Information and discussion regarding garden diseases, insects and other unwelcome critters.
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June 23, 2009 | #1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: MT
Posts: 438
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A Mosaic or Just Misery? :-)
These pics were taken before the big windstorm. But it's been cold, wet, and overcast here forever.
This plant is actually one of my "biggest" plants. . . I purchased it and didn't really bury it deep just to see what would happen. . . . Thanks in advance!!!! :0)
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Sara |
June 23, 2009 | #2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: South Carolina Zone 8a
Posts: 1,205
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Have you looked carefully for aphids or other buggies?
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June 23, 2009 | #3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: MT
Posts: 438
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There was an aphid infestation that popped up on the Brandywine next to it. . . but I didn't see any bug problems on this plant.
I don't know if this helps but the whole thing is wilting and drooping a lot too.
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Sara |
June 24, 2009 | #4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PNW
Posts: 4,743
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Could be verticillium wilt. Gardens in the Northeast get that,
and it is a hard thing to get rid of. Cold, wet soil favors it. I had it in a few spots and containers last year. Part of a Black Cherry recovered after I cut off all of the wilted branches, gave it some aspirin, and the weather warmed up. A couple of others limped along all season and produced a few fruit that were bland at best and uneatable in one case. In one container, a Pipo plant just keeled over completely, while a verticillium-tolerant New Yorker plant sharing the same container looked a bit stressed for a week and then recovered. (I was using an ad hoc container mix that included compost from a compost pile, old potting soil that had sat outdoors all winter, peat moss, some fresh bagged potting mix, alfalfa from a bale, bagged sand, etc. The verticillium could have come from anywhere.) The ones growing in soil that had it were replaced by verticillium tolerant varieties this year, while I work on coming up with some way to eliminate it besides chemical fumigation or growing grains there for 6 years. There are other possibilities, of course. Look close around the base of the stem right above ground level. See any discoloration? Any physical damage? A little hole maybe? (I did not think Massachusetts was stem borer country, but I have not lived there, so ....)
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-- alias Last edited by dice; June 24, 2009 at 01:45 PM. Reason: format |
June 24, 2009 | #5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: MT
Posts: 438
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PULL?
It grew last night . . . but it grew funky!
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Sara |
June 24, 2009 | #6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PNW
Posts: 4,743
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That does not look like verticillium to me. Branches just
wilt, and once they do, they do not come back. The plant is a little twisted up, but the leaves look quite healthy. So far, it does not look like CMV or similar virii, either. With those, the leaves themselves twist up and roll a lot more than that, and new leaves are usually quite small. I have seen plants that look like that, but I do not know the cause. I would leave it alone for a couple of more days, maybe a week, and see what happens. Maybe it starts growing vertically again. (It just looks like it is growing unevenly, with some parts growing faster than other parts. I have had plants where the top of the main stem looked like a clenched fist. I thought, "Oh no, 'rosette condition'," which is a symptom of particular diseases and nutrient imbalances, etc, but the thing eventually grew out of it, and the plant ended up looking like a normal tomato plant.)
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June 24, 2009 | #7 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: South Carolina Zone 8a
Posts: 1,205
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Quote:
Ok, it was just that the leaf distortion in your original pictures looked like it could be from aphids or whiteflies. I'm not seeing anything really wrong with the plants in the latest pictures, either. I would second dice's "give it a week" suggestion. |
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