Early blight or Septoria?

9 years ago

Hello again, all!

Back again...with a NEW tomato problem!

After my most recent post about my celebrity plant (with the curling leaves) I decided to move it away from my other plants and prune the bottom leaves (which are growing in again btw).

At this moment in time, the plant seems to be doing ok (curly leaves and all).

Now, on to another plant...

My yellow cherry tomato (indeterminate) was doing A-ok up until a few days back, when I noticed one of the lower leaves looking a little spotty around the margins.

I asked my neighbor about it (more seasoned gardener) and she thought the plant looked fine, maybe it was a pest, and to spray it.

So, I did. It seemed fine after that.

Now, within the last 2 days I have noticed that the leaves are all starting to look speckled and burnt around the edges.

So, I am left wondering (worrying) if my plant has Early blight or Septoria leaf spot. To me, (in my completely untrained eye, lol) it looks like Septoria, but it's hard to tell.

The way the spotting/speckling began was at the bottom of the plant.

I have a few pictures of the plant to share...the last one is kind of blurry because it is raining outside and it is nighttime here.

I have several other tomato plants in their own containers nearby and wondering if I should remove this plant too.

If anyone has any advice i'd appreciate it.

Why do my tomato plants hate me!?!? LOL

I'm sorry for flooding your board with these posts!

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Comments (7)

Just1tomatoplantplz
Original Author
9 years ago
another picture of different leaves...
Just1tomatoplantplz
Original Author
9 years ago
whole plant shot (sorry for the blurry pic)
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Early blight or Septoria leaf spot?
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Your plants have Bacterial Speck IMO but the treatment for all the leaf diseases is the same - strip off affected foliage ASAP, cease any overhead watering/sprinkling, and spray with fungicides on a regular basis to slow the progression of the disease till you can get a harvest. There is no "cure". And yes there are a number of ORMI approved fungicides available although their benefits are questionable when compared to chemical controls. As already mentioned you can learn much more about all this over on the forum for growing tomatoes here. Dave
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Early blight or septoria leaf spot???
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Neem Oil works very well, but it is not an instant kill-all. Leaf eating insects hate the smell, moreover Neem confuses them which causes them to stop eating and die off. Try a soapy foliar spray for a quick fix and Neem as your main insecticide for the leaf eaters.
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Magnesium Deficiency, not early blight or septoria
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Well, first, that links to a great resource, thank you, Kandm. It's now stored in my favorites. If we want to get right down to it ... there are several micronutrient deficiencies that cause interveinal chlorosis. Magnesium deficiency shows up as interveinal chlorosis on older leaves because magnesium is mobile in the plant and the plant is drawing magnesium up from the lower leaves much the same as the plant will draw nitrogen up from older leaves and leave them yellow (more evenly yellow though). Iron deficiency shows up as interveinal chlorosis on younger leaves first because iron is not mobile and the new growth fails first because it cannot draw iron from either the soil or the older leaves. Manganese deficiency shows up the same as iron ... in the new growth ... but is much more rare. Copper deficiency can cause chlorosis, but it is very rare. Zinc deficiency also can show up as chlorosis but should show stunting of new growth, decrease in stem length, and all other symptoms as if for lack of auxin to the growing tips. Sulfur deficiency shouldn't show up at all anywhere in the Midwest down the windstream from a coal-fired power plant. So, I'm kinda ruling that out. Again, and after reading the OP's comments about his high pH history, I'd temporarily address it with Epsom salt and Ironite and then continue to address the pH until it gets balance below 7.0 and toward 6.8 or so. Here's a Chart showing how pH affects micronutrient availability. Here's a Fact Sheet from Ohio State University with some more information about micronutrient deficiencies.
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early blight or septoria spot...other spots..pics.
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Comments (5)
All the inner leaves turned yellow first, ***** That's not typical of foliage infections caused by either bacteria or fungi. The spots on the leaves may have a yellow halo around them, but only initially. It sounds more like a systemic disease, but if so you should see some wilting. There are several diseases that can cause lesions on the stems, and yes, Early Blight is one of them, but there are many others. All the anti-fungals in the world aren't going to help if the infections are being caused by bacterial pathogns. If I were you I'd still go to that Problem Solver #2 in the Pest and Disease Forum and find the post that gives the TAMU link and take a look. Or could you post some pictures yourself? I in no way inteded to say that looking at pictures is useless, far from it,all I said was that often IDing diseases by pictures can be difficult. But there are many who have done so easily. Your local extension can also be a great help in helping to ID toamto diseases and I certainly would try there first before going to most nurseries. If it's Early Blight the spots on the leaves have distinctive concentric rings and the spots may be surrounded by a yellow halo. If it starts looking more bacterial after you look at some pictures then I'd get a copper containing prep and try that. If it's a systemic disease such as Fusarium that['s causing the foliage to turn yellow, then there is nothing that can help such systemic diseases. And Fusarium is found in many places in CA. but you should be seeing some wilting if it's Fusarium.\\And yes, there can be more than one infection present on a given plant at the same time. Carolyn
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Just1tomatoplantplz
Original Author
9 years ago
Also wanted to add that the spotting began on one leaf at the bottom and has progressed upwards.

