Have I lost my entire tomato crop?!?!

14 years ago

I've been nursing my tomatoes through the heat of our desert summer, just waiting for those little green globes to ripen into those red garden jewels that we wait and long for every year. When my first tomatoes started to blush I plucked them off the vines before the birds could get to them, moved them indoors and waited for mother nature to finish the job. 2 weeks went by and the little buggers weren't any closer to being ripe than when I picked them. They all had a blotchy yellow color to them and when I would cut them open they were either green or white - not red. The plants look fairly healthy but they have been plagued with a fairly heavy white fly and aphid infestation which I have been battling for months.

I have been searching and searching for answers and I finally came up with "irregular ripening" caused by white flies. Here's the explanation that I found:

"While the effects of silverleaf whitefly can be easily seen on leaves the of squash plants, the fruit is the only known portion of the tomato plant that displays symptoms of the silverleaf whitefly-injury. When the silverleaf whiteflies feed on tomato plants they inject toxins into the plant which cause irregular ripening of the tomato fruit. Mature green fruit appear normal, as symptoms are not displayed until ripening. Symptoms typically appear on the outside of the tomato as a green or yellow areas appearing in a longitudinal pattern that fail to ripen. The unripe area extends fairly deep into the fruit. Although some tomatoes that are affected will appear to eventually ripen, the inside of the fruit will remain green in color."

From what I've read in other articles it seems that once the toxin is in the plant there is no chance of the fruit properly ripening. To make matters worse I still have enough white flies to cause continued problems. So, is it time to give up and tear out all the tomato plants? Has anyone else had this experience?

Here's a pic of some irregular ripened Juliet tomatoes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Desert Dame's Blog

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Comments (9)

cha_cha
Original Author
14 years ago
Oooops! I just realized that this should be in the tomato pest/disease forum. I will post over there but I don't know how to move/remove this one.
carolyn137
14 years ago
cha cha, many folks are posting questions like yours here b'c apparently the disease Forum isn't that active right now.

Where is your zone 9 garden, geographically, and do you have silver whiteflies there that you can confirm?.

Blotchy coloration and lack of a red interior, if those are the kinds of varieties ( red interior) you're growing, can also be due to Gray Wall, which is also called Blotchy Ripening, ahem, Cloudy Spot, which is surface damage causing yellow spots by Stinkbugs,and more.

Below I've linked to a Google IMAGES search for Blotchy Ripening which you can take a look at.

if in zone 9, it's almost impossible to grow tomatoes thru the summer heat. Most of my tomato friends in that zone grow two crops a year, Spring and Fall, to escape the heat and if their zone 9 is also humid, to escape that as well.

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Blotchy Ripening
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cha_cha
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for responding Carolyn. I definitely have white flies and it was a really heavy infestation for a while. From the research that I've done I am pretty sure that it's blotchy ripening brought on by these little critters.

Do I need to yank these plants out and start over or can they somehow make it back?

I'm in Tucson and I'm usually able to keep my tomatoes growing through the summer but I've never experienced anything like this before.

Here is a link that might be useful: Desert Dame's Blog
cha_cha
Original Author
14 years ago
Anyone???? I'm trying to figure out if I should rip 'em out or if they can be salvaged.
sprtsguy76
14 years ago
Sounds like the problem isn't your plants. More like a bug problem so no I wouldn't pull them. I would do some research on pest controls for your area and try that.

Damon
missingtheobvious
14 years ago
Maybe call your County Extension office and ask what they recommend?
liz63
14 years ago
Spray if you have bugs. I was infested with aphids. Almost lost a plant. I had to buy a spray with pyth. I tried 4 bottles of insecticidal soap and it just couldn't do the job. I also have an infestation of fungus gnats due to a bad bag of miracle grow. It's not that bad and it works. I try not to spray my flowers because of the bees but I only get a couple up on my balcony anyway.
nandina
14 years ago
cha cha, whitefly needs a host plant upon which to reproduce. Do a search for, whitefly hosts + AZ, to better understand the situation. With a bit of luck and some close reading you may be able to figure out which host plant(s) grows in your yard hosting the whitefly. Remove it and your whitefly problem should disappear. If you have not had a whitefly problem before this then the culprit plant is probably a new introduction into your landscape (or that of a close neighbor's).

This old pro is used to being ignored on these Forums, but...the following is the best method I have found to control whitefly. Pour full strength Lemon detergent (the original type which does not have antibacterial type additives) into a hose end sprayer. Set the dial for 1 tablespoon per gallon. Quickly spray each affected plant early in the morning, every morning from top to bottom. This treatment does a good job discouraging both aphids and whitefly. Give it a try before you decide it is necessary to pull your tomatoes.
cha_cha
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for the responses! Based upon your collective input I decided to just remove the affected fruit, continue trying to eradicate the whiteflies and hope I can still get a fall crop.

I tried doing the homemade soap spray and I kept burning my plants (even steering clear of antibacterial) so right now I'm using a combo of neem oil and safer insecticidal soap spray and it seems to be working - yay!!! It's more expensive in the short term but if it works I can start experimenting with different soaps again to make it more cost effective.

In reading through earlier whitefly/host plant posts I determined that they seem to be drawn to my bush beans. When the spring crop was done I pulled them out but the infestation was already so bad that it wasn't going to be enough. Since it didn't appear as though it would make a difference I went ahead and planted my fall crop of bush beans and sure enough the whiteflies loved them. What can I do? They are my best crop! I'm spraying nightly now b/c with or without the beans there were just too many whiteflies..... I can't figure out what this means for future bean crops, they aren't usually named as a host plant for these darned little buggers. Anyone have a similar experience with them?

Thank you all for talking me off the ledge! Fingers crossed, the plants will pull through and I can get a few maters before the season is over. There isn't a lot of info out there on crop survival for this particular problem - I really appreciate being able to come here and ask for/receive advice from all of you young AND old pro's.

Here is a link that might be useful: Desert Dame's Blog

Have I lost my entire tomato crop?!?!

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Have I lost my entire tomato crop?!?!

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