I have a beautiful plant that I started from seed in April. I know this was a little late, but it seemed to be flourishing. Lately I have been noticing a few spots and then the bottom of the plant started to look rough. The leaves feel rough to the touch. On some leaves on the underside there are little brown spots, that do not appear to be insects. It is also REALLY hot here. Over 90 every day for almost a month. The tomatoes are in a 16"pot on the patio. We water three times a day.
Mine look like that, too. It's probably blight or something, but I attribute it to heat, humidity, and stress of producing fruit. I just snip off the ugly parts and let them keep going.
I think it is blight. I have been keeping it under control by occassional spraying with the following;
1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of cooking oil, 1 teaspoon of shampoo, and 1 quart of water. make sure to get the underside of the leaves. I have been spraying about every 7 to 10 days for about the last month.
For blight info check the following web sites:
http://blogs.mcall.com/master_gardeners/2009/07/late-blight-what-should-the-home-gardener-do-diagnosis.html
http://growit.umd.edu/Late%20Blight%20Tomatoes/Late%20blight%20-%20Frequently%20Asked%20Questions%20from%202009.cfm
The lower leaves look like it might be a spider mite infestation. I would take some of the mid-level leaves that look speckled and look really closely in bright light with a magnifying glass undersides the leaves and see if there are spots moving. Sometimes they don't move until after you touch them. If you have small dots; smaller than the heads of a pin that are moving than you probably have spider mites. I would check several leaves. Sometimes you can see little bits of silk/webbing. Inspect several leaves.
This message was edited Jul 12, 2010 2:58 AM
I would say it is blight. Blight comes from the soil and and when water splashes the bottom leaves the "fungus" gets on the leaves. This is why the bottom leaves get it first. Try above to control it or get an appropriate fungicide for tomatoes. Also watch for black spot (on bottom of tomato). At the end of the year, totally get rid of tomato plants, do not till in the plant. Plant next year in a different place or put landscape fabric, newspaper, or straw under the plants to help protect.
If this is a blight; then what type of blight is this likley to be?
I have a few tomato plants that look in a similar condition. First the leaves become rougher/corser to the feel and yellow speckled. Then the leaves becomes thin and papery and start to wilt and or turn brown and or yellow. I found what appears to be spider mites on the affected tomato plants. They are small dots smaller than the head of a pin, there is sometimes fine silk/webbing on some of the affected leaves. The dots often stay stationary until I brush my finger across them than many of them start to move.
Since there's late blight in the area I have been pretreating my tomato plants on a weekly basis, alternating different methods of treatment for late blight. I've also treated the affected plants with insecticide and miteicide.
If what my plants have is a type of blight; then perhaps mites are exploiting the weaknesses of the diseased plants?
It could be both. With the temps and weather like it is, seems like everyone is having alot of the same problems. Have you been treating since you noticed it or the whole season? It will not make any leaves that are dead or injured any better but any new growth it should have effect.
Should I cut off the damaged leaves or leave it as is and spray it down. What is better, store bought fungicide or the home remedy? None of the dots on the leaves move, it just looks like sand grains.
I found the home remedy more effective. But you may want to reduce it oil to 1/2 teaspoon/ Some of my leaves burned 9fried in the sun). I plan to spray again tomorrow morning.
You may want to also try
http://www.plantea.com/plant-aspirin.htm
This message was edited Jul 13, 2010 7:14 PM
I am having the same thing- the plant is growing tomatoes but now appears to be stunted. All my tomatoes have brown on the bottom by the time they are ripe. I just took a photo today- is this blight? I've tried to water the base only so I don't know why the bottoms of the tomatoes would all have the brown patch.
Looks like blossom end rot . That is from a lack of calcium. You will have to get a spray that is for blossom end rot. Next year get gypsum to mix in your soil to add calcium before planting.
spray in the early morning or late evening. So your plants won't fry in the sun.
I would leave the leaves as is and just spray it. if you do remove the leaves then make sure you get rid of them somewhere the blight won't spread too.
I use daconil. I haven't used the home made fungicide.
This message was edited Jul 13, 2010 7:34 PM
I now use a calcium spray and have never again had
blossom end rot. It's organic, safe and will not burn
the plant.
You can compare early blight (symptoms: dark concentric spots on leaves, yellowing leaves) with late blight (symptoms: dark gray spots on leaves, leathery sploches on fruit) with Septoria leaf spot (symptoms: dark spots on leaves, yellowing leaves) at this link:
http://www.tomatodirt.com/tomato-blight.html
All three can be treated with the biofungicide Serenade.
Blossom end rot usually has a more clearly defined dark spot on the fruit underside.
http://www.tomatodirt.com/blossom-end-rot.html
