Tuesday 9 June 2015

Help: Troubleshooting Tomato Leaf Problems


I have one tomato plant (of only four) in the greenhouse exhibiting this symptom (although I believe several in the outdoor garden have similar symptoms - hard to tell as they are less than a tenth of the size).  Here it is after I stripped it of the diseased leaves (it is quite pale in colour compared to the others).


 Two years ago, I lost more than half of my tomato plants (all in containers).  I suspected verticillium wilt but there are so many similar viruses.  Wilt, blight ... arggh!  It seems most of them are soil-borne, so once I have it, well ... I have it.  I thought the only symptoms were seen in the picture below (so yellowish leaves and purple spots), but the main picture above was taken today showing more severe symptoms on that one leaf.


I have finally received my battery-operated fan to put in the greenhouse for improved air circulation (and to help with pollination).  But it is still charging!  I'll get it out as soon as I can.

 
I don't have a lot of experience and find so many "diseases" to have similar symptoms.  If you are experienced and have any thoughts and (hopefully!) suggestions (remedies) on this topic, I eagerly await any advice.  I gave the plant some fertilizer, but don't think it's a nutritional deficiency.  Do you need more photos?  Will gladly assist for any potential fixes!  Somebody please help me! :)

4 comments:

  1. I know what you mean about confusion when it comes to diseases - many look so similar! I can say it doesn't look like any of the diseases I've had to contend with - both blights & septoria leaf spot. Maybe bacterial spot?

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    1. A local gardener said it's likely early blight ... but just based on pictures. Who knows. I do tend to overwater container plants, so that's my first action plan (let plants dry out between waterings).

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  2. If I had to guess I would say bacterial spot. You could try a copper spray or Actinovate. Reducing humidity in the greenhouse should help.

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    1. Just looked up pics of bacterial spot and you are right, it does look like that. I'm going to order some copper spray as I had read about that earlier. For now, I've moved the one plant out of the greenhouse and will keep an eye on it now that I've cleaned out the damaged leaves ... the others seem fine for now.

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