Help needed! Viral Wilt or TSWV?

[Sandhillstiger]

Hello everyone. I'm new to this site and need some help identifying this issue. I have over 100 heirloom plants, with atleast 25 varieties planted. So far, I replaced nearly 20 plants with issues below. I have pulled and destroyed every plant. I know off hand that my Black From Tula (all), Ananas Noir, Borgo Cellano, Green Zebra, Black Brandywine, Stutzman Black, Eva Purple Ball, Paul Robeson, Berkeley Tie Dye, Pineapple, German Pink, and Jubilee have been infected with something. I have checked for nematodes but the roots look fine. I'm located in the midlands of South Carolina and the growing conditions have been ideal over the past month. We've received adequate rainfall and the nightly temperatures have yet to get over 70 degrees. Any help would ben greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Derrick

[babice]

Hi Sandhillstiger! I'm a tom-growing-newbie so am going to let the pros help you out. I would like to ask you some questions, though, that may help with identification. How close together are they planted, how often (and how) are you watering, how often are you feeding them and with what, same question on any prevention. And you say nightly temps haven't gotten over 70 yet - what are your day temps like and what has the humidity been like since you put them in the ground?

I'm sad for you that you had to pull so many and I hope you find an answer to your question soon!!

[babice]

p.s. that pic #4 is showing some spots (left center) - can you get a close-up of those? They look like they may have a halo around them...hard to tell...

[Fusion_power]

From the photos, it is not nematodes and it is not TSWV. It is clearly systemic. The indications are typical of verticillium or fusarium. The way to diagnose it is to slice one of the major stems at an angle and look to see if the inside of the stem is either tan (verticillium) or brownish (fusarium). For comparison, you can break off a healthy tomato side stem and slice it open where you should see nothing but pale green with some white vascular tissue.

Here are some questions to ask.
Have tomatoes been grown in this soil in the last 2 or 3 years?
Were they affected? or were they hybrids with known tolerance?
Is the soil a sandy loam?
If one of more of these is true, then V or F is likely.

These plants appear to be in need of some nitrogen. I would suggest an immediate foliar feed of all your plants using seaweed emulsion or something similar to miracle grow for tomatoes.

Another possible issue would be if the plants have been in standing water for any length of time, then the roots could have been killed by lack of oxygen. The symptoms would be similar to what you show but the stems would not exhibit discoloration as for V or F above.

One last possible problem would be exposure to 2-4-d herbicide. Is there any chance someone in the area used 2-4-d recently? It can drift several hundred yards in some conditions. Did you purchase compost to apply to your garden? There have been several recent cases where composted cow manure was contaminated with herbicides that were used on the hay fields. The contaminated compost then acted on the tomato plants.

One of the plants shows signs of flea beetle feeding. You might consider spraying with pyrethrum to get them under control.

DarJones

[Sandhillstiger]

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

From the photos, it is not nematodes and it is not TSWV. It is clearly systemic. The indications are typical of verticillium or fusarium. The way to diagnose it is to slice one of the major stems at an angle and look to see if the inside of the stem is either tan (verticillium) or brownish (fusarium). For comparison, you can break off a healthy tomato side stem and slice it open where you should see nothing but pale green with some white vascular tissue.

Here are some questions to ask.
Have tomatoes been grown in this soil in the last 2 or 3 years?
Were they affected? or were they hybrids with known tolerance?
Is the soil a sandy loam?
If one of more of these is true, then V or F is likely.

These plants appear to be in need of some nitrogen. I would suggest an immediate foliar feed of all your plants using seaweed emulsion or something similar to miracle grow for tomatoes.

Another possible issue would be if the plants have been in standing water for any length of time, then the roots could have been killed by lack of oxygen. The symptoms would be similar to what you show but the stems would not exhibit discoloration as for V or F above.

One last possible problem would be exposure to 2-4-d herbicide. Is there any chance someone in the area used 2-4-d recently? It can drift several hundred yards in some conditions. Did you purchase compost to apply to your garden? There have been several recent cases where composted cow manure was contaminated with herbicides that were used on the hay fields. The contaminated compost then acted on the tomato plants.

One of the plants shows signs of flea beetle feeding. You might consider spraying with pyrethrum to get them under control.

DarJones

These heirlooms (no hybrids) are planted on a ground that was a cow/horse barn around 40 years ago and it has been dormant since that time. In this part of South Carolina, the soil is definitely not a loam. Most of the area here has a very acidic sandy soil. However, this soil has a dark, rich organic base thanks to the years serving as a livestock stall. I prepared this site early in the year with a lime recommendation that Clemson sent me with my soil test report. At planting, I filled the planting hole with a mixture of Epsoma Biotone, worm castings, black kow, chicken manure and cottonseed meal. With this, I have plants throughout the garden that are thriving in fruit production and vibrant plants/stems. Thanks for help!

Derrick

[Sandhillstiger]

Originally Posted by babice

Hi Sandhillstiger! I'm a tom-growing-newbie so am going to let the pros help you out. I would like to ask you some questions, though, that may help with identification. How close together are they planted, how often (and how) are you watering, how often are you feeding them and with what, same question on any prevention. And you say nightly temps haven't gotten over 70 yet - what are your day temps like and what has the humidity been like since you put them in the ground?

