TYLCV?

[duajones]

A couple years ago I had a problem with some plants and suspected that it was TYLCV. The same thing is happening with several plants again this year. This is the worst looking plant and I pulled it today. I do have whiteflies present but not as bad as even last year. I am trying to control them with soap sprays.
Does this look like the virus to you?

[b54red]

I don't know but I think you are wise to just go ahead and pull-up any unhealthy looking plants early and replace them. I have found out the hard way that nursing a sickly plant along seldom gives good results. I have gone from one extreme to another. I used to try my best to keep the plants alive no matter how futile and now after a few weeks I frequently will pull up plants that are lagging too far behind the others even if they appear fairly healthy. I always keep an abundant supply of replacement seedlings ready to go. Of course if they get sick with a good set of tomatoes on them I tend to try to nurse them along until I can pick at least some of the tomatoes.

[duajones]

I am seeing symptoms on most of my plants, Too late for replacements.

[duajones]

The very mild winter must have been a factor this year. While I had this problem a couple years ago, I had no symptoms last spring and had a good growout. Very bummed as I may end up losing all of my plants.

[Heritage]

duajones,

I suppose it could be a virus but I think it could also be an nutrient imbalance/problem. If all of your plants are showing the interveinal chlorosis, as in your photo, my first guess would be an extreme shortage of one of the micro-nutrients. Possibly an iron and/or manganese shortage. This shortage could be caused by an actual chemical shortage, by incorrect soil pH, or by waterlogged roots.

Before pulling the plants (and since all your plants are already showing symptoms) I would, ideally, get a soil test to diagnose a possible nutrient problem. If you don't want to invest in a soil test, you could just try giving the soil around the plants a good drenching of full strength Miracle Grow (or other complete soluble fert with micronutrients.)

Good luck!
Steve

[Heritage]

duajones,

On second thought, my first guess would be the same diagnosis as yours - TYLCV.

Steve

[duajones]

I gave the plants a soil drench of fertilome iron plus micronutrients a couple of weeks ago. no change at all.

[b54red]

If it is TYLCV and it is hitting all of your plants, you may not have a choice other than to try a late plant out and see if you can grow some in the heat. I used to think it was impossible but have had some success the past few years.

Although many varieties will grow only some are able to have any kind of production in the hottest weather. You won't make as many nor will they be as large but they will be flavorful. Below are a list of some that have done well planted out from April thru July for me. It takes a lot of work, heavy mulch, constant alertness for pests and plenty of replacements early on.

Indian Stripe
Spudakee
Dana's Dusky Rose
Black Krim
Gary O' Sena
CP
BTDP
Old Virginia
Dr. Wyches Yellow
Terhune
Marianna's Peace
Lumpy Red
Zogola
Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Red
Eva Purple Ball
Mule Team
Frank's Large Red
Stump of the World
Big Beef (the best in the heat of summer for me)

As you can see the varieties that have set fruit and produced in the mid and late summer heat are predominantly the blacks. Big Beef has been the best at producing nice sized tomatoes despite the heat and resists Bacterial Wilt better that first week after setting out than most. Plants grown in the summer heat have to have some pruning so they get decent air flow or foliage diseases, spider mites, and white flies will destroy them. They need much more water during the blooming stage than in the spring and early summer and they also need more frequent applications of fertilizer.

[duajones]

Appreciate the advice but I dont have backups due to seedling problems this year and I dont want to start the small nursery plants at this point.

[coastal bend]

Duajones, I live at Old San Pat and the tomatoes I planted the middle of Feb did the same thing. I pulled them up and went to Turners and bought some more tomatoes. they have been in the EB's for 10 days and look good. I thank it was weather conditions . You can buy some sunpride ,444 or solarfire that can stand more heat. I thank there is plenty of time to grow tomatoes. Out here we have only getting half a day of sun for a long while and lots of foggy mornings. You could take a sample to turners and they could tell you what is wrong with your plants. Rick

[b54red]

Too bad you are so far away. I am giving away a bunch of plants. Many are the ones that survived my many bouts with damping off and it seems most are the varieties that better withstand our terrible summer heat.

