Tomatoes

[bhostasa]

Sounds like blight to me. I had the same thing two summers ago. It was really dry here for several weeks and I was watering almost nightly. I starting seeing some yellow/black spots like you're talking about and did some reading.

I found out that when you water late in the evening and splash dirt up on the leaves of your plants (I was using a garden hose then) it can start a fungus on your tomoatoes. If that is what you have, you need to remove any branch, leaf, etc. that has the spots and throw them away. You're not supposed to leave them anywhere near your garden as it is an airborn fungus and it can still reach your plants.

The good news is that the blight won't really affect your tomatoes. It just makes the plants look like crap. I'm not sure if this is completely accurate or not but my grandpa (who is 93 and still has a garden) told me to add some lime to the soil when I tilled it up each spring. I have to say that it has really helped.

Good luck!

 

[TBDonnelly]

Downy/powdery mildew disease (fungus) is prevelent in my area. It starts near the bottom of the plant and quickly travels up thru the plant. High humidity levels & watering at night contribute to the problem. An anti-fungal program needs to be started early on because once the fungus engulfs the entire plant it's to late. The plants need spraying every 7-14 days to control the fungus. While the fungicides control the problem they don't permanently eliminate the fungus. From my experiences, your mileage may vary.

Don

 

[easygo]

I had the leaf spots last year on my tomatoes. It started on a single plant and eventually spread onto all the others. By the time I realized what was going on it was too late. Luckily the harvest was still good especially on the early varieties. The late ones didn't do quite that well. I was told that if the problem is noticed early on I can just cut off the affected side-shoots from the plant and bury them in the woods. Whatever the problem I was told not to compost the clipped off part of the plant.

 

[polo1665]

Though like I said initially, I'm not certain of my diagnosis. I'm taking off work tomorrow and will be in town, so I plan to bring along a couple samples to the local nurseries to see what they think.

Did you find anything out today?

Mark

 

[dooleysm]

The folks at the nursery agreed that it was a fungus. They claim to have had loads of people come in with similar problems this year. They were sold out of their most popular fungicide, and in fact it was on backorder at their supplier. We've had an abnormally wet, cool, and cloudy spring/summer here in my area (southern Indiana).

She said to continue removing the affected leaves and sold me a fungicide called Mancowzeb. Apply every 7-10 days. The downer is that you have to wait 5 days between application and tomato harvest. So, I picked all the tomatoes that had any red at all, and sprayed yesterday afternoon.

She also recommended against using grass clippings or straw as mulch. In a wet year like this it makes sense, but normally by this time of year we are aching for water. I just emptied 3/4" out of my rain gauge yesterday evening though. We've had way too much water this year. I've had to replant beans 3 times and corn twice. My first plantings were simply washed away.

 

[polo1665]

The folks at the nursery agreed that it was a fungus. They claim to have had loads of people come in with similar problems this year. They were sold out of their most popular fungicide, and in fact it was on backorder at their supplier. We've had an abnormally wet, cool, and cloudy spring/summer here in my area (southern Indiana).

She said to continue removing the affected leaves and sold me a fungicide called Mancowzeb. Apply every 7-10 days. The downer is that you have to wait 5 days between application and tomato harvest. So, I picked all the tomatoes that had any red at all, and sprayed yesterday afternoon.

She also recommended against using grass clippings or straw as mulch. In a wet year like this it makes sense, but normally by this time of year we are aching for water. I just emptied 3/4" out of my rain gauge yesterday evening though. We've had way too much water this year. I've had to replant beans 3 times and corn twice. My first plantings were simply washed away.

Amazing, we really are not that far from you and we could really use some rain. I hope the fungicide works out for you. Good luck.

Mark

 

[dooleysm]

The past 2 summers have been very odd. Last summer was without question the most enjoyable temperatures we've ever had in my 30 years. Very low humidity and many days in the 70's and low 80's all summer long. Normally we are baking by July with temps in the high 80's and 90's and occassional 100's in August and high humidity all summer.

This year we've had cooler temps as well, along with an endless onslaught of rain. My lawn is usually browning up nicely by this time, but we're still mowing twice a week.

 

[polo1665]

We are enjoying the weather you had last year, I guess. Today will be one of the warmest days so far, supposed to hit 85 degrees. Back down to 70 by Saturday. Hardly ever gets out of the 50's for night time temps. The garden is growing very well though and that's good enough for me.

Mark

 

[TBDonnelly]

Some fungicide options:

GreenCure fungicide for curing and preventing powdery mildew, blights, molds and other plant diseases

Milstop is a commercial version of greencure and is sold in larger quantities:

MilStop Product Information


Orthoï½® Max&#153 Garden Disease Control - Scotts Miracle-Gro

Skim milk has also been used:

Milk as a Garden Fungicide for Powdery Mildew, Botrytis, and Black Spots | Suite101.com


Daconil Fungicide Pint Concentrate at YardLover.com


Don

 

[PA hayseed]

I did a thread search and came across this. I am about to turn over my garden. i lost almost all my tomatoes to blight this year, everyone in my area got hit hard. Way too wet, not enough sun, and colder than usual.

My question is this, I pulled everything out of the ground and let it dry out on the surface (about 30 days). Is it going to be ok to till it all and let it sit til next year? I will probably lime the garden before tilling, as I have heard that lime and copper dust seems to keep the fungus in check.

Any ideas or suggestions? I normally plant at least 40 tomato plants and can't see wasting all that time and money again next year.