I would say half of the plant has this spotting pattern.

What should I do?

Thanks for any and all help! :)
Just1tomatoplantplz
Original Author
9 years ago
Well, I went out this morning to check on my spotted plant and it looks like the disease has spread upward. I was just about the prune off the bottom branches when I noticed that the top ones had spots now too.

Now, I'm left with the dilemma of removing the plant (new location) or totally destroying it so it doesn't spread to other plants.

The neighboring tomato plant shows some symptoms as well. (couple of spots on leaves).

I'm so sad and frustrated over all of this. Why can't I grow tomato plants?!?

Thanks for any advice!
digdirt2
9 years ago
It doesn't really matter which disease it has. The treatment is the same for most of them - remove all of the affected foliage and begin spraying regularly with the fungicide of your choice.

Yours has Bacterial Speck/Spot so I'd suggest you try using a copper-based fungicide and once all the diseased leaves are removed the air circulation around and through the plant should improve and it will dry out if the weather cooperates. No overhead watering.

When you see infected foliage on any plant you remove it immediately and dispose of it away from the garden. Never leave it on the plant.

I don't know what the white crystals are on some of the leafs - likely something you sprayed. But when the question arises as to what the problem is, it is not pests unless you see the pests. So blindly spraying for pests when it isn't necessary only compounds the problems.

Hope this helps.

Dave
Just1tomatoplantplz
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you so much, Dave.

Your input really helps.

I kinda put it all together (after hours of looking at pictures last night)
that what is going on IS bacterial spot/speck.

I removed the plant away from the others and intend on purchasing a copper spray today.

Unfortunately the weather has been uncooperative the last few days dreary/rainy/wet leaves. I've been pretty diligent/careful about not watering the leaves.

I have learned quite a bit from my tomato growing trials and tribulations.

Just hoping to have one tomato plant survivor (of the 5).

Also, if we could just PLEASE have a few sunny and dry days...that would help a lot.

I think next year IF I do grow them again, I will definately do things differently.

Most likely I will buy LOCAL from a tomato grower and also prep their bedding a bit better.

I should have mulched and should have put down straw.

Soil is good/ good nutrients now.

Also, having a raised bed would make gardening a little bit easier too.

Thanks for your help, wish me luck! :)

Happy growing, to all!
Just1tomatoplantplz
Original Author
9 years ago
Just wanted to update...and ask another q..

I pruned/picked off all of the speckled leaves of the infected plant and sprayed it with Daconil (home depot was OUT of copper spray..grr) and left it overnight. Last night it did not rain. but it did a little bit today. Should I, can I respray?

Or is it too soon?

Sadly, it appears that the infection spread to the rest of my tomato plants except for 1 (so it appears). I pruned/picked them off also, and sprayed them.

Weird side note, I looked at some of the weeds growing on the ground, and it appears that there are speckles on them too. Could THIS be where my tomato plants acquired their illness?

I also pulled as many weeds up that I could that seemed infected. Not sure if there is any correlation or not..

So, to respray or not to respray...that is the question.

Next year I'm going to put my tomato plants in a bubble! HA!

Thanks for any input or advice..

Happy growing!

Early blight or Septoria?

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