This one is a topsy turvy.
[img]https://farm2.static.flickr.com/1187/4728388151_5c81061862.jpg[/img]
[img]https://farm2.static.flickr.com/1412/4729032720_faf1ed76db.jpg[/img]
This one is in a raised bed.
[img]https://farm2.static.flickr.com/1023/4728385869_b55c8c7f9e.jpg[/img]
[img]https://farm2.static.flickr.com/1396/4728384379_dfeda64797.jpg[/img]
I'm not sure exactly what the problems are, But I have started treating them with a copper fungicide. Am I taking the correct path?
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
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- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
The one in the topsy turvy looks like it may be a goner. What soil did you put in the topsy-turvy? It looks like it might have some kind of nutrient deficiency. Have you been fertilizing? The thing about the t-t's is with a small amount of soil and the roots hung up to dry, you have to water a lot. When you do that you are also flushing nutrients out of the soil.
But I'm not expert diagnostician (maybe T-Z will come by soon!). Other possibility would be some kind of blight/ wilt in which case your copper is probably a reasonable treatment. But either way, it's chances are not looking good...
The in ground one looks like it has a lot better chance and at a guess that might be insect damage. Check around very carefully, including under sides of the leaves, and see if you find bugs or droppings.
But I'm not expert diagnostician (maybe T-Z will come by soon!). Other possibility would be some kind of blight/ wilt in which case your copper is probably a reasonable treatment. But either way, it's chances are not looking good...
The in ground one looks like it has a lot better chance and at a guess that might be insect damage. Check around very carefully, including under sides of the leaves, and see if you find bugs or droppings.
The soil in the topsy turvy was a Miracle Grow package that said it was specifically for vegetables. And I fertilize once a week. (However with the topsy turvy all I can do is pour some in the top and hope it gets it.)
And the other thing is I water the topsy turvy every day (as the box said) but I'm beginning to think thats what killed it.
As for the plant in the raised bed, I don't think its insects because there is black on the edges of the damaged leaves and its on some branches too. At one point I cut off everything that had black. Obviously that didn't work. But as you can see regardless of the fact the plant still grows, However the flowers will bloom and then die with no fruit following.
I do have an earwig problem. But I have not seen them on my tomatoes, they seem to like the squash more. (tried cooking oil and soy sauce, rolled up wet newspapers, now just waiting on my local nursery to get praying mantis in stock)
EDIT: Oh I should also mention there is always wind here on the coast in Central California. Maybe that stressed it out? (the topsy turvy always has a small sway to it)
And the other thing is I water the topsy turvy every day (as the box said) but I'm beginning to think thats what killed it.
As for the plant in the raised bed, I don't think its insects because there is black on the edges of the damaged leaves and its on some branches too. At one point I cut off everything that had black. Obviously that didn't work. But as you can see regardless of the fact the plant still grows, However the flowers will bloom and then die with no fruit following.
I do have an earwig problem. But I have not seen them on my tomatoes, they seem to like the squash more. (tried cooking oil and soy sauce, rolled up wet newspapers, now just waiting on my local nursery to get praying mantis in stock)
EDIT: Oh I should also mention there is always wind here on the coast in Central California. Maybe that stressed it out? (the topsy turvy always has a small sway to it)
The TT plant looks like nutrient deficiency, but if that is not possible then bad roots is another option (same result, the plant can't get nutrients), usually from water logging.
I don't know for sure what all causes the margins to brown like that. It happens to some plants from salt damage (saline soil or high fertilizer in dry soil under low humidity conditions). Houseplants up north do it in winter a lot. I've also seen pictures of bacterial canker like that, but BC usually causes much worse problems too. It doesn't look too bad. If it were my plant would try to ignor it and hope it goes away, but that is just the way I am.
I don't know for sure what all causes the margins to brown like that. It happens to some plants from salt damage (saline soil or high fertilizer in dry soil under low humidity conditions). Houseplants up north do it in winter a lot. I've also seen pictures of bacterial canker like that, but BC usually causes much worse problems too. It doesn't look too bad. If it were my plant would try to ignor it and hope it goes away, but that is just the way I am.
I've lived next to the water on both right and left coasts and my gut instinct says no, that coastal salt air (salt residue on the leaves) would not do that in this case. But coastal areas tend to have their municiple water wells contaminated by salt water intrusion fairly often, and regions of the southwest (Los Angeles, Arizona etc, have so much evaporation from the water in the aquiducts that it is aften quite salty out of the tap (boil some down and you get salty residue). TDS (total dissolved solids) around 1000ppm or higher is possible...my hard-ish water here in Ohio has a TDS of 250, When I was on Long Island the water was really good, around 90 IIRC. I think that the scorching is an internal thing because it happens at the same place guttation from root pressure forces water out of the leaves on dewy mornings.
But if the original poster is watering the plant well, the soil drying needed to cause a salt problem isn't likely.
But I could be wrong.
You mentioned avacados and when I did the first post I was going to say something about hard leaves being more susceptible to scorch than soft leaves, which just tend to wilt, but that was just a loosely (inaccurately?) remembered houseplant observation rolling around in my head.
But if the original poster is watering the plant well, the soil drying needed to cause a salt problem isn't likely.
But I could be wrong.
You mentioned avacados and when I did the first post I was going to say something about hard leaves being more susceptible to scorch than soft leaves, which just tend to wilt, but that was just a loosely (inaccurately?) remembered houseplant observation rolling around in my head.