Alive on Friday...Near Death on Wednesday

[z_willus_d]

Yes, I had a thriving tomato plant (don't ask me what variety, another sob story to that) last Friday evening leaving the work garden plot for a nice long four day weekend. This morning, Wed 5/30, the plant was as near death as anything I've seen. I'm not sure what hit it, but thankfully the surrounding other thirteen plants seem unaffected. I pulled the plant without so much as a thought.

The rate at which this plant went from healthy to deathly scares me. Any idea from the pics what this could be? Zoom in on the pics, you see the wilting brown top-leaves and dark brown lesions on the stems and branches. So sad to see this happen to such a previously beautiful and healthy robust vine.

Thanks,
Naysen

[carolyn137]

Two suggestions.

Alternaria Stem Canker which is found almost exclusively in CA:

http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-a...iw=757&bih=403

And Bacterial Canker:

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&gs_nf=1...953e32e362d9ed

Both are general Google searches and both have links to UC Davis in CA.

See if you can make a match.

[z_willus_d]

Thanks for the pointers Carolyn. Concentric rings on the stem/fruit canker seem to be the telltale for Alternaria Stem Canker, and I don't recall noticing the rings. I'll try to find the pulled plant and perform a closer examination. I'd hate to find more plants stricken seemingly overnight.
-naysen

[Mlm1]

I had a plant early in the season that had what looked similar to this on the newer leaves and stem. I was going to order the test for tswv but it was progressing so fast I quickly put the whole thing in a garbage bag and got rid of it. Now that I have found thrip on my plants I do think I have to be on the look out for tobacco streak virus and tswv - both here in the Sacramento area and both carried by thrip. Naysen I believe my thrip moved into my tomatoes after my annual plants died. I think you will have the same trouble with thrip when the grasses and annuals die in the foothills the thrip move to nearby live plants. I see that field right next to your plant looks like a good source of thrip. I am at work but will post a picture of mine tonight to see if you think it looks similar. I have not had any more similar problems since it was pulled a month ago. There are a lot of people on this site that are familiar with tswv. I would love to know what some of those growers think about tswv for this as well as the one I will post later.

Edit to add: Naysen, I'm counting on you to hold the line on those giant grasshoppers. Please don't let them head west.

Marla

[lakelady]

Whoa, amazing how fast a tomato plant can just turn around (goes both ways I guess). How nice they let you plant at work!

Is there any other type of trap crop you can plant for the thrips far away from the tomatoes to keep them away?

[feldon30]

I don't see how it could possibly be Alternaria Stem Canker or Bacterial Canker.

I see black dots on the bottoms of the leaves. Spider Mites?

Otherwise it's hard to tell but the leaves seem to have purpling. Can you confirm? Any chance you can get a closeup straight-on picture of a diseased leaf?

[Mlm1]

[QUOTE=

Is there any other type of trap crop you can plant for the thrips far away from the tomatoes to keep them away?[/QUOTE]

Just to be clear Naysen has not mentioned finding thrip and he may not have thrip at all. I hope I did not cause confusion by discussing thrip. Lake lady , I agree, I need to find a way to get the thrip away from my garden so thanks.

Marla

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by feldon30

I don't see how it could possibly be Alternaria Stem Canker or Bacterial Canker.

I see black dots on the bottoms of the leaves. Spider Mites?

Otherwise it's hard to tell but the leaves seem to have purpling. Can you confirm? Any chance you can get a closeup straight-on picture of a diseased leaf?

Feldon, I was responding to the initial comment:

(Zoom in on the pics, you see the wilting brown top-leaves and dark brown lesions on the stems and branches. So sad to see this happen to such a previously beautiful and healthy robust vine.)

THe dark brown lesions on the stems and branches are typical of Alternaria Stem Canker and I had problems seeing any specific indication of same or indeed and single leaves where I could see anything.

So that's why.

And yes, the stem lesions should have concentric rings but I couldn't even see the brown lesions that were noted on the stems and branches in the pictures shown.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Mlm1

Just to be clear Naysen has not mentioned finding thrip and he may not have thrip at all. I hope I did not cause confusion by discussing thrip. Lake lady , I agree, I need to find a way to get the thrip away from my garden so thanks.

Marla

I saw no leaves with good pictures so I could look for the specific appearance of TSWV.

Trap crops for thrips?

About 800 of them, but not so much trap crops, rather alternative hosts for the virus.

I'm cutting and pasting this from a response I gave elsewhere recently with a description taken from my Seminis Tomato Pathology monograph:


(If you're SURE that your one plant had TSWV then you know that thrips are the insect vector for that disease.

And they usually land not just on one plant but in an area, so if it is TSWV then I think it's possible that your other plants will also get infected with TSWV.
But let me copy some words from my Seminis tomato pathology monograph which I think is interesting and pertinent in your case and that of others.

CONDITIONS FOR DISEASE DEVELOPMENT
******
(The virus has a very wide host range from which it can be transmitted in a persistent manner by thrips.Although the virus is acquired at the larval stage it is only spread by the adults which are wind-borne to tomatoes from infected weeds or ornamental plants. Usually there is very little spread WITHIN a tomato crop.)



Where I live and garden we don't have TSWV but over the years I've learned a lot from tomato folks in areas where it is a problem, and most of them say that usually many plants in the same area become infected.

Perhaps the Seminis monograph is speaking primarily to large scale tomato growers who have hundreds of acres of tomatoes each year.

Best I can do with your question.
And if you Google TSWV I'm sure you can come up with the names of some of the alternative hosts such as weeds and others that are the major problem for home growers.
Carolyn

[z_willus_d]

Originally Posted by feldon30

I don't see how it could possibly be Alternaria Stem Canker or Bacterial Canker.

I see black dots on the bottoms of the leaves. Spider Mites?

Otherwise it's hard to tell but the leaves seem to have purpling. Can you confirm? Any chance you can get a closeup straight-on picture of a diseased leaf?

Feldon, I'm going to try and re-locate the plant. I threw it in a garbage bin that I hoped would be quickly disposed, but the plant may still be there. It'll have dehydrated in the 90-degree heat over the past day. If Spider Mites, I expect my other plants are next. Yikes!
-n

[Mlm1]

Naysen, I just posted pictures of the plant I thought might be similar this one ( in thread titled "Does anyone recognize this disease"). It had the streaking on the stem, involvement of leaves and very fast progression. I have no doubt that if I had let it go for 2 days the whole plant would be dead. I do think I will order the kit to test for tswv. It would be really nice to know for sure what is going on.

Marla

[z_willus_d]

Marla, those are great pictures you posted, and they might as well have been of my plant. Based on what you've shown, I'm pretty sure we're dealing with the same affliction. Thanks so much for posting.
- naysen