New to growing your own tomatoes? This is the forum to learn the successful techniques used by seasoned tomato growers. Questions are welcome, too.
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March 6, 2014 | #1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Mckinney, TX
Posts: 41
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Seedlings going downhill
Saw these spots on my wild cherry seedlings which I suspect is fungus. I clipped the affected branches. Should I consider starting a new batch or separate them from other varieties not yet affected?
-P |
March 6, 2014 | #2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Plantation, Florida zone 10
Posts: 9,283
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Looks a whole lot like septoria. If you have time, start over. The best thing is to keep them away from very moist humidity, even having a fan nearby helps with air circulation. Septoria responds to liquid copper fungicide. Caution, I have learned the hard way not to make it too strong. I have learned to dilute it to half of the weakest strength, it still works beautifully. Full low strength always causec the new growth to curl, and blossoms to drop, once I started diluting to half of lowest recommended strength, the fungus got well controlled, no more deformed leaves no more blossom drop. Copper fungicide is considered organic.
I just took another look. These plants seem not to be too small. Maybe you don't need to start over if there is adequate healthy foliage above. The spray after clipping may be all you need to do. Got a photo of the whole plants? Marsha |
March 6, 2014 | #3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Mckinney, TX
Posts: 41
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Will take a pic of the whole plant, I cut the affected leaves and just kept the top ones that still looked healthy...
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March 6, 2014 | #4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Mckinney, TX
Posts: 41
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Middle plant about 12" tall... -P |
March 6, 2014 | #5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Rock Hill, SC
Posts: 5,346
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The purple speckling on the leaves puzzles me.
What kind of soil did you use? Have these plants been outside? Where did you get the seeds from? (it sounds like you saved them from a wild cherry) Unfortunately there is no time to start over seedlings for this season.
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March 6, 2014 | #6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Plantation, Florida zone 10
Posts: 9,283
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Good info in the picture. I think you can plant them out, cut off the bit of diseased leaf still left., if I were you, I would spray with the dilute copper spray, and plant out as soon as you can. I would also spray every 4 days for 3 rounds, and again when it rains.
It looks manageable. Marsha |
March 6, 2014 | #7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Missouri
Posts: 309
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You can get some very bad looking tomatoes with poor drainage and magic recipes like Epsom Salts and fertilizer when you are trying to fix sick ones. I have had spots that weren't disease. Imbalances can cause funny looking tomatoes. Those need to go in the ground as soon as possible.
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March 6, 2014 | #8 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Mckinney, TX
Posts: 41
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Thanks all... I started with brown plugs, then pre-packed seed mix and then potting soil for the last transplant. Seeds were ordered from catalogs. The odd thing is only these 2 plants show these spots...
-P |
March 6, 2014 | #9 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Missouri
Posts: 309
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Only two plants? I wouldn't worry then. Do you have a window sill or glass door where those could go in case it is a disease. I had some ugly tomatoes last year. Not all were affected. What I was doing was watering with dilute fertilizer but I was holding the plants over a tub of potting mix to drain before I put them back on the shelf. That potting mix was fine at first but later tomatoes got too much fertilizer. Then I tried to diagnose the problem and I tried magic tricks I found like spraying with dilute Epsom Salts. Once they start going down hill, it is tempting to try to fix them. I had spots and distorted leaves.
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March 7, 2014 | #10 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Sterling Heights, MI Zone 6a/5b
Posts: 1,302
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I would remove the plants from the others. It sort of looks like Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus.
You can get this from ornamentals nearby and bugs transferring the virus. |
March 7, 2014 | #11 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: SW Ohio
Posts: 1,818
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It looks to me like the roots are too wet. Just to be double sure, you could poke a few holes in the bottom of your cups to see if any water oozes out. Sometimes with using cups the drain holes will plug up and while the top dries out, the roots stay really wet. It wont hurt to put them in sick bay until you figure out what's going wrong. Good luck
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