foliar disease on sungold

tnkrer · June 3, 2015

There are 7 tomato plants in the planter and only sungold is affected. The plant has been out in the planter for two weeks. Leaves at all levels (new, old, small, large) show these small gray/brown spots. There was heavy rain for last couple of days. (3+ inches in two days) Is this a disease? What action is recommended?

RayR · June 3, 2015

Looks like the start of Powdery Mildew. Never seen it here but I know it has become a problem in the New England states at least.

tnkrer · June 3, 2015

hmm, cukes are showing a similar but more pronounced pattern. Three days of incessant rain brought issues

Will need to start a srpaying regimen. Planning to alternate milk and excel LG

RayR · June 3, 2015

Not sure what did that to the cucumber leaf. Look at the bottom of the leaf to see if there is anything there. It might not be a pathogen at all, it might be just physical damage from the pounding rains. If you can take photos of both the top and bottom of the leaves it can many times be very helpful to diagnose problems.

Excel LG is only effective against oomycetes pathogens. As an example, it would be effective against Downy Mildew but not effective against Powdery Mildew which is a true fungus.

maf · June 3, 2015

The tomato looks like it is suffering from nutrient deficiency, maybe magnesium, maybe something else. The heavy rain may have leached out the nutrients or alternatively made the soil too wet for optimum root function.

The way the spots are positioned in the interveinal spaces shows that it is caused by something affecting the vascular system rather than a purely foliar disease like powdery mildew. A fungal leaf infection would not stay away from the veins.

tnkrer · June 3, 2015

After closer inspection, I noticed that other tomatoes also have similar issue, just a lot less noticeable. So hoping that its just temporary problem with way too much rain.

RayR, i will look at both sides of the cuke leaf tomorrow and take pictures. There are 4 cuke plants in two SWC pots (poona kheera and armenian cucumber) and all 4 show the same thing

. So I am tempted to think that its a similar problem to tomatoes of temporary lack of nutrition due to high water content in the soil.

Starlight · June 4, 2015

We just had 4 days of rain in a row and I will get some leaves that look like yours. I grow in containers and it sure doesn't take long for nutrients to disappear. After many days of rain, I give mine Epsom Salt and I been using that Tomato Tone product that Ray recommended. Let me tell you, that is some of the best stuff. When we have so many days of rain and with the heat and humidity you can really see nutrient deficiencies show up. I just go out and side dress with some more of Ray's Tomato Tone and Epsom Salt and in a couple of days the plants are healthy looking again. This year the plants are some of the healthiest I have ever grown using that combo.

There is also something in that Tomato Tone that is helping keep the bad bugs away too.

June 3, 2015	#1
tnkrer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: MA 6a/b Posts: 352	foliar disease on sungold There are 7 tomato plants in the planter and only sungold is affected. The plant has been out in the planter for two weeks. Leaves at all levels (new, old, small, large) show these small gray/brown spots. There was heavy rain for last couple of days. (3+ inches in two days) Is this a disease? What action is recommended?

June 3, 2015	#2
RayR Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Cheektowaga, NY Posts: 2,466	Looks like the start of Powdery Mildew. Never seen it here but I know it has become a problem in the New England states at least.

June 3, 2015	#5
maf Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: England Posts: 512	The tomato looks like it is suffering from nutrient deficiency, maybe magnesium, maybe something else. The heavy rain may have leached out the nutrients or alternatively made the soil too wet for optimum root function. The way the spots are positioned in the interveinal spaces shows that it is caused by something affecting the vascular system rather than a purely foliar disease like powdery mildew. A fungal leaf infection would not stay away from the veins.

June 4, 2015	#7
Starlight Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: AL Posts: 1,993	We just had 4 days of rain in a row and I will get some leaves that look like yours. I grow in containers and it sure doesn't take long for nutrients to disappear. After many days of rain, I give mine Epsom Salt and I been using that Tomato Tone product that Ray recommended. Let me tell you, that is some of the best stuff. When we have so many days of rain and with the heat and humidity you can really see nutrient deficiencies show up. I just go out and side dress with some more of Ray's Tomato Tone and Epsom Salt and in a couple of days the plants are healthy looking again. This year the plants are some of the healthiest I have ever grown using that combo. There is also something in that Tomato Tone that is helping keep the bad bugs away too.