The main reason I now do staggered plantings is because one spring every tomato plant in my garden except about 3 died by late April and I had no back ups. I had the double whammy of Late Blight and TSWV. I just started a bunch of seed and only got the first ones in the ground on June 16. I lost quite a few setting them out in the heat and learned to wait til late afternoon and to mulch heavily right after planting. I replaced the ones that died and ended up having a very good crop that year.

Since fusarium wilt is a constant battle for me, I know when I start planting that it alone will kill many if not most of my plants before they can produce a single tomato. The drawback to the staggered planting is that most tomatoes are much smaller and produce much less fruit when planted later and diseases and pests are multiplied. Still it beats what used to happen when I would put out 50 to 100 plants and by early or mid July have absolutely no fresh tomatoes to pick in the wasteland of dead and dying plants. After the initial big production of early June I will frequently have only one or two plants producing at any one time but I will usually have some producing til they all freeze. Of course I know one summer I will have another devastating case of Late Blight when it is absolutely too late to replant and all bets will be off.

[Tracydr]

B54red- do you do anything to cool the soil down when you set out plants in the heat? I need to plant in late summer for my fall planting and I've never had good luck. I'm pretty sure it's because the soil temperatures are so warm.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by duajones

A couple years ago I had a problem with some plants and suspected that it was TYLCV. The same thing is happening with several plants again this year. This is the worst looking plant and I pulled it today. I do have whiteflies present but not as bad as even last year. I am trying to control them with soap sprays.
Does this look like the virus to you?

This is absolutely positively TYLCV. I know firsthand the HARD way it is caused by the silverleaf whitefly, named that because it turns cabbage leafs silver. It also causes your fruit to ripen unevenly. It only takes one whitefly that has it 15 minutes of feeding on your uninfected plant, then it transmits the virus. Good luck, I have been fighting off whiteflies all season. It does't take many to ruin your crops.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Tracydr

B54red- do you do anything to cool the soil down when you set out plants in the heat? I need to plant in late summer for my fall planting and I've never had good luck. I'm pretty sure it's because the soil temperatures are so warm.

I do several things different when planting my fall tomatoes. It took a lot of hit and miss attempts before I got to the system that I use. I try to follow these steps as closely as I can but have been known to rush them or combine two into one because of time constraints.

First I loosen the soil or till it where the tomatoes are going.

Then in each spot where I will be setting out a tomato I pour a gallon of water with 6 ounces of bleach in it because I have a terrible time with Bacterial Wilt killing my tomato seedlings shortly after they are set out in the summer heat.

Wait a day or two and then I work in some compost, cottonseed meal, alfalfa meal, and some Water Keep crystals. Then I soak the soil well and then mulch it heavily with Cypress mulch. This allows the soil to remain cool until you get ready to plant and may keep it moist enough to skip the next step.

Wait another day or two then water each spot the morning before I will plant that evening.

Pull the mulch back and make the hole and plant the seedling late in the evening when it has cooled off. Put the mulch back and then don't water for at least a couple of days or a week or more if possible. I have found that watering the seedlings right after planting them seems to increase the number of plants hit by Bacterial Wilt.

I followed this procedure last year in June with the temps hovering around 100 and had about a 90% success rate. I repeated it in July and had about the same success rate. Before I started using this procedure my lose rate was usually between 75% and 90% when trying to set out fall plants in the blistering summer heat.

[Sun City Linda]

I was in your camp Steve! That pix look like a lot of my starts last year which had noticable yellowing new growth, but strong growth. My brother looked at the pix and said I should be more careful with my mixing of potting soil and the PH was out of whack. I had added a bunch of stuff, including lime and perhaps not mixed as well as I might of. I too tried iron at first with no response. Then I tried a light vinigar watering and those volunteers died. So, I repotted up all the rest, still had 100s, and they lived just fine. I have never had TYLCV, so dont really know about that. Good luck, Linda