Is it too early for my tomato seedlings to be sick? ugh!

Skoorbmax · Fri May 20, 2011 6:36 am

I bought two stressed seedlings from Lowes, i thought maybe frost or whatever, but they were $.50/piece. I planted them two weeks back and they are doing very well except for a lot of spotting, including on new leaves:

[img]https://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac177/Skoorb100/t2.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac177/Skoorb100/t1.jpg[/img]

Yes, this soil was used in the past for various things. You can see in one pic what looks like rust or maybe septoria (but maybe not). However, how is it manifesting this early? These seedlings continue to grow with this. I fertilized a day back in case it was a nutrient issue.

Hard to tell but in the top pic that particular plant has what looks almost like white toothpaste spots on it as well, but the leaves showing that are some of the older ones that looked stressed when I bought it. The rust looking spots are the bigger concern.

rainbowgardener · Fri May 20, 2011 7:00 am

Yup, looks like septoria to me. Probably already had it when you bought them, which is why Lowe's was selling them for $.50.

Tomato plants can live with septoria for a pretty long time before it eventually gets them. But since they are so small and so covered with it already, they are never likely to get to be big healthy productive plants.

I don't know what Lowe's policy is, possibly you can take them back and get your buck back. Next time buy your plants from a real garden store where there are people who actually understand and like plants!

Skoorbmax · Fri May 20, 2011 7:21 am

rainbowgardener wrote:Yup, looks like septoria to me. Probably already had it when you bought them, which is why Lowe's was selling them for $.50.

Tomato plants can live with septoria for a pretty long time before it eventually gets them. But since they are so small and so covered with it already, they are never likely to get to be big healthy productive plants.

I don't know what Lowe's policy is, possibly you can take them back and get your buck back. Next time buy your plants from a real garden store where there are people who actually understand and like plants!

Darn. have they poisoned the soil for this year; should I rip them out and put others in their place?

TZ -OH6 · Fri May 20, 2011 9:39 am

Looks like sunburn to me. Most of my seedlings (10 flats) look like that because the first days they went out were very sunny here. Looks like somebody took sandpaper to them. Septoria won't be so even and will have dark center spots with yellowing rather than bleaching.

Skoorbmax · Mon May 23, 2011 9:34 am

I think it is a fungus now. It's on new leaves and has spread to my other seedlings that I grew myself. Is there any fungicide or something worth bothering with?

Will this stuff hang around until next season and poison the soil?

applestar · Mon May 23, 2011 10:31 am

If you are worried about soil health, best advice I can give you is to read the mega sticky thread on Aerated Compost Tea in the Compost Forum.

Skoorbmax · Thu May 26, 2011 6:09 pm

I bought some fungicide just to give it a shot. I ripped about half the leaves off the large plants that I bought sick (any with spots i threw away), soaked the ever-living hell out of them with the stuff (dripping), and three days later they are doing well with (so far) no signs of spotting/discoloration and lots of new growth coming along. My other seedlings I started myself were really too small to take leaves off so I sprayed them down but they seem hardly to be moving and may be a total loss.