Spots on my tomato leaves?? (pics)

[lapk78]

Does anybody have any idea as to why this leaf looks this way? It is from a regular-leaf German Johnson plant I purchased from Lowes about 1 month ago, and just two leaves seemed to be affected. I noticed this a few days ago. Also, this leaf's tip was curling under, but was still very turgid and stiff. The plant is growing in an EarthTainer on my 2nd floor apartment balcony. I'm fearing the diagnosis... Thanks.

-Lyle

[chancethegardener]

This actually looks like the disease I had with my tomatoes. It started like in the pics and then they spread. Eventually leaves wilted and dried. Folks said with mine the issue is most probably is TSWV. Unfortunately, I pulled the plants.

Also, you may want to consider the possibility of nutrient deficiency. After I started having these purple spots on the leaves, I sprayed the plants with micronutrient solution but for me it didn't help. Maybe it will help your plants.

[sprtsguy76]

At this point I wouldnt worry too much, but keep and eye out. Older leaves will get withered and look beat up but doesnt mean there is anything wrong.

Damon

[chancethegardener]

I didn't mean to scare you Lyle Please don't panic because of my message and follow Damon's opinion. One thing I noticed with the virus I had is that the tomato stem also turned brown. So I would say watch the stem along with the leaves. If you think that the problem is mineral deficiency, you can try Spray 'N Grow or Earth Juice Microblast.

[b54red]

TSWV usually but not always shows the first symptoms on a new fast growing stem before spreading to other older growth. When I check for it I am always looking over the new growth for the tell tale flecks of rust in the leaves. It seems to always just pop up over night and then over the next week or so I will find more plants infected. I have tried cutting off the infected growth as soon as I see it but nothing really seems to stop it once it gets in the plant. Sometimes a plant will show some resistance and be able to live and produce for a good while, even months, after getting infected but that is rare.

[lapk78]

Thanks everyone. Though, I'm still trying to remain optimistic, I noticed quite a few more leaves with the symptom. It's mostly happening on lower, old growth, but I've found a few middle-aged leaves that are showing the symptom (see photo 019). I removed the suspect lower branches. (Many seem to think that removing lower growth below the first flower truss should be performed as regular pruning anyway.)

The holes in the leaves are from some type of loopworm. I sprayed with BT today, so hopefully the worms wont be a problem anymore. Not all of the affected leaves were eaten by the worms, but the spots seemed to appear around the same time as the loopworms. Maybe there is a correlation between the two??

It may be totally unrelated, but I did notice a slight purple hue on one of the younger branches where the leaves join the branch (see photo 001).

These are all growing in EarthTainers using Tomato Tone as the fertilizer strip. There is also dolomitic lime mixed in with the grow medium, so I think I'm alright as far as calcium goes.

What do you think?

Trying to be optimistic...

-Lyle

[st3v3]

Hi,

Here's a great site for helping identify problems with your tomatoes:

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/p...problemsolver/

I looked at the pictures and it sort of looks like spotted wilt to me, but maybe not. Maybe as it changes it will become more clear what the problem is. Hopefully you will still be able to get some tomatoes off of the plants.

[Dewayne mater]

Lyle - It looks like you could have a few things working there. I think the main one you are concerned about it the purple discoloration on the leaves. In your latest set of photos, jpg.005 and .007 look a little like a mold called botrytis. Do you have any stems that are browning? Has it been warm, humid and still? I'm not an expert on disease identification, so I could be way off, but, if that is it, you have to treat it quickly and aggressively. Again, if that is what this is, and you will have to make that judgment call, the protocol is to remove infected leaves carefully without touching any other leaves or plants and bag them, tie off the bag, and throw the bags away (don't burn) and spray with fungicides.

I do think I see a few mites on them too, which is not unusual since they love to attack an already weakened plant. So, insect treatment should probably follow as well. Sorry for whatever it is that is ailing you!

Dewayne mater

[lapk78]

Originally Posted by Dewayne mater

Lyle - It looks like you could have a few things working there. I think the main one you are concerned about it the purple discoloration on the leaves. In your latest set of photos, jpg.005 and .007 look a little like a mold called botrytis. Do you have any stems that are browning? Has it been warm, humid and still? I'm not an expert on disease identification, so I could be way off, but, if that is it, you have to treat it quickly and aggressively. Again, if that is what this is, and you will have to make that judgment call, the protocol is to remove infected leaves carefully without touching any other leaves or plants and bag them, tie off the bag, and throw the bags away (don't burn) and spray with fungicides.

I do think I see a few mites on them too, which is not unusual since they love to attack an already weakened plant. So, insect treatment should probably follow as well. Sorry for whatever it is that is ailing you!

Dewayne mater

Dewayne,

Thanks for the knowledge and advice. I removed some remaining lower branches this morning and saw a tiny little insect on one of the leaves. I photographed it and posted in a new thread called "Are these Thrips? (pics)".

So far, a few TVs have responded saying that it does appear to be a thrip. This paired with the info at http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/p...problemsolver/ provided by st3v3 really seems to point to Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus.

When I get home later this evening, I will spray all my plants with neem oil unless anyone has a better suggestion.

I understand that most would suggest that I pull the two sick plants (a German Johnson and a Mortgage Lifter) so as to not spread the illness, but so far my remaining four plants seem to be unaffected. To compound the situation, the German Johnson has two fruit growing on it and one is looking beautiful and pretty big. Maybe the other four plants are stronger or more resistant to TSWV or thrips... idk.

SO FRUSTRATING!!!

