What's going on with our leaves?

AZRuss · May 21, 2009

This was buried at the end of another thread, and since we're both curious as to what's going on, I copied it here.

From "desertlzbn" in Tucson

Well last night I was looking around in the old tomato patch, and found that a lot of growth and leaves on the bottom parts of my plants were drying out and withering. I had the same problem on my potted tomatoes, and am worried that it may be Verticillium Wilt.

Can they grow out of that? The same thing happened and all but two of my potted plants came back and thrived. I am beginning to suspect that it may be whitefly damage. I sprayed neem and organicide a couple of days ago. It seems to happen right when I start seeing whiteflies. There was a thread that Ray started last year about this very subject, but I did not see what the definitive answer was.

From "AZRuss" in Tucson

Drying out and withering, as in staying green and drying up or turning brown and drying up?

On most of my plants, as soon as they set fruit, leaves start drying up and turning brown, from the bottom of the plant up. This is true in the raised beds particularly, but also in the containers, both regular and SWC. Verticillium wilt is a soil borne pathogen and I doubt that it would be present in Miracle Grow and Sta-Green, the planting mixes I use in containers. I usually just tolerate it, because except for the few cultivars that are extremely heat tolerant, these puppies are gone anyway after the tomatoes ripen. It's just not worth the water consumption to keep these ugly plants alive throughout the summer. I'll pull them and replace them with some determinates for fall.

What's worrying me though is that a few of the plants--all in containers--are starting to dry out in spots with the leaves curling up and drying, yet staying green. This is happening in apparently random places on the plant. I mean that there seems to be no pattern, like bottom to top. This is more worrisome to me.

I hope someone in the know can share some insights.

dice · May 21, 2009

I read somewhere that verticillium tends to die out as the soil
warms up. (That was probably months ago for you.) It thrives
in cold, wet soils.

It could be just a reaction to the heat, or it could be some
insect-borne thing. Look for some kind of stem borer (little
holes in the stems with the wilted leaves). That would account
for the apparently random locations on the plant.

May 21, 2009	#1
AZRuss Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Tucson, AZ Posts: 171	What's going on with our leaves? This was buried at the end of another thread, and since we're both curious as to what's going on, I copied it here. From "desertlzbn" in Tucson Well last night I was looking around in the old tomato patch, and found that a lot of growth and leaves on the bottom parts of my plants were drying out and withering. I had the same problem on my potted tomatoes, and am worried that it may be Verticillium Wilt. Can they grow out of that? The same thing happened and all but two of my potted plants came back and thrived. I am beginning to suspect that it may be whitefly damage. I sprayed neem and organicide a couple of days ago. It seems to happen right when I start seeing whiteflies. There was a thread that Ray started last year about this very subject, but I did not see what the definitive answer was. From "AZRuss" in Tucson Drying out and withering, as in staying green and drying up or turning brown and drying up? On most of my plants, as soon as they set fruit, leaves start drying up and turning brown, from the bottom of the plant up. This is true in the raised beds particularly, but also in the containers, both regular and SWC. Verticillium wilt is a soil borne pathogen and I doubt that it would be present in Miracle Grow and Sta-Green, the planting mixes I use in containers. I usually just tolerate it, because except for the few cultivars that are extremely heat tolerant, these puppies are gone anyway after the tomatoes ripen. It's just not worth the water consumption to keep these ugly plants alive throughout the summer. I'll pull them and replace them with some determinates for fall. What's worrying me though is that a few of the plants--all in containers--are starting to dry out in spots with the leaves curling up and drying, yet staying green. This is happening in apparently random places on the plant. I mean that there seems to be no pattern, like bottom to top. This is more worrisome to me. I hope someone in the know can share some insights.

May 21, 2009	#2
dice Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: PNW Posts: 4,743	I read somewhere that verticillium tends to die out as the soil warms up. (That was probably months ago for you.) It thrives in cold, wet soils. It could be just a reaction to the heat, or it could be some insect-borne thing. Look for some kind of stem borer (little holes in the stems with the wilted leaves). That would account for the apparently random locations on the plant. __________________ -- alias