Help! Please help me ID what may be wrong with my plant.

desertlzbn · February 9, 2012

I have this problem plaguing my tomato plants. They get so big, then produce 2 or 3 fruit, then the leaves shrivel up and die, them the whole plant dies eventually. I don't know if this is a disease, fungus, bug, too much ferts, too little ferts, or what. I will attach as many pics as I can. I cut it open and the stem seemed ok. This happened to almost all of my plants this summer. The SWCs and my garden have had the same results. The other thing all the plants had wrong is the leaves don't grow much, they look stunted, and they don't get very big.

desertlzbn · February 9, 2012

Here are more pictures

desertlzbn · February 9, 2012

And some more

Wi-sunflower · February 9, 2012

Are you using anything with soybean in it ??

Fertilizer, meal, residue, whatever ??

The stunted growth and leaves and little fruit set looks a bit like something that happened to my pepper crop several years ago. I found out that soy has a "growth regulator" effect on solanums.

Carol

desertlzbn · February 9, 2012

No not that I know of, the leaves just start curling up and dieing. I thought maybe this may be some kind of wilt or something.

desertlzbn · February 9, 2012

Ok bad news I think, did some research and from the online pictures this may be some kind of vitroid, maybe? Tomato planto macho. Or tomato chlorotic dwarf vitroid? This matches most closely to what my plants look like. The bad news is that these plants are in my green house where all of my babies are. How do I know if the babies are infected our not?

dice · February 9, 2012

Why not take the infected ones outside and throw a piece of clear plastic
over them if frost is forecast? (If they are in that kind of shape, they do
not deserve the greenhouse, they are likely doomed anyway.)

I do not know what the symptoms would look like on seedlings.

If it is getting all over your garden, it may be spread by insects. You may
want to just bag and dispose of those infected ones so that they do not
act as a new source of infection for whatever spreads it.

If it is an insect-spread viroid, it may be coming from some nearby weed.
(Do you have weeds in Tuscon? Maybe it is coming from farther away
than the local area. With Curly Top, for example, studies from northern
Arizona and Utah found that beet leafhoppers were carrying it 400 miles
or more with their seasonal migrations.)

desertlzbn · February 9, 2012

I do plan on bagging and pulling the plants that are infected. I bought some anti fungal products today I plan on putting on the soil of the seedlings. Some Serenade. I also plan on getting some Activate to apply. The other thing is to get some of the Mycro products and apply them.

**mdvpc** · February 9, 2012

You might try using actinovate also.

desertlzbn · February 10, 2012

Here are some close up pics of the leaves

desertlzbn · February 10, 2012

So I thought I was going to be able to get my plant diagnosed today, but then found out it would cost $100

I just cannot afford that. So now I don't know what to do.

gourmetgardener · February 10, 2012

I have a specialization in Plant Pathology, and I can tell you with near certainty that the disease you are looking at is Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus. Pay close attention to thrips which transmit the virus. You must remove and preferably burn infected plants, and spray for thrips - Alias, Admire, or Assail. Keep your property free of blooming weeds - especially dandelions.

http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.corne...SpWiltFS12.htm

desertlzbn · February 10, 2012

Thank you for the info, can this disease be spread via the soil or plant contact? I have not seen thrips, but that does not mean they are not there. I just don't know if I will lose my whole crop of (about a 1000) seedlings because this plant was in the greenhouse with my seedlings. I am taking one of the plants in today to get looked at, at the U of A extension center. Hopefully the can tell me exactly what to do.
Thank you again!

dice · February 10, 2012

We were discussing alkaline soils in another thread, and the subject of
sodicity and salinity in alkaline soils keeps coming up in recommendations
for dealing with high pH soils in places like Arizona. I was wondering if that
could be your problem, sodium buildup in your soil.

This is the URL of a writeup from Univ. of Wyoming about it:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...RPEwmSKjbdvTEQ

(Usually it is dealt with by adding gypsum, which makes the sodium
leachable some way, and then using deep watering to wash it down
below the root zone. Adding lots of organic matter helps mitigate the
effect it has on binding up nutrients, but you already do that.)

kurt · February 11, 2012

Whatever it is(looks like a combination of diseases)you are going to have to nuke the inside of the greenhouse,all your tools, change the soil.Once the spores get airborne they are just waiting for moisture to evolve and get transmitted buy a insect or human transmission.That includes planting trays and pots.Even saved seeds from the infected plants can carry the crud.Sorry for the bad news but I went through it myself and just started all over.

February 9, 2012	#7
dice Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: PNW Posts: 4,743	Why not take the infected ones outside and throw a piece of clear plastic over them if frost is forecast? (If they are in that kind of shape, they do not deserve the greenhouse, they are likely doomed anyway.) I do not know what the symptoms would look like on seedlings. If it is getting all over your garden, it may be spread by insects. You may want to just bag and dispose of those infected ones so that they do not act as a new source of infection for whatever spreads it. If it is an insect-spread viroid, it may be coming from some nearby weed. (Do you have weeds in Tuscon? Maybe it is coming from farther away than the local area. With Curly Top, for example, studies from northern Arizona and Utah found that beet leafhoppers were carrying it 400 miles or more with their seasonal migrations.) __________________ -- alias

February 9, 2012	#9
mdvpc Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 4,386	You might try using actinovate also. __________________ Michael

February 10, 2012	#14
dice Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: PNW Posts: 4,743	We were discussing alkaline soils in another thread, and the subject of sodicity and salinity in alkaline soils keeps coming up in recommendations for dealing with high pH soils in places like Arizona. I was wondering if that could be your problem, sodium buildup in your soil. This is the URL of a writeup from Univ. of Wyoming about it: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...RPEwmSKjbdvTEQ (Usually it is dealt with by adding gypsum, which makes the sodium leachable some way, and then using deep watering to wash it down below the root zone. Adding lots of organic matter helps mitigate the effect it has on binding up nutrients, but you already do that.) __________________ -- alias

February 9, 2012	#4
Wi-sunflower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 2,591	Are you using anything with soybean in it ?? Fertilizer, meal, residue, whatever ?? The stunted growth and leaves and little fruit set looks a bit like something that happened to my pepper crop several years ago. I found out that soy has a "growth regulator" effect on solanums. Carol

February 9, 2012	#5
desertlzbn Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Tucson Posts: 659	No not that I know of, the leaves just start curling up and dieing. I thought maybe this may be some kind of wilt or something.

February 10, 2012	#12
gourmetgardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Canada (Zone 6b) Posts: 119	I have a specialization in Plant Pathology, and I can tell you with near certainty that the disease you are looking at is Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus. Pay close attention to thrips which transmit the virus. You must remove and preferably burn infected plants, and spray for thrips - Alias, Admire, or Assail. Keep your property free of blooming weeds - especially dandelions. http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.corne...SpWiltFS12.htm

February 11, 2012	#15
kurt Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Homestead,Everglades City Fl. Posts: 2,501	Whatever it is(looks like a combination of diseases)you are going to have to nuke the inside of the greenhouse,all your tools, change the soil.Once the spores get airborne they are just waiting for moisture to evolve and get transmitted buy a insect or human transmission.That includes planting trays and pots.Even saved seeds from the infected plants can carry the crud.Sorry for the bad news but I went through it myself and just started all over.