-Lyle

[Dewayne mater]

I've been fortunate to never have TSWV. However, my understanding is that if you get it, the plant is doomed, it is just a matter of time. The suggestion to pull the plants is obviously to prevent the spread of the virus. Thrips do spread TSVW by their leaf sucking action on one plant, then another. The pics in the other thread do look like thrips. Your call on whether to remove the infected plants (they might hang on a bit if you have some nearly ripe fruit). Still, if you can stop the spread to the other plants, it might be worth it to have some plants make it vs. potentially getting them all infected. Tough call!

I would suggest Take Down or a similar powerful insecticide for thrips ASAP because of the aforementioned spreading of the virus. Good luck.

Dewayne Mater

[chancethegardener]

What I experienced with my plants is this: The disease started on Rosso Siciliano, then spread onto beautiful Principe Borghese, then moved onto First Pick, then moved onto Moskvich. By the time most leaves of the Rosso Siciliano's turned purple and withered, its stem also turned a very light brown color, leaves of the Moskvich also started withering. So it spreads! If you are sure that this is a virus, I would say pull the plants. Or if they are in containers and easy to move, maybe isolate and spray them? But in other thread TVs said that whiteflies that cause the virus can migrate through long distances.

[Dewayne mater]

To be clear, I'm not saying that is TSVW, but is sure could be. I just don't know and would not want to advise to pull the plants without knowing with pretty good certainty that it is TSVW. I do not have enough info to say for sure that is TSVW. Hopefully, a more experienced person can further help with I.D. If you have access to a lab, you can get the plant tested and know for sure. That testing may take a while though. No matter what, get a powerful insecticide going as thrips and other insects can spread TSVW. Two that are supposed to work are Spinosad and pymrethrins (in Take Down). Good luck.

Dewayne

[lapk78]

Thanks everybody.

As it happens, I work at a University in the College of Sciences (Grad student in Mathematics). I just may have access to a lab in which to test my leaves for TSWV... I'll ask around.

So, to be clear, Spinosad or Pymrethrins would be preferable to neem oil? I'm not married to organics, especially if I can possibly save my plants.

Thanks again.

-Lyle

P.S. If anyone else has any input, please speak up! My plants aren't dead yet! #shakes fist at thrips#

[John3]

I bold the thrips info - info about neem oil/neem cake

Insect Effects
Mediterranean fruit fly Disrupts growth, toxic
Oriental fruit fly Arrests pupae development, retards growth, toxic to larvae
Face fly Retards growth, toxic
Horn fly Repels, retards growth, disrupts growth
Whitefly Repels, retards growth, inhibits feeding
Housefly Inhibits feeding, disrupts molting, repels
Sorghum shoot fly Inhibits feeding
Yellow-fever mosquito Kills larvae, disrupts molting
House mosquito Toxic to larvae
Flea Retards growth, repels, inhibits feeding, disrupts growth, eggs fail to hatch
Head lice Kills, very sensitive to neem oil traditional use in Asia
Spotted cucumber Retards growth, inhibits beetle feeding
Mexican bean beetle Retards growth, inhibits feeding, disrupts molting
Colorado potato beetle Eggs fail to hatch, larvae fail to molt with azadirachtin levels as low as .3 ppm, inhibits feeding
Flea beetle Inhibits feeding
Khapra beetle Inhibits feeding, disrupts molting, toxic to larvae
Confused flour beetle Inhibits feeding, disrupts molting, toxic to larvae
Japanese beetle Repels, retards growth, inhibits feeding, disrupts growth
Red flour beetle Inhibits feeding, toxic
American cockroach Reduces fecundity and molts, reduces number of fertile eggs
Bean aphid Reduces fecundity, disrupts molting
Rice gall midge Toxic
Western thrips Retards growth
Diamondback moth Strongly suppresses larvae and pupae, retards growth, inhibits feeding
Webbing clothes moth Inhibits feeding, disrupts molting
Gypsy moth Retards growth, inhibits feeding, disrupts growth
Corn earworm Retards growth, inhibits feeding, disrupts molting
Pink bollworm Retards growth, inhibits feeding
Fall armyworm Retards growth, repels adults, inhibits feeding, disrupts molting, toxic to larvae
Tobacco budworm Inhibits feeding
Tobacco hornworm Inhibits feeding, disrupts growth, toxic
Cabbage looper Inhibits feeding
Leafminer Retards growth, inhibits feeding, disrupts molting, toxic
Serpentine leafminer High pupal mortality, retards growth, inhibits feeding, disrupts molting, toxic to larvae
Brown planthopper Inhibits feeding, repellent, disrupts growth, mating failures and sterility
Green leafhopper Inhibits feeding
Migratory locust Stops feeding, converts gregarious nymphs into solitary forms, reduces fitness, adults cannot fly
House cricket Disrupts molting
Large milkweed bug Toxic, disrupts growth
Mealy bugs Repels, inhibits feeding
Milkweed bug Difficulty in escaping the skin of the last molt, disrupts molting
Fire ant Inhibits feeding, disrupts growth
Boll weevil Inhibits feeding
Cowpea weevil Inhibits feeding, toxic
Rice weevil Inhibits feeding, disrupts growth, toxic

[rwsacto]

I had TSWV last year and went through weeks of denial (and research) before pulling all infected plants. Mine got infected during propagation because I was growing them with lots of other stuff. One reference mentions that impatiens can carry the virus and the thrips go from one plant to the other. I had lots of impatiens cuttings.

This year, my baby toms are kept in isolation until planted.

It is early in the season. Pull the infected plants, spay several times to disrupt the life cycle, spray or get rid of any nearby carriers (like impatiens) and get your second tomato plants going.

Good Luck,
Rick