whats going on with my tomatoes?!?!

Ok so, this is my 2nd year gardening.. and I have really done my homework!... I had a bad bout with slugs eating everything and have tried a few homemade bio friendly methods that worked like a champ!! .... now this is happening?? I don't get it! I have tons of fruit! but some tomatoes are getting black/brown large spots on them and my leaves look like they are dying! I will post pics below. We have had a lot of rain so far this year... and I have kept up on keeping them watered when it doesn't rain. The only fertilizer i have used is Lyme when first tilled and started and tomato food once every 2 weeks.. any thoughts would be mucho appreciated! I have 5 different kinds of peppers growing as well.. and they flourishing with no probs!

This message was edited Aug 5, 2009 11:49 AM

Brown spots

Dead looking leaves

You might wanna go read the important articles on Late Blight being posted over in the tomatoes forum. There are pics with which to compare your disease.

Linda

http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/PhotoPages/Impt_Diseases/Tomato/Tom_Late.htm

look into the photos.. you may have a problem. It is extremely bad this year and affecting a lot of people.. nice looking tomato patch though. you will need to pull plants and spray what is not affected asap. if you can identify it as blight - but there may be other possabilities other . follow gymgirl's advice and look at the other threads to identify the problem,

good luck
-joe-

Thanks much for your comments and direction... I have to say ...had to rip out half of my plants to the blight :( Doesnt seem to affect my peppers or cherry tomatoes but all the rest are hurting. I researched alot as I do... and came to the conclusion I have spent so much already on plants themselves,fertilizer,slug killer so on... that I went with the cheap route on protecting/saving the rest. Bleach and water spray. We'll see what happens Im sure Im as upset as all the rest of the people who planned on canning a ton this season :(

Please tell me about the bleach and water spray....

Well, I called a few greenhouses that I know of and asked my brother in law who is a marine biologist "but also LOVES plants" and got pretty much the same response. The fungus that is "blight" grows and spreads via air, hopping from plant to plant and if its moist starts growing on and on.. Bleach def kills it just as much as the fungicides you can buy from stores. One and one half cap full per gallon of water.. and spray your plants till they are dripping. Do this every 3 days or so to keep it under control until you can pick your unaffected fruit. I applied it yesterday so we'll see what happens.. I have sooo many tomatoes about to ripen that I thought it necessary to attempt and prolong the plants life "least till I can harvest" Its not affecting my cherry tomatoes for some reason.. or my peppers they are rockin still.

Keep ya posted

-Dave

Yeah, whatever's going after my maters isn't interested in the Cherries. They're growing like weeds...too bad I'm not really into crunching on those cute little red marbles. I like thin-skinned tomatoes.

well... I have to sadly say.. out of 10 tomato plants, I have 0 left. :( What a waste of time/money/effort Romains.cherry,bigboys,earlybirds all infected and died .... sigh


-Dave

I hadn't watered my tomato plants in two days of this Houston heat, and I went outside early this morning expecting them all to have croaked.

Well, lo and behold, the Black Cherries are throwing marbles, the LWS B?8 and the Porter Improved have improved, the Black Krim is holding on, and my beloved Cher Purple is actually ignoring her own drooping, brown lower leaves, and has moved forward with a perfectly healthy and GROWING tip that's about 5 inches of delight to my heart!

At the very least I can cut the tip and reroot it for a September 15th plantout!

"Life finds a way"

life does find a way. Im glad to hear you made out! .. hopefully it find a way to my garden next year lol.. I only get one shot a year here in ny

Oh, Cptspanky!

I'm so sorry you won't get another go-round until the Spring.

While we do have two seasons here, the windows are veeeeeeeery narrow. I'll do a fall plantout starting Sept 12, and will stagger sow most cole veggies every 3 weeks until Dec 1st. I've never done it this way before. Of course, this is only my second fall planting! But, I'm hoping to harvest veggies up until at least Mar-April next year.

Also gonna root cuttings from the heirlooms I buy for this plant out, to winter sow and have them up and ready for plant out early next Spring, starting the 3rd week of February. Any that make it should be throwing huge blooms by mid-April for a harvest in May which, for us, is a relatively eaaaaaaaaaaarly crop. We've got to get out of the way of the Houston heat by the end of June! All my maters will get ripped by June 15th next year.

And, from what I've learned this season, I won't set foot outdoors to do anything next June, July, OR August, except to examine what's already growing that absolutely LOVES heat! That'd be the okra, eggplants and cowpeas. And, if it 'ain out there by June, it's not going out there!

Godspeed and Good Harvest (next time)!

Linda

This message was edited Aug 13, 2009 11:42 AM

thanks! :)