What is affecting my tomatoes (disease)?!

[djesteban]

Hi,

I am growing some tomato plants indoor and I have notice that some of the leaves have started to turn yellow... or at least display a yellowish pattern on them. At the same time, smaller leaves have tiny holes in them and they seem "dryer" than usual.
Now I have notice small, almost microscopic flies around the plants and I think I might have gotten rid of most of them by now. They were hard to spot, but to find them I just shook my plants and they started to fly around frantically as little as they were (there was about 4-5 of them). My guess is that they might be responsible for the little holes that I was talking about earlier, but I am afraid they've also transmitted some kind of disease to my plants

So, two questions:

1- Were those Whiteflies or Aphids. I'm not too sure if Aphids can fly and by looking at some pictures on the web, they seem to be "bigger" and not so microscopic.

2- What disease or problem is affecting my plants exactly? I'm wondering if it's either one of those:
- Tomato Chlorosis Virus
- Cucumber Mosaic Virus
- Tobacco Mosaic Virus

Please help! (Image below!!)
Thanks!!

[img]https://img52.imageshack.us/img52/5746/tpprob01.jpg[/img]
[img]https://img192.imageshack.us/img192/2350/tpprob02.jpg[/img]
[img]https://img819.imageshack.us/img819/8709/tpprob04.jpg[/img]
[img]https://img84.imageshack.us/img84/9664/tpprob05.jpg[/img]

[Bobberman]

Aphids that may have come from a flower or plant you bought. Order a few hundred lady bugs! Once they start flying they will be on everything. I would get something to kill them and put the tomatoes in a platic bag for 24 hours with the spray. You must continue every 4 of 5 days since the eggs will not be effected by the spray! I had them once and spayed them and they are gone!

[cynthia_h]

I am afflicted (well, my *plants*) with aphids frequently and must say that they do not "fly," much less very quickly. They just kind of sit there, and they are large, not at all microscopic. 2 mm, more or less, long. They're usually gray, green, or black; not white.

From your description, I cannot believe that you have aphids on your plants. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what you *do* have; some of the East Coast plant pests do not appear on the West Coast, and vice versa.

Many of the insect sprays recommended on this forum (soap spray, baking soda spray--although that's usually for powdery mildew) will also affect pollinators, so even they must be applied with caution and an eye to the timing and habits of pollinators.

The suggestion to "buy ladybugs" is a popular one, but ladybugs seem to have a homing instinct; at least the ones out here do. I can't tell you how many gardeners in California I've talked to who purchased a bag (net bag) of ladybugs and released them onto plants just full of yummy aphids, only to find the ladybugs gone the next day and the aphids still there. I'm one of them. Come to find out that, in California, most of the ladybugs for sale are raised approx. 3,000 ft. elevation in the Sierras, and they go right back there, or as close to it as they can get, as soon as they're released.

I have no idea about the disease pattern your tomato plants are showing; sorry.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[Bobberman]

I was just kiddin about lady bugs because it takes to long to get them working! From what I read aphids fly when they are mature!

[Bobberman]

Aphids are strange since they only fly when things get to crowded. Here is a link that explains it! Some do and some don't fly! They multiply fast!
+++

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070428063920AAxTaEU

[rainbowgardener]

At a guess the little bugs might be fungus gnats since it looks like your plants are in peat pots. But the fungus gnats would not by themselves cause the yellow patterning.

The pictures of TMV I have seen do not look like yours and chlorosis whether from virus or nutrient deficiencies leaves prominent green veins.

I'm thinking possibly some nutrient deficiency?? What is the soil they are in? Is it possibly a seed starting mix? Those are sterile and without nutrients. How are you watering? Overwatering can cause yellowing...

Perhaps TZ-OH6 or someone else expert on tomato problems will come by!

[applestar]

I agree about nutrient deficiency, but the cinkleed leaf you are holding and in the photo below it could be aphids as well.

Look very closely under the leaves, particularly inside the nooks of the crinkled leave. The aphids can cause the leaves to pucker and break in the way yours are. Brushing the suspected area under the leaves with soft watercolor brush, holding a plastic spoon or over a piece of paper can dislodge the aphids.

[TZ -OH6]

The chlorosis looks like iron or zinc deficiency. What potting mix did you use?

I don't know what the puckering is from. Aphids are usually found on the upper stems and leaf ribs, so it is not them. It could be be thrips maybe. You would possibly see little black fecal pellets from them like fine ground pepper. They are nearly microscopic and feed on young-soft tissue so the damage is not seen until it grows out. Could also be a virus, but I don't have much first hand experience with those for tomatoes. I would move the puckered plants away from the rest in any case.


It looks like the growing tips for some (all?) of the plants have been pinched off. Why?

[applestar]

TZ, my aphids are not listening to your recommended feeding sites.

[TZ -OH6]

You are right, I was thinking about my winter aphid farm pepper plants. Tomatoes are too fuzzy in those areas.