soil disease or other?

[Altmer]

Hi, I have similar yellowing on my pink oxheart plants which is SLOWLY spreading to others. I have it every year at varying levels of severity. This year is particularly bad, which I'm certain is due to the wet, humid weather we're having in southern Ontario (last year it was excessive heat and flower drop, this year TONS of flowers/fruit but also tons of disease). In past years, I would touch my plants indiscriminately and move on to the next which would cause it to spread very fast. This year I'm not touching them, just pruning, and if I do I sanitize tools and hands before moving to the next plant. It makes a huge difference. So you might want to try this and in the meantime know there are others in solidarity with you

[Milan HP]

Hello Altmer,
yes, that's what I have and I try to prevent further spreading in a similar way. My trouble is that I have the spores at home where I also grow my seedlings. No way to get rid of the source. I strongly believe it's Septoria. My seedlings were slightly infected prior to plant-out, but they just almost miraculously got rid of it in the garden and they look as fit as a fiddle (touch wood). My explanation is that the temps up there at 1800 ft are lower than where I live and it's windy there as well. And perhaps UVc light from the sun. On my balconies it's still spreading though. It's a race, but most my plants win in the end even though they look terrible with only one third (or even less) of their leaves. They keep giving me tomatoes, not as many as in the garden, but I am happy with that.
Milan HP

[Altmer]

Hi Milan,

What kind of seedling soil/soilless mixture do you use for your seedlings? I'm wondering if whatever the fungas/bacteria is is spreading through compost or the seeds themselves? I'd like to avoid bringing it into where I plant my seedlings. For me, the plants look amazing and blemish free until I put them into my garden bed. I use only store bought seedling mix and I soak my clay pots in vinegar before germination.

Next year I'm going to experiment with grafting onto resistant roots. Should be fun to see how it works out!

[zipcode]

The seeds and soil etc don't really matter. Not much anyway, it's mostly the conditions and also what your neighbors are doing. There is such a thing as disease pressure, if more spores of something are in the air the more the chances of infection.
Rules against septoria:
one stem prune and good spacing.
morning sun, this is not to be overlooked, it can make a huge difference
some leaf prune if the plants are still too bushy

[paradajky]

Hi there, bumping up this old thread because I think I've figured out what's going on.



We tried planting a variety of non-tomatoes in this part of the garden in 2022, and nothing grew at all! Frustrating.



Going to run a soil analysis later, but suspicions are the soil is empty of any nitrogen, same as pre-season 2021.



This weekend I removed the stunted, dead plants, and as I worked my hands in the soil, there was a massive maze of roots. Heavy, strong, living network of roots.. I remember cutting through a bunch of roots when I first did the double-till thing in 2021, but didn't think much of it then.



Something's growing in and pulling the nutrients out, creating too much competition and the fruits/veggies can't grow. Could be the nearby trees.


Thoughts? Ideas how to overcome this?

[Milan HP]

Originally Posted by paradajky

Hi there, bumping up this old thread because I think I've figured out what's going on.



We tried planting a variety of non-tomatoes in this part of the garden in 2022, and nothing grew at all! Frustrating.



Going to run a soil analysis later, but suspicions are the soil is empty of any nitrogen, same as pre-season 2021.



This weekend I removed the stunted, dead plants, and as I worked my hands in the soil, there was a massive maze of roots. Heavy, strong, living network of roots.. I remember cutting through a bunch of roots when I first did the double-till thing in 2021, but didn't think much of it then.



Something's growing in and pulling the nutrients out, creating too much competition and the fruits/veggies can't grow. Could be the nearby trees.


Thoughts? Ideas how to overcome this?

Hello Paradajky,
what sort of trees are they? The worst case would be if they were wall nut trees. Juglans nigra, but Juglans regia wouldn't be good news either. Most probably they aren't. Wall nut trees produce juglone, which is sort of natural herbicide. It works in a different way from classic herbicide sprays though: it accumulates in the plant and kills it only after the poison levels reach a certain limit. And of course, any tree deprives the soil of nutrients and water.
There's a wall nut tree in my garden. It's Juglans regia and I'd like to keep it as my wife is a wall nut freak. The patch some 5 meters from the trunk is absolutely hopeless - nothing grows well there. And tomatoes at double the distance seem to be crippled in comparison to those in different locations.

My solution to the problem is a raised patch, impenetrably insulated from the ground (strong plastic foil?). I don't want to damage the wall nut tree's roots too much, but at the same time I don't want to give up growing veggies in that sunny position. I believe that could work even if the trees are of a different sort. It's my task for this winter.
Milan HP

[paradajky]

Milan: nearby trees include various palm trees, fruit trees, a couple macadamia nut trees, italian cypruses, peppertrees, some cacti. I'm not sure of all the varieties. Each is 2-15 meters away. The nearest are the fruit trees (fig, plum, feijoa, apple). There are no other nut trees, and no walnut.

I don't know where these roots are coming from. There used to be a raspberry and blackberry bush there, but I don't really see any growing branches.
The two beds in this area are raised patches, but, they were done years ago and I doubt there was any sort of barrier put in place.
Well, I spread a bunch of clover seeds in hopes they will germinate as a winter ground cover, then dig them in february/march if they actually grow.


Also, the two beds are on little landing in the middle of a hill. The trees going up the hill are mostly dead due to lack of irrigation, but some of the hardier ones like the macadamia nut and pepper trees are doing well. The citrus and avocados are all dead.

