leaf spots

nancycee · July 7, 2012

I have been pruning any leaf off my tomato plants that have early blight/septoria spots that I see. Should I be doing this? I have to remove leaves on a daily basis. But when I look at others pictures, I do see the same spots. Am I being overzealous?
I lost all my plants to late blight 2 or 3 summers ago. I gave up my garden because of it. But I missed it too much, so decided to try again. But it's just not going well again.
So many different issues no matter what I do. If I get a tomato out of it, I will be surprised.. As of right now, any flower I do manage to get drops. I am hoping that with the cooler weather forecast for next week maybe I will get some fruit to set.
I have woken up the last 2 days to what I believe must be some type of bug larvae or egg. Tiny raised black spots on my tomato leaf that I can actually wipe off. This is in addition to the specks from blight/septoria. So i have removed those leaves as well.
Should I continue to remove the leaves with spots or leave them to see what happens?

RayR · July 7, 2012

Nancy, are you spraying with a fungicide?
Pruning may slow down the infections some, but it won't stop it from weakening and defoliating your plants.

babice · July 7, 2012

Hi nancyee and welcome! I'm a newbie to growing toms but I have had many problemos already this year so I understand your frustration and confusion! And even though I've been gardening for something like 19 years or so, during that time, I've really gotten away with almost entirely not having to use any insecticides or fungicides, etc. I mostly just fed my plants, watered them, put them in the right spot and pruned them if I saw disease or infestation. It's been an adjustment with the toms for me to learn to use insecticides and fungicides. And at times I have gotten frustrated and wondered if it's all worth it (yes, I think so). Using fungicides preventatively is what is highly recommended by most folks 'round here. Another thing I like about tomatoville is that you can find a lot of good advise about things you can use that are organic or not-quite-so-toxic, etc., if that's important to you.

A couple weeks ago, in the span of just one night I ended up with a black fungus on ALL of my tom leaves!

Seriously - it was sad! So, that very day I sprayed them with a fungicide. And I cut off as many of the infected leaves as I could without butchering the toms (they need some leaves). I also moved any other plants I had that were showing the fungus far away from the toms and took as many infected leaves off those as possible. I threw all the infected leaves away in a tightly sealed garbage bag. And I put a good clean layer of mulch under the toms and, where possible, pruned so the bottom leaves are 3-4 inches away from the mulch. I will keep up a twice weekly fungicide spray until I've done that for 4 weeks. I've been watching them since I started this treatment routine and taking off other infected leaves as I can (meaning, the plant has grown more healthy looking leaves so I feel okay about removing more). When I'm doing any of this pruning, I'm cleaning the pruning shears when I change plants. I'm also careful not to touch one infected leaf or stem and then touch a different plant.

Hopefully I will be able to get my toms off of this intensive treatement and I will get into a regular routine wherein once a week I will spray them with a fungicide and also will spray them with one after a hard rain.

So - as to the larvae you think you're seeing - pictures help a lot here at tomatoville by the way so you might consider posting pics of any spots you're seeing or any other things that are making you wonder.

The blossom drop - the heat could be causing this or a lack of pollination. There is an excellent thread here in tville about using an electric toothbrush to help with pollination. And it not only discusses how to do that but teaches good stuff about pollination.

Don't give up! Stay here at tville and learn along with all of us about how to deal with these issues!

p.s. oh and RayR will give you great advice as he's not only a pro at this but he's in your neck of the woods!

nancycee · July 9, 2012

thanks for the response! I sprayed with sulfur fungicide yesterday morning.I sprayed a week earlier as well.I have some plants in containers-these I bought at Home depot in June.These showed signs of early blight/leaf spotting almost immediately.When I went back to Home Depot about 2 weeks later,whatever they had left was overrun by leaf spots and pretty much dead.
I then bought some additional plants in the nursery,close to three weeks ago. These I put in the ground.The ones from the nursery are faring a little better but still showing signs of stress
.I have since put some soil,fertilized and mulched the in ground plants and the containers.I have pruned the spotted leaves as I see them,some plants are still all right,others are trimmed to the point I am afraid to take anymore off.The stems are showing spots on some( mainly the home depot plants ) and not so much on the nursery plants.
I have tried to keep the containers as far as possible from the in ground,but space is limited.
The flowers that do form are dropping,I am guessing from the fertilizing,spraying and the heat.I am hoping for better results now that the heat has broken.I also had a battle with whiteflies very early on (about 3 weeks ago),but I have so far seen victory with that battle.(I hope).I am trying to find the right amount of watering,using the flood part of the nozzle and staying to the mulch,no overhead spraying.I also have some pepper and cukes ,seem to be doing OK ,keeping a close eye on those.I hope I can make it through the next month with something to show for it!! It seems like a battle from day one.I never had trouble like this until 2 or 3 years ago.before that I planted and things grew!!I appreciate having somewhere to turn to ,this site has been a great find!Any advice you can give me would be helpful,I will try and upload some pics later today.

nancycee · July 9, 2012

I appreciate your advice and understanding-my family is ready to certify me LOL.Gardening is something I really enjoy ,I actually find myself sympathizing with the plants!!!! I am going to research the toothbrush thing,I have heard of it before,maybe the cooler weather will help me out.

lakelady · July 9, 2012

Hi Nancyee! I live about an hour outside of Manhattan in NJ. This is a great forum, lots of great advice, and all I did was read and read, and read some more for about 6 months while I worked through issues and mistakes. Great folks here. As far as the blossoms dropping, with the heat wave we've been having, it's really unavoidable, but as soon as it cools down a bit (which they say is happening this week!) we should resume blossoms forming again.

