Please help me figure out whats wrong with my tomatoes

[tammy]

Out of about 80 tomatoes, I have had about 6-8 that started to yellow to a gray green, and wilt. The leaves wilt and curl, then start browning and turning crinkly. Until eventual death of the plant. They are just now starting to bloom so I dont have fruits to look at. Some pictures seem to suggest potassium defiency and sometimes calcium. I am just not sure. There should be plenty of nitrogen because I ammended with a large amount of aged manure when building the raised beds. I am fertilizing according to Middleider, and have added a few doses of calcium nitrate about every 10 days or so. The rest f the tomatoes are blooming, nd bright green and look very healthy. I pulled and replaced some, but I have noticed the same symtoms starting in a few others.
Tammy

[ArthurDent004]

That first picture looks like it could be Fusarium wilt. Here's a link for more information.

http://gardening.about.com/od/proble...f-Tomatoes.htm

You could contact your local Extension office for an exact diagnosis.

[Master_Gardener]

If it is a disease, do not touch infected plants with your hands or tools and then touch non-affected plants. You could spread the disease. The diseased plants should be removed and discarded, not composted.

It may also be early blight. It's hard to say from the pictures. I agree that you local county extension office is the place to start.

[lurley]

I see what looks like a wet spot on the top of the stem in the first photo, if there are other wet looking spots beginning to girlde the main branches or main stems you could be looking at grey mold damage

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[b54red]

That is very scary looking because it looks a lot like Late Blight. I know it is the wrong time of the year for it but the way the whole plant is hit from the top down looks similar to LB. It is in all likelihood Gray Mold that has been allowed to spread. Have you had a lot of rainy wet weather with cool nights? That is when GM spreads the fastest.

I would get out and spray every plant in your garden with the bleach solution discussed on this forum and don't wait. If it is either Gray Mold or LB it will spread very fast. Those sick plants are goners but you may save the rest before it gets too bad by stopping or slowing the spread. Spray the tops and undersides of all the leaves, all stems, the fruit and the soil under the plants with a fine mist of the bleach solution very early in the morning or late in the evening. You will see a lot of withering of infected leaves within a day or two and you should then prune out all the dead or dying leaves and discard them. Then repeat the bleach spray so you get any parts of the plant you missed because you will miss some of it no matter how well you think you sprayed. The day after the second application of the bleach spray apply a fungicide and keep an eye out for the reappearance of any more of the disease and if you see any more starting spray with the bleach solution again.

I have already done this with my plants. I have had Gray Mold hit twice this year but I sprayed as soon as I saw it and the damage was not so bad. I just sprayed yesterday again because after 5 days of rainy wet weather Gray Mold reappeared on a couple of new plants so I sprayed every plant in the garden for it including my beans, squash and cucumbers which are all susceptible to it. The reason for spraying plants that don't show symptoms at the same time is because they may already have the spores on them even though the disease doesn't show yet and I want to kill them before they can start messing the plant up. The spray doesn't hurt the healthy plant tissue if done correctly. Before you mix your bleach solution make sure you check the strength of your bleach because it can vary and mix according to the directions in the bleach spray thread discussed on this forum.

I cannot emphasize the importance of getting the spray applied as soon as possible; but it needs to be done early or late to reduce the chance of leaf burn.

Good luck.
Bill

[tammy]

From what I read of Fusarium, Betterboy is resistant, and most of the affected plants are betterboy, the other was Big beef. I was trying to find a working email for my county extension, so today i will try and call
tammy

[bcday]

I vote for Gray Mold.
It doesn't look like Fusarium to me, and definitely not Early Blight.
Have you had a lot of wet weather?

[tammy]

Not really, just a light rain about 1x wk. I checked for the vertical lines from fusarium, and they arent there. the insides are nice and white. I will look up gray mold. and i found the thread on the bleach spray, and quickly went out and sprayed them all very thoroughly from the ground up and underneath as much as I could.
Tammy

ps, just read gray mold also effects strawberries. My row of strawberries is right between the two rows of tomatoes, with only 2 feet sepearting. They have no problem. nice and healthy.

[bcday]

Keep trying your county extension office. There are other diseases that can look like Late Blight but I just found this announcement saying that there is an unconfirmed report of Late Blight on tomatoes in a greenhouse in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. http://extension.udel.edu/weeklycropupdate/?p=5613

Late Blight spores are very light and can be carried on the wind for miles, so if there is LB in your area it is possible that some spores infected your plants.

[bcday]

Did you start these plants from seed or buy them as started plants?

[tammy]

My internet doesnt seem to be working right, at least not google. i cant look up the number for the doddridge county, wvu extension agency. The plants were started from seed. Everything else in the garden, including peppers look good. I did notice my clematis bloomed nice, then quickly the center turned brown, and all the leaves died in the center. It did the same last yr. The outer edges look fine. Strawberries, an potatoes nearby look fine.
Tammy

[bcday]

WVU Extension Service
Doddridge County Office
503-A W Main Street
St. Patrick Center
West Union, WV 26456

Phone (304) 873-1801
FAX (304) 873-1898
Hours: Mon-Fri 9:00 to 5:00

[tammy]

Thanks a bunch for that number. the agent was sure it was late blight and recommended Copper dragon. Hopefully I can save the rest of them.
Tammy

[bcday]

He/she decided that over the phone?!?!

Hope the copper works.
I use an Ortho or Bonide spray that has chlorothanolil in it.

Remove all the diseased foliage because if it is indeed LB there will be spores forming on the diseased tissue that will infect the rest of your plants. Seal it up in a plastic bag so the spores can't escape and put it out with the household trash, not in your compost pile.

If it turns out that it was something other than LB after all, such as gray mold, the fact that your strawberries aren't affected yet may not mean much. I have a strawberry patch, and two stems with fruit on them in the middle of the patch had gray mold. The rest of the strawberry plants around them were fine and even a couple of ripe berries on the affected stems looked fine.

If it really is LB, you'll know soon. LB spreads fast in damp weather.

Having LB show up so early in the season is not good news at all.

[bcday]

Late blight ‘imitators’

How to distinguish late blight from other diseases and disorders with similar symptoms

http://www.longislandhort.cornell.ed...s/diagnose.htm