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Tomatoes decimated! Help with Diagnosis?

Brian_Knight
9 years ago

This problem has gotten worse over the years and I suspect a soil borne virus? The potted plant is doing better than last years but still seems to be getting infected.

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Yellow Pear and Cherry in ground. After great vegetative growth they lose their bottom leaves up, very quickly after starting to fruit.

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This one in a 4ish-1-1 mix in 20 gallon smartpot was labeled black cherry but it seems like its crossed with a striped variety. Its been doing better than the ones in the ground but seems to be getting infected too.

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Overdue for a soil test in the garden and would like to implement things now to improve for next year. Plenty of OM and suspect it might be too much. Any good ideas and/or related threads is much appreciated!

Comments (7)

  • Peter1142
    9 years ago

    Looks like late blight to me... but I am not an expert..

  • eibren
    9 years ago

    There are quite a few articles out there. DH had this on his tomatoes a few years ago and was instructed by the county agent to clean his tomato stakes with a chlorine solution before using them the following year, even though we have winter freezes.

    Here's the Google listing:

    https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=tomato%20blight%20petunias

    If this is what you have, someone in your area has infected your crops, and you will do the same to everyone in your area unless you clear it. It is a very serious communicable spore disease which caused the potato famine in Ireland years ago.

    This strain comes from Mexico, and is resistant to the usual fungicides used to fight it. It has been ruining potato crops in the US. It spread to many small gardens from infected petunias sold by a big box store a few years ago.

    Here is a link that might be useful: NYS

  • Brian_Knight
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Yikes! Interestingly enough the worst of the problems coincide with me doing petunias in containers..

  • planatus
    9 years ago

    Late blight doesn't work from the bottom up, but early blight does and septoria leaf spot hits so quick you don't see it coming. Lots of rain and you get this, sad to say. A few new varieties have early blight resistance (that's what's on your black cherry; see bulls-eye lesions on newly infected leaves with a mag glass). In my experience Yellow Pear is susceptible to everything. Septoria will hit anything.

  • cme1
    9 years ago

    Ugh, I just lost all my tomatoes to blight too. Terrible stuff...my garden went from glorious to disaster in 48 hours :(

  • spartan-apple
    9 years ago

    Platanus:

    I grow tomatoes from seed. Usually heirlooms with no
    resistance to early blight. This year I have Reif's red heart from Sandhill Preservation in Iowa. Mighty tasty variety.

    I agree with your statement on blight. Usually I prune off the lower branches when young as septora leaf spot seems to start on the lower branches and works its way up. I find that pruning my heirloom tomatoes up at the base (2' from ground level) allows good air flow and sunlight at the bottom of the plants.

    This seems to reduce my chances of blight as I successfully get crops every year without spraying
    chlorothalonil for blight control. My neighbors all get blight
    every year but so far I am successful.

    I have a bit of septoria this year (wet, cool growing season).
    Not bad. My neighbor's modern tomatoes have early blight like crazy. He never prunes the lower branches.

    Just an FYI to all that pruning up the lower branches in youth seems to really reduce some disease issues I see
    on tomatoes in my area.

    For those that want to spray, chlorothalonil does work well.
    My sister lives in a commercial potato growing area so
    lots of early blight around. She cannot keep a tomato plant alive without spraying.

    I prefer no spray if possible and lucky so far.

  • planatus
    9 years ago

    I agree on the basal pruning, which I think helps set back early blight. I trimmed up my late tomatoes yesterday.

    We had three badly-timed rainy intervals this year that gave the early and main crop tomatoes a hard time, but I've been pleased with 'Ruth's Perfect' from Turtle Tree (OP, biodynamic). The plants next to these melted down completely with early blight and septoria, but 'Ruth's Perfect' is still carrying on. Also blight resistant 'Plum Regal'(f1) made a huge crop even though it got hit pretty bad with septoria. Today I'll finish taking out the old tomatoes and cover crop with mustard.