Good luck!

babice · July 9, 2012

nancyee - here's that thread I was referring to on the elec toothbrush: http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=23399 Very informative. I went and bought 2 from the Dollar Store the other day on the cheap because of what I read in that thread.

Stay on top of the fungus issue for a few weeks or so. I've been spraying mine twice weekly. We just had a hard rain earlier today -- literally lasted maybe 15 minutes. I immediately went out and sprayed them with something because I saw a few spots on some of them. I doubt I've completely rid them of the fungus issue I got back a couple weeks ago.

Oh! And if you feel like you're crazy and wondering if you're alone, there's also a great thread in here from a while back about how crazy all of us are! You're in the right place!

July 7, 2012	#1
nancycee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: nyc Posts: 7	leaf spots I have been pruning any leaf off my tomato plants that have early blight/septoria spots that I see. Should I be doing this? I have to remove leaves on a daily basis. But when I look at others pictures, I do see the same spots. Am I being overzealous? I lost all my plants to late blight 2 or 3 summers ago. I gave up my garden because of it. But I missed it too much, so decided to try again. But it's just not going well again. So many different issues no matter what I do. If I get a tomato out of it, I will be surprised.. As of right now, any flower I do manage to get drops. I am hoping that with the cooler weather forecast for next week maybe I will get some fruit to set. I have woken up the last 2 days to what I believe must be some type of bug larvae or egg. Tiny raised black spots on my tomato leaf that I can actually wipe off. This is in addition to the specks from blight/septoria. So i have removed those leaves as well. Should I continue to remove the leaves with spots or leave them to see what happens?

July 9, 2012	#6
lakelady Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: northern NJ zone 6b Posts: 1,862	Hi Nancyee! I live about an hour outside of Manhattan in NJ. This is a great forum, lots of great advice, and all I did was read and read, and read some more for about 6 months while I worked through issues and mistakes. Great folks here. As far as the blossoms dropping, with the heat wave we've been having, it's really unavoidable, but as soon as it cools down a bit (which they say is happening this week!) we should resume blossoms forming again. Good luck! __________________ Antoniette

July 7, 2012	#2
RayR Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Cheektowaga, NY Posts: 2,466	Nancy, are you spraying with a fungicide? Pruning may slow down the infections some, but it won't stop it from weakening and defoliating your plants.

July 7, 2012	#3
babice Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Alabama Posts: 643	Hi nancyee and welcome! I'm a newbie to growing toms but I have had many problemos already this year so I understand your frustration and confusion! And even though I've been gardening for something like 19 years or so, during that time, I've really gotten away with almost entirely not having to use any insecticides or fungicides, etc. I mostly just fed my plants, watered them, put them in the right spot and pruned them if I saw disease or infestation. It's been an adjustment with the toms for me to learn to use insecticides and fungicides. And at times I have gotten frustrated and wondered if it's all worth it (yes, I think so). Using fungicides preventatively is what is highly recommended by most folks 'round here. Another thing I like about tomatoville is that you can find a lot of good advise about things you can use that are organic or not-quite-so-toxic, etc., if that's important to you. A couple weeks ago, in the span of just one night I ended up with a black fungus on ALL of my tom leaves! Seriously - it was sad! So, that very day I sprayed them with a fungicide. And I cut off as many of the infected leaves as I could without butchering the toms (they need some leaves). I also moved any other plants I had that were showing the fungus far away from the toms and took as many infected leaves off those as possible. I threw all the infected leaves away in a tightly sealed garbage bag. And I put a good clean layer of mulch under the toms and, where possible, pruned so the bottom leaves are 3-4 inches away from the mulch. I will keep up a twice weekly fungicide spray until I've done that for 4 weeks. I've been watching them since I started this treatment routine and taking off other infected leaves as I can (meaning, the plant has grown more healthy looking leaves so I feel okay about removing more). When I'm doing any of this pruning, I'm cleaning the pruning shears when I change plants. I'm also careful not to touch one infected leaf or stem and then touch a different plant. Hopefully I will be able to get my toms off of this intensive treatement and I will get into a regular routine wherein once a week I will spray them with a fungicide and also will spray them with one after a hard rain. So - as to the larvae you think you're seeing - pictures help a lot here at tomatoville by the way so you might consider posting pics of any spots you're seeing or any other things that are making you wonder. The blossom drop - the heat could be causing this or a lack of pollination. There is an excellent thread here in tville about using an electric toothbrush to help with pollination. And it not only discusses how to do that but teaches good stuff about pollination. Don't give up! Stay here at tville and learn along with all of us about how to deal with these issues! p.s. oh and RayR will give you great advice as he's not only a pro at this but he's in your neck of the woods!