roots are too hot. I think I will mulch them with some straw. As far as the bed, for the most part it is surrounded by marigolds so direct sun only reaches very little of it.
Battalina
Original Author
11 years ago
Quick update:
Hopefully I don't jinks it by saying this, but my plants are doing really well. They are growing and setting fruit. I've only removed about 6-7 more leaves since last time i posted. Maybe it wasn't late blight (or gray mold) after all...

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