My tomato has warts

[Sherry_AK]

A few leaves on this plant have this same appearance. The "warts" seem to be on the top surface only. The leaves turn crispy (not brown) and fall off. Any ideas?



Click to enlarge

Thanks in advance for your help.

Sherry

[hasshoes]

Ewwww! How gross!

I'm no expert but assuming they're not like eggs or bugs that you can scrape off (which I'm sure you've already tried) I would guess it's a fungus! Yuck and good luck!

edit-- I just read somewhere that bumps on leaves can be a plant's immune response to bug bites. . .

[Sherry_AK]

Heather -- Thanks for responding. I examined the leaf with a magnifying glass and it doesn't look to be bugs or eggs. They are irregularly shaped. It's just very odd. (Also I think it's not terribly likely to be bugs -- but not impossible, of course -- as the plant is indoors.)

Sherry

[dice]

It is wierd looking. I cannot say that I have ever seen an actual
tomato leaf or even a picture of one that looked exactly like
that.

Could be some little organism like pseudomonas, although
I don't know if they attack tomato leaves. Some old research
found that leaf warts could be produced at will on some
crops by spraying with various copper compounds used for
disease control.

[akgardengirl]

Sherry,
You may have to quarantine that plant! What tomato plants you growing in the house this winter? Is it the same old Grumpy from last winter? He's a grampa now if it is him.
Sue

[Sherry_AK]

Sue -- Actually this one is a cutting from one of the Barossa Beauties that I grew last year. I also have 3 Grumpy cuttings. One of them (cutting of a cutting of a cutting) is from one of the F2 plants you gave me!

Thanks, Dice. As always, I appreciate your input.

Sherry

[dice]

My hunch would be that it is not systemic, though. You
may be able to get rid of it just by cutting off the leaves
with the symptoms.

[rsg2001]

I never had a tomato that did that, but I have a tree whose leaves every year develop "warts" like that. I had an arborist look at it, and they're galls, which are viral -- basically an internal infection that the tree has. Fortunately it doesn't spread - the arborist said it wouldn't - the tree had it when we bought the property 15 years ago and still leafs out (a little late) each year. My recommendation would be to dig these up and remove.

[Sherry_AK]

Thanks, all. I think I'll go with the conservative approach first -- remove affected leaves (although they are "self-removing" since they dry up and fall off). I agree that it does not seem to be systemic. rsg2001 -- The plant is in a small container indoors, so it will be easy to dispose of if it comes to that.

I've taken a cutting from the top, healthy, part of this plant so I'll have a back-up.

Thanks again.

Sherry

[Polar_Lace]

Originally Posted by Sherry_AK

(although they are "self-removing" since they dry up and fall off).

If the bad leaves have fallen into and touched the soil, well that could be spreading the problem. Even to other plants nearby. When you see the problem happening on other leaves or plants, cut them off and throw those leaves away or burn them. Don't put them into your compost!

Originally Posted by Sherry_AK

I've taken a cutting from the top, healthy, part of this plant so I'll have a back-up.

Thanks again.

Sherry

That may work.

~* Robin

[feraltomatoes]

That is such an odd looking whatever it is.
I have seen nothing like it, hope I never do unless it ends up being related to abnormally large, tasty harvests.

It seems like it made the main veins of the leaf all curvy. Virial???

What has happened lately?

[Sherry_AK]

Hi, Brad. The plant has not deteriorated further. The growth at the top still looks healthy. It's in a small-ish pot (probably a gallon or less) indoors. I guess about 3 or 4 of the bottom leaves have developed "warts" and dried up and fallen off. And you are right, I also can notice in the picture that the central vein is "pinched up" and curvy. It's still a mystery to me.

Sherry

P.S. Do let me know if you have additional thoughts about it.

[hasshoes]

Has it progressed? I was thumbing through a garden book the other day and say a picture of a type of mosaic virus that looked very much like that. I wish I had a scanner! The first couple of pages of google images don't look like the mosaic virus pic in my book.

[Sherry_AK]

The whole plant was (yes, "was") only about a foot tall, and most of the lower leaves had dried up and fallen off. So I cut the unaffected top off and stuck it in some water to root. I just did this yesterday, so it's too soon to tell if the top part will also develop the problem.

Sherry

[Blueaussi]

A little late, but your tomato looks like it has Edema.

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/g...ges/edema.html