Tomato leaf edges blackening

[kjsnyder]

Hello all,

About two weeks ago I planted a Charger tomato in Portland, OR (Zone 6) in a pot. I started to notice about a week ago black edges on some of the leaves. I initially clipped the leaves off but now the remaining foliage also has black edges.

I've looked at some of the more common diseases and none of the leaves have much yellowing so I'm not sure its early blight, bacterial spot/speck. The only symptom are dry, black edges on almost all of the leaves.

Does anyone have suggestions what this might be? It hasn't been too hot here and I've watered only when the dirt knuckle deep in the pot was dry. Additionally, I have not used any fertilizers. The plant was potted in a potting soil/cow manure mix of about 50/50.

Any help is appreciated.

[applestar]

Has it been windy? This could be the leaves getting beaten up against something....

[kjsnyder]

Not really. There have been various rainy days but nothing too extreme. Also, I don't have anything too close to the plant that it could be rubbing up against.

[Lindsaylew82]

I'm thinkin nutrient deficiency. Some of my Browns and Blacks do this when I transplant them into the big garden. Prolly wouldn't hurt to lightly fertilize them. Once the roots catch up, mine usually start putting out new unaffected leaves. Sometimes I wonder if cool weather contributes to nutrient deficiencies. I never seem to have any other trouble with nutrients throughout the rest of the year.

[imafan26]

If it has been raining especially overnight and the leaves are wet a long time, it could be a bacterial or fungal disease getting started. It could be nutritional but the rest of the leaves in the picture look healthy and have good color.

I grew Charger because it is one of the few tomatoes with yellow leaf curl virus resistance, but I did not think much of the taste.

[Lindsaylew82]

Yeah, mine "burn" right along the edges just like that. But it's usually just the blacks and browns...

I thought the lower ones could be fungal. Possibly early blight since there are a few little dark spots on the leaves closer to the bottom. Early blight here is usually accompanied by yellowing.

I guess it could be nitrogen burn from the manure:soil ratio, but I don't really think that. You usually see physiological leaf roll with that.

Did they get wilted from temporary lack of water? How big is the pot you have them planted? How many to the pot?

[kjsnyder]

Thank you for the feedback everyone. I went out and purchased some fungicide and sprayed it down today. How long should it take for it to be apparent if its working? I also picked up some bone meal for fertilizer. Otherwise the plant still looks in pretty good health. Also, there is only one plant in a seven gallon pot.

The edges are started to expand a little more. From what I've seen online this looks a little like early blight to me (particularly in the second picture on the smaller leaves). Does anyone else have any thoughts? If it is blight, should I prune all leaves affected? The majority of the leaves have at least some type of black spot on them. I'm worried if I prune all affected leaves that won't leave too many for the plant to continue to grow.