Becky, I'm sorry to hear your plants have gotten "sick". You shouldn't blame yourself. Fungal and bacterial infections are VERY common (almost unvoidable) in tomato plants unless you start treating your plants with an antifungal agent as a preventive virtually from the moment you plant them in the ground. Unfortunately, there is no organic product that is truly effective once the infection already exists (and I have tried them all), so I'd go ahead and treat with the Daconil (that's the common name for the active ingredient, Chlorothalonil). Ortho Garden Disease Control is one of the better Daconil products since it contains a high percentage of Daconil (29.6%, I think). There are other products available with a lower percentage of Daconil, but they aren't as effective. At one point, I thought Serenade would be a good organic alernative to Daconil because the first year it was out and I used it, it seemed to work. After that first year, though, I didn't find it effective, so I'm assuming that first year was a "minor" year for disease problems on tomatoes (some years ARE worse than others). Personally, I haven't used Daconil in many years, and maybe I'd have an even better tomato harvest if I did. Instead, I mulch heavily, remove diseased foliage, and try to grow the healthiest plants possible so they can "outlive and outlast" bacterial and fungal problems. Some plants can survive it and others can't, but usually bacterial and fungal infections can cause your plants to produce a lower yield. Some years it is a minor problem and other years it is a major one. IF I was raising a commercial crop, I'd probably use Daconil, but since I have a home garden and plant too many tomatoes anyway, I don't use it. There are some organic ways to try to prevent fungal and bacterial infection, but they are nowhere near as effective as Daconil. (As an organic gardener, I hate to even say that, but the truth is the truth.) One reason I plant a second crop of tomatoes in mid-summer for fall harvest is because I eventually lost either plants or productivity to diseases. (Could I prevent plant and productivity loss by using Daconil? Sure. I just choose not to, though, and I make that choice knowing the risks.) By the way, this topic is discussed ENDLESSLY on the Tomato Forum and leads to heated arguments between those who use it and those who do not. I don't think either side is completely right or wrong. In a perfect world, ALL of us wish we could successfully grow EVERYTHING organically, but it is not a perfect world--it it the real world and garden diseases do exist. NOT treating your plants would mean you'll probably lose at least half of them and the ones that remain will be less productive. Have a great day yourself! Dawn