[paradajky]

Hi again, bumping this old thread with what is hopefully good news in 2023! We are 2.5 weeks post-transplant and so far all the tomatoes appear to be healthy and growing well! We had a little bit of a late start yet again. Not sure it matters much because we've barely had any sun here in coastal southern CA.
Here are some notes:

• We did not run a soil analysis end of 2022 or early 2023, life got in the way
• End of October, we sowed a bunch of crimson clover to give our first attempt at a cover crop and maybe "fix" nitrogen
• Sadly, the gardener thought they were weeds and pulled them early February just as they began to grow, and tossed them in trash carts
• following the heavy rains we had late winter and early spring, we noticed massive growth in the garden.. a ginormous borage plant was there with tons of little seedlings
• two-weeks before planting, we did not have access to a truck or the back strength to pickup greenswaste compost, so instead, I grabbed a few bags of Kellogg's "Garden Soil" to cover about 2" each row in the main bed (no till); ingredients of this bagged stuff change each season, see below for current list
• while planting, I noticed so many earthworms and other life in the rows; this was very new compared to the 2021 double-dig
• After planting, I scattered Espoma Garden Tone along the rows and scratched it in
• Deep watering by hand every 2-3 days, along the entire row, not just at base of tomato stalk
• Sprayed twice also with copper; going to add in potassium bicarb into rotation, though I suspect this may be unecessary

I was concerned with over-watering due to the clay soil.. but no. Therefore, the theory why we had so many issues last few years: we did not water enough! That could also explain the crunchy leaves.

In 2021, I held back on watering because the soil is heavy clay and remained wet. But, watching the growth this winter/spring I decided, let's just water as if it were raining a lot. Seems to be working. What's interesting, the soil is draining well. I'm sure the "rest" we gave it last year helped, too.. last year, we attempted to grow other veggies there but they failed.
Here's a snapshot I took today. 2.5 weeks is not enough time to predicthow good they will do, but still best I've seen so far, even compared to the years before I got involved! So I'm trying to remain reserved and keep excitement in check. Crossing fingers they continue to grow well! You can see the giant borage plant in the blurred background on the left.

Ingredients of the bagged "garden soil" product: aged recycled forest products, aged arbor fines, composted chicken manure, bone meal, alfalfa meal, oyster & dolomite limes (as pH adjusters), bat guano, worm castings, and kelp meal

[biscuitridge]

Looking great!

[paradajky]

Thank you! We'll take any victory we can right now, no matter how small

[MrsJustice]

Like: ""We did not run a soil analysis end of 2022 or early 2023, life got in the way"""

That's the Story of my Life, Amen!!!

I just want to Farm & Dance, Amen!!!

I thank God that my Husband has a real job, because Life is hard on us Farmers. I need to write a book about all of the Native Americans Farming Secrets I have collected for over 20 years, especially the Farming Secrets I have learned from you'll from Tomatoville over the Years.

Because of the Havery Rain fall this year, my Tomatoes are doing great becasue of the Secrets of Cinnamon.

Cinnamon purifiesy your soil like it helps to purity our Bodies. It really worked for me and my plants this year. But I can not get any help to write my book as Google will not let me use 'the Word 'Tomatoes' to describe my Farming Business, leaving me with no Business Capital to grow my the Business or Write.

Thanks for all the Help over the years everyone. I still miss Dr. Carolyn. Please keep your bodies in shape to continue the Joys of Farming we all Love. I am taking up Ballet with My Granddaughters and Dancing at Fort Monroe, Blessing the Waters to keep in shape, Amen!!

I saved a lot of money last year; growing my own Broccoli Plants. Broccoli and Tomatoes cost a lot in the Store these days. So that is pure income to my family budget.


When Life gets in the way: I just Farm & Dance, Amen!!

Just Remember the Secret "Cinnamon" around your Tomato Plants.

[paradajky]

We're approaching six weeks since transplant to ground. Deep watering has remained consistent in the clay-ish soil, with once a week agrothrive fruit and flower application, except last weekend, when I spread a fresh, 1-2" layer of Kellogg GroMulch. The sun finally begun showing up this week, and our temps have climbed almost overnight from high 60s to mid 80s!

Most plants are approaching 2ft height, have lots of flowers and some are setting fruit. However, leaves look a little off to me, kind of a not-green, a bit of a yellow hue. Kind of hard to see in the picture. I'm not sure whether to just keep same course now, or if they need an additional nitrogen boost from some fish emulsion with agrothrive, or maybe spread some of the espoma garden tone (instructions say once a month). Thoughts?

[paradajky]

I went back this evening and found a few plants with yellowing lower leaves. This is a nitrogen deficiency likely, right?

[PaulF]

Not necessarily. Nitrogen lack is one possibility but there are others. Fertility issues are not alway the lack of nitrogen. It could also be chlorosis which is a lack of micronutrients, often iron but others as well. Application of a general fertilizer could help. Sometimes too little or too much water will cause yellowing of the leaves. And soil compaction can restrict the flow of nutrients to the plant. Disease can cause yellowing but I don't see that problem from the photos.

My guess...and take for that...is a lack of general fertilization. With fruit formation well on the way I would use a formula light in nitrogen with more P and K and micronutrients. Miracle-Gro plant food and other brands available have a formula called Bloom Booster that has micros and lower N and higher P and K.

[b54red]

It could be worse than fertilizer issues. It could be fusarium wilt which is soil borne.

Bill