Any ideas about the spots on these leaves?

[jemsister]

Several of the lower leaves have these kinds of spots on them. They've been there for several weeks and don't necessarily seem to be spreading much. The newer leaves are just fine. This is pretty much all on older leaves--the large ones, which have a slightly leathery texture. The spots cannot be brushed away, they seem to be inside the leaf anatomy as opposed to something sitting on top of the leaves. You can see the spots on the underside of the leaves as well.

Other than the visible spots, the plant shows no signs of distress. I've been using a milk spray on it, so I'm hoping this isn't fungus, or if it is, I'm hoping the milk spray is keeping it at bay.

BTW, in this picture the leaf looks yellow, but it's not--it's just bright sunlight. I should also add that the plant has a large amount of healthy looking green tomatoes on it--none of them look weird or sick or anything. They're just waiting to turn orange (sun gold).

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[Northernfox]

Blight but that usually comes with yellowing. Is it just dead leaf or is it insects in the leaf ? Might be insect damage? Aphids for example feeds on the cells and leave dead spots.

[jemsister]

There aren't any insects in the picture. I do have little gnat-like critters that just hang out on the plant, but most of them--if not all of them--died when I used a soap spray on them. Someone on here thought maybe they were winged aphids. Maybe I'm missing a pest in the mix somewhere. I really don't think it's blight because, like you said, there's no yellowing. Plus, it seems like blight would spread faster than this--I first started noticing these several weeks ago.

Could heat/sun do that kind of damage? We have had a few days that were pushing 90, which is very hot for our region (we have 75 degree summers).

[Northernfox]

I am not sure. I have not seen this one. If you can remove the leafs that are affected.

Possibly someone else has seen this.

[jemsister]

Posting some more pictures. I found a significantly chewed piece, so something has definitely been eating at it. So now I'm thinking maybe it is bugs.

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[jemsister]

Then again, this one does look almost blightish. But again, wouldn't it have progressed more quickly if it were blight? These spots have been spreading *very* slowly over the last four to five weeks.

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More pics of what they generally look like, along with some of the black specks. (Could they be eggs? I've seen some that are teeny-tiny in clusters--black ones--so I think they could be tiny aphids or mites, or else egg clusters. Hard to tell because they are so tiny.)

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[jemsister]

Couple more.

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[jemsister]

I'm not sure if this is relevant, but the fruit itself looks great.

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[imafan26]

The spots look like they are a fungal or even a bacterial disease. Some of the other things seem to be insect damage. If the leaves are at the base of the plant and the upper leaves are fine, then remove the leaves. Fungal infections are common on lower leaves from splash back. Mulching the tomatoes will help with that. If the upper leaves are healthy and you are getting good fruit then I doubt it is a blight.

[jemsister]

Thanks, Imafan. I'm really hoping it's not fungal, but it wouldn't be surprising in our climate, since we do have some pretty high humidity. Nothing like the south, but it's definitely high. With moderate temps. So fungus loves us.

I'll keep spraying it with the milk spray and soap spray, and hope for the best, I guess!

BTW, once the fungus is apparent (if indeed it is fungus), does the milk spray still help? Or should I look for something stronger?

I don't know much about bacterial diseases in plants, but doesn't that make the sap a funny color/consistency? The sap on my plant is normal.

I mulched, and I only water the base of the plant, but of course that's no guarantee--especially around here. Last time I attempted to grow a tomato it got eaten alive by early blight. Didn't even begin forming fruits. I'm not sure it even got any blossoms on it, actually.

[mattie g]

The foliage on my tomatoes looks worse than that pretty much every year, but I still have production that goes well into October.

Just sayin'...

[jemsister]

Mattie G, do you know what is "wrong" with your plants when they do that? Or is it just an aging plant thing?

[rainbowgardener]

Doesn't look like blight and it does look like something is eating the leaves. The tiny black spots would be insect or caterpillar droppings.

The good news is as long as the damage is that minor, you really don't need to do anything about it. Plants can easily lose 10% of their leaf surface without being slowed down. I really don't worry about anything that isn't a major infestation. You are never going to not have insects and whatever. You just want everything to be in balance, so you have insects and their predators, and nothing gets out of control.

[mattie g]

Mattie G, do you know what is "wrong" with your plants when they do that? Or is it just an aging plant thing?

I can take an educated guess at many things, jemsister, but I don't really worry too much about it. The way I look at it is kind of how rainbow talks about it above. I figure that bugs will happen and ailments will happen, but as long as there's nothing major taking place, then I won't worry about it. And there is definitely and aspect of plant aging involved.

All I can do is provide the best growing conditions possible given my weather and the space I have available, and hopefully everything falls into place. If I need to remove some foliage, I'll do that. If I need to spray some neem or milk spray here and there, then I will. Otherwise, I let my plants handle what comes to them, and for the most part it works out OK.

[jemsister]

Thanks for the help and insight, guys! I'll be keeping an eye on things. I might be an overprotective mom gardener, LOL!