I've been feeding them with compost tea when I water twice each day. Like most tap water, mine has a a fairly high pH, so minerals may not be as available to the plants as they should be. I try to avoid all toxic stuff, but I do use non-organic fertilizers when my compost for tea is either used up or washed out. I mainly compost maple tree leaves and grass clippings that I bag with the mower each fall. I gave the plants dose of Epson salts and bought a small package of Miracid fertilizer with trace elements. I'm going to try adding a small bit of this each day with their water to lower the pH and supplement their feed now that I am running out of compost that is not already washed out. The rate of leaves dying has slowed down a bit, so it looks like the plant might survive to give me a fall crop after the weather cools down a bit. I am not sure if the improvement is because our temp for the past week has finally dropped from over 100 to the high 80s. It may also be that the sick leaves are the left over ones from before I got rid of the last few aphids and mites. I cannot find a single aphid or mite anymore. It cannot tell for sure which growth on the plant as emerged since the final bugs were beaten. I did take some of the leaves and hold them up to a flash light last night to see if there were any pin-holes. The leaves that have any yellow all seem to have some tiny holes that light would shine through, but the newer mature leaves do not have any holes or yellow. Thank you for the suggestion regarding the magnesium. Between the Epson Salts, more balanced pH, lower temp, and beneficial bugs, I hope somethings works. If I can get this problem with leave drop fixed, I think I can get a good fall crop. The plant's basic stems and roots seem to still be very healthy and there is enough new growth with leaves to still produce a good crop once our night temps drop back below 70 so my blooms will set fruit. Knoxville is near the mountains, but down in river valley, so our cool fall temps are moderated. Last year, I was able to cover my plants with a sheet at night for the first 3 or 4 frosts, and then we got a warm spell without more frost until mid November. After I gave up and picked the green fruit before our first really cold night, I had ripe tomatoes until nearly Christmas. Between tress and my 4 dogs which love to dig, I had a hard time finding a good place to grow a couple of tomato plants, so I've grown 2 or 3 in pots for the past few years. I read about the Topsy-Turvey tomato planters that a local man had invented, so I decided to try the idea 2 years ago. For anyone that wants to grow tomatoes next year in a container, I recommend the idea highly. I don't have to stake them and the plants are clean and dry up off the ground. I'm disabled and living on social security, so I try to make do with things I can scavenge whenever possible. For my planters, I use a 5 or 10 gallon bucket. I tied a strong nylon rope around the top of the buckets, because I did not trust the handles to be strong enough to support both the bucket's contents and the plant's growth. I drilled a 2 inch hole in the center of the bottom of the buckets. When I transplant my seedlings, I sit the bucket right-side-up on the edge of a table with part hanging over the edge so I can get to the hole in the bottom. I slide the plant's roots up from the bottom through the hole in the bucket and then wedged soft sponge-like foam around the plant's stem to keep it from falling out and keep the dirt from running out when I add it next. After the tomato plant is in the hole with its foam collar, I reach in the top of the bucket and pull the plant's roots and stem up into the bucket until only the top stems and leaves of the plant are hanging out of the bottom of the bucket. I then add enough dirt to hold the plant in position. Pause before adding so much dirt that the bucket gets too heavy to lift up to hang. Warning, this thing will get heavy, so a simple cup hook screwed into the overhang will not be enough to hold it once you get it full of dirt, watered, with several feet of foliage. While it is somewhat clumsy to put together, if you have a place to hang it that gets lots of sun, it works great. I was lucky in that someone in the past had already put up a mounting for a swing on the porch. The porch is so sunny, it lends itself better for container gardening than it does for a porch swing, so I use the heavy hooks intended for a porch swing with two adults, to instead support large hanging tomato plants. After I have the pots hanging, I then finish filling the buckets with a mixture of compost and potting mix. I use fresh potting mix each year and wash the buckets with bleach each spring to avoid soil borne diseases and pests from the prior year. In full sun and heat, I water the plants each morning and afternoon. As the stems grow, they will tend to curve back upward in graceful "swooping" arcs that almost hide the bucket they are growing in. Once the plants are heavy with full-sized fruit they will hang more straight, so try to put the pot as high as you can, and still be able to reach up to water it from the top. Cherry tomatoes plants make a very beautiful hanging plant when grown this way. The graceful arcs of lush green leaves are accented so well by the clusters of ripe fruit, you would be tempted to leave then on the plant for decoration, if they weren't so tasty. They are so good, that many of them never even make it inside the house, because I cannot resist picking a few to eat fresh from the vine, every time I go outside and walk past them. While they don't produce bragging sized fruit, I always plant a cherry tomato plant because they are so predictably productive. For me, they always seem to be the most disease and pest resistant and best at continuing to set fruit during the hot summer. Greg

Yes, I had made my way over to that other section. Nothing very much like the same symptoms...though the photos again often focused on leaves. It's hard to describe, but the brown-black areas are a discoloration of the stem itself, a sort of rotten or moldy-looking area that has softeneded to the point of collapse, causing an area that is indented or 'fallen in' towards the interior of the stem. In some cases, it has deteriorated to the point that that area is open, exposing the interior of the stem. That's why I thought insects at first, because it looked like the stem wall had been breeched, or eaten through. But I haven't found any bugs. I will look again. Theses spots run lengthwise on the stem, are found near the V's, and are anywhere from 1/2" to 1 1/2" long. Some of the diseases on the list mentioned "necrosis," or the death of certain areas on stem or leaf, so this may be what the black spots are...? The leaves, though, are not necrotic, just deformed and distorted. Strange. Hopefully someone will have encountered something similar... Thanks again, veg

The two different photos are showing two different problems. The first is clearly leafminer damage, which is seldom ever a cause for concern. It is difficult to treat as the insect causing the problem is protected by the exterior plant tissue (it lives and feeds inside the foliage). But as stated previously, while it may account for some minor leaf loss and disfigurement, it is primarily a cosmetic issue. The second photo does look like there may be some sort of fungal issue. Neem oil is a decent fungicide but like most fungicides, it is only prophylactic so will not "cure" existing problems, only limit or curtail their spread. ETA: the tree looks very skinny and congested with regards to the foliage. That might be creating issues with proper air circulation, which can be a big contributor to fungal problems. Having never gown this tree myself, I am not familiar with its growing habit or pruning requirements, but some spacers placed between the three major stalks/trunks may be appropriate and helpful.