I'm sad for you that you had to pull so many and I hope you find an answer to your question soon!!

Thanks for the reply. My plants are spaced in a standard 4*5 ft configuration. We have received about 5 inches of rain over the past month and I don't believe the temperatures have been over 95 degrees at that time. I have plants 10 feet from these that may have many lbs of fruit on them and are already 5 feet tall? I've also mulched the entire garden with a mixture or wheat straw and hay. I have applied one feeding ( 10 days ago) of compost tea I made. I used a mixture of worm castings, composted chicken manure, Black Kow, and syrup to prepare 40 gallons of tea for a folliar feeding.

[Sandhillstiger]

Originally Posted by Sandhillstiger

Thanks for the reply. My plants are spaced in a standard 4*5 ft configuration. We have received about 5 inches of rain over the past month and I don't believe the temperatures have been over 95 degrees at that time. I have plants 10 feet from these that may have many lbs of fruit on them and are already 5 feet tall? I've also mulched the entire garden with a mixture or wheat straw and hay. I have applied one feeding ( 10 days ago) of compost tea I made. I used a mixture of worm castings, composted chicken manure, Black Kow, and syrup to prepare 40 gallons of tea for a folliar feeding.

I also apply 1 ounce of Neptune Harvest fish/kelp 2-3-1 fertilizer per gallon to my tea.

[babice]

Wow - you certainly know what you're doing! Check out what Fusion Power posted for you (he's one of those pros I was referring to). I was looking at figure #7 in the attached PDF and it certainly does look like Fusarium Wilt as Fusion Power suggested. I don't know what to recommend for you, though, to get rid of it/deal with it. 95 degree temps during the day are tough but it sounds like you've been doing this a while and know what you're doing (i.e., have been successful in the past with those temps)? Maybe as Fusion suggested, the soil in this spot has Fusarium Wilt in it?

ooops - didn't attach PDF - will do that in next reply as I don't know I can do that in an already-posted-reply

[babice]

check out figure #7 in the attached PDF

[Sandhillstiger]

Originally Posted by babice

Wow - you certainly know what you're doing! Check out what Fusion Power posted for you (he's one of those pros I was referring to). I was looking at figure #7 in the attached PDF and it certainly does look like Fusarium Wilt as Fusion Power suggested. I don't know what to recommend for you, though, to get rid of it/deal with it. 95 degree temps during the day are tough but it sounds like you've been doing this a while and know what you're doing (i.e., have been successful in the past with those temps)? Maybe as Fusion suggested, the soil in this spot has Fusarium Wilt in it?

ooops - didn't attach PDF - will do that in next reply as I don't know I can do that in an already-posted-reply

Thanks for your help. We have had just few hot days this past month. In many ways, April was warmer and drier here than May. We have been in the low 80's for over week now. I'm just frustrated because I've replaced so many plants while the majority of may garden in pumping out fruit on very healthy plants. I am just afraid that this nasty stuff will spread.

Derrick

[casserole]

Looks like Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus to me

[Structure]

It looks more like Curly Top Virus than Leaf Curl Virus, but I don't even know if they have CTV where the OP is. In my garden, CTV plants look a lot like that but the top gets even more extreme before they are done. The leaves feel "leathery" too especially on the top most curled and purled ones.
http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/TRA...topvirus.shtml

In my climate CTV looks exactly like this:
http://ucanr.org/blogs/SalinasValley...me=curly%20top

[b54red]

It doesn't look like fusarium wilt to me. I don't see any of the tell tale yellowing coming up from the lower part of the plants. Fusarium doesn't really do much leaf curling except when another disease or mineral deficiency is present at the same time.

Since the soil is so acidic maybe your plants are taking up too much of something or too little. You may need to really bring up the soil ph fast to get a little closer to neutral. That can be done with quick lime but if you use it be very careful as it is very caustic but it will raise your ph almost immediately. I have noticed in places where manure was plentiful and packed down for years that plants seem slow to come back to the area. I guess you can have too much of a good thing.

[Sandhillstiger]

Originally Posted by b54red

It doesn't look like fusarium wilt to me. I don't see any of the tell tale yellowing coming up from the lower part of the plants. Fusarium doesn't really do much leaf curling except when another disease or mineral deficiency is present at the same time.

Since the soil is so acidic maybe your plants are taking up too much of something or too little. You may need to really bring up the soil ph fast to get a little closer to neutral. That can be done with quick lime but if you use it be very careful as it is very caustic but it will raise your ph almost immediately. I have noticed in places where manure was plentiful and packed down for years that plants seem slow to come back to the area. I guess you can have too much of a good thing.

Thanks for the reply. I also don't believe it is VW or FW. When I did my soil test in the fall, Clemson found my soil at 5.0. My cousin is an Extension Agent for Clemson University in row crop/weed analysis and he told me that tomatoes need to have 6.0 pH. I put out about 120 lbs of lime to achieve a 6.0. With this, I really don't think the acidity is a problem.

[babice]

Originally Posted by Sandhillstiger

I put out about 120 lbs of lime to achieve a 6.0. With this, I really don't think the acidity is a problem.

Sandshill - mehbe the lime hasn't had a chance to take a hold yet? When did you put it out? Can you send pics and/or a sample to your cuz to i.d. the issue?