Disease on black cherry tomato plants

[tovfla]

This happened last year with my black cherry tomato plants and now this year again - the tomato leaves have some disease and then every day more branches die. I'm growing them in containers. Anyone know what this disease is and if there's anything I can do to save the plant?

[imafan26]

Hi tovfla
I looked up black cherry tomatoes and they do not have much disease resistance.
The leaves are mottled and discolored. It could be some kind of virus. If it is there is no cure, but to destroy the plants, use clean media and pots and plant a more resistant variety.

You can take the plant sample in a bag to your local master gardener office and ask them to have the problem identified for sure.

Fungal disease is usually more patchy in distribution.

https://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell. ... Table.html

[filmnet]

I thick I had this last summer up north. Mine killed and dried up leaves very fast, all I had left was center stems, it took 30 days each plant, I was told its a fungus.I had to pick a ton of green fruits off the plants, I did get plants away from my garden just before they died because fungus spread easy. The only survive plant was sungold. luckily they are wonderful

[applestar]

I'm growing tomatoes indoors, and one variety had a somewhat similar disease symptom: Aparently healthy green leaf would suddenly wilt, dry up, and die starting with lower leaves. No obvious other symptoms like spots, yellowing, etc.

This was not a symptom I'd seen before. At first I thought it was ... Oh drawing a blank ... Southern something... Wilt? But when I was looking up powdery mildew for someone else, I came across this article: https://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/peppermildew.htm

And subsequest searches about this peper powdery mildew infection on tomatoes led me to wonder if that's what my tomatoes had. Only one variety out of four was seriously affected.

I sprayed alternately with milk solution and diluted AACT over the course of a month or so, and except for severely affected two plants that succumbed, they are recovering and apears to be outgrowing/overcoming the infection with healthy new growth, blooms and fruits.

[imafan26]

tovfla What does the underside of the leaf look like? Powdery mildew shows up on the undersides of the leaf too.

https://www.tomatodirt.com/powdery-milde ... atoes.html
applestar posted this link:
https://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell. ... l#PowderyO

[prettygurl]

I had a similar disease hit my tomatoes in containers. The edges of the leaves would turn brown and eventually the leaves would wilt. It was a bacterial disease. The best thing you can do is destroy the plants asap and get them away from the other plants.

[tovfla]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I had no idea that black cherry has very little disease resistance. I checked the underside of the leaves and I see no signs of powdery mildew. The plant looks like it'll be dead in a couple of weeks, oh well...

[applestar]

Well, that's the thing. Pepper powdery mildew is different species from the kind that more commonly attacks tomatoes and may not show visible signs.

In contrast, Leveillula taurica grows only within a leaf until it produces spores, a growth habit which is similar to Alternaria and most other foliar plant pathogenic fungi. Additionally, Leveillula taurica only produces spores on the underside of leaves. ... Leveillula taurica is a species complex that infects over 1000 plant species in 74 families, including tomato and eggplant as well as pepper.

https://ipm.ifas.ufl.edu/resources/succe ... 6%2009.doc

Pepper powdery mildew is different in several ways from the mildews that infect tomato (Erysiphe, Oidium lycopersicum), or cucumber, (Erysiphe cichoracearum, Sphaerotheca fuliginea). Pepper powdery mildew grows unseen, within the leaf tissue for a latency period of up to 21 days. ...By the time pepper powdery mildew is detected in a greenhouse many more leaves are already infected but do not show any disease symptoms.

More details here: https://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/peppermildew.htm

You could try removing all wilted/dead foliage and spraying with milk, AACT, or your choice of fungicide. I have also read that soaking your hands in 35% protein milk solution helps to prevent spreading diseases by handling. That's what I did.

If you have no intention of saving it, it's probably best to pull and dispose of the plant now to prevent spreading the disease to other plants and crops. No use in incubating the disease.

[tovfla]

Thank you applestar for all the info, going through the links you posted. I'll try a milk spray and see if it helps.

[imafan26]

If you have been growing the tomatoes in the same spot every year. It might be a good idea to start with fresh media and clean and soak the pots in a 10% bleach solution for 24 hours or more. Disinfect the area you were growing the plants in because spores can be on the ground and in the air for a while.

If you can, change to another location as far away as possible. If the weather turns wet or humid, use a preventive spray. Either Bayer 3 in 1 or homemade baking soda spray plus mineral oil. Only use one solution. Copper sulfate is the fungicide in 3 in 1 spray and sulfur and oil need a two week break or the plants will burn. Do a test spray on a small section of plant first.

If you are using baking soda spray. Make sure you spray within 3 days of the rain stopping. If it rains again you may have to reapply. I usually only have to spray when it is going to or has rained. If it is sunny every day and the leaves are not wet at night there is no need to spray.

https://gardening.about.com/od/gardenpro ... Mildew.htm

In case it is not a fungus, experiment with other tomatoes that have more disease resistance. If you can, plant something completely different. No solanaceous or plants that carry the same disease to eliminate host plants. Check plants nearby for insects reservoirs. Aphids, thrip, leaf hoppers are the usual suspects for transmitting diseases.
Learn how to read the signs:
https://erec.ifas.ufl.edu/tomato-scoutin ... ndex.shtml

[tovfla]

thank you for the tips!!

[tovfla]

Just wanted to update that the milk spray has been working!! I sprayed it a couple of times this past week and it is looking a lot healthier already