Diseased Tomato Plant - Need Help Identifying

Katarinanj · Sat May 28, 2016 12:01 pm

I purchased a tomato plant from a local nursery a week and half ago. A few days after I got it home, it developed some yellow spotting on the lower leaves and some curling upward on the upper leaves. The spots never turned brown or black - they just turned into holes or stayed kind of in yellowish steaks. I tried to find a similar picture on one of the many gardening sites but never found anything exact. I went ahead and purchased some Seranade Disease Control spray since the problem seemed to be spreading. I sprayed it last night according to directions. This morning I noticed a new problem - likely connected to the first but different symptom. I now have some blackish spotting on the lower stem and the branches.

I had the plant indoors this last week in a sunroom as it was raining off and on all week. I had plans to transplant to a new pot with new soil, fertilizer and self-watering stuff. I've been very carefully watering in the mornings this past week - but did take it outside to spend time in the sun last weekend as I knew it would not get as much sun this week. On those 2 days, the soil dried out much quicker and it got a little extra water in the evening. I thought maybe sunscorching or watering issues at first, but the stem problem this morning leads me to believe disease.

I just don't know if I'm dealing with one disease or multiple issues - and I'm having trouble identifying. I have one patch of little yellow flowers but nothing else so far related to fruit. I won't go through the effort of replanting and continuing the fungicide treatments if this can be pretty easily identified as something "dooming" for the plant that will affect the fruit. I will try to attach pictures. It's being grown in MN where indoor temps have been around 74 and outside temps are upper 70s - lower 80s. This is my very first gardening (tomato) plant.

rainbowgardener · Sat May 28, 2016 12:11 pm

I'm thinking it looks more like insect damage than disease. You wouldn't have insects like that in your house, but maybe it came with them. Have you checked it over closely? The dark spotting could well be a reaction to what you sprayed on it.

Can you get your plant outside?. "I had the plant indoors this last week in a sunroom as it was raining off and on all week. " Plants like rain! Your plant is getting spindly and stretched out from not enough sun. Upper 70's / lower 80's is perfect tomato weather. It will be more vulnerable to pests and disease as it gets leggier. If it is not going in the ground, can you get it in a larger pot?

rainbowgardener · Sat May 28, 2016 12:11 pm

sorry, duplicate post!

Katarinanj · Sat May 28, 2016 12:34 pm

My intention was to get it into a bigger pot this weekend. The temps are just getting nice again. We had frost warnings a couple weeks ago and snow not far from us. I know several people that lost their tomato plants so I held off when I got this. With the leaf issue coming so soon after I brought it home, I didn't know how much to invest. With a lot of construction going on in the neighborhood and yard work, we were going to try potted planting for this season - but yes - outside. We have a community garden plot but they advised against planting tomatoes there since there was disease last year and they fear contaminated soil.

So I haven't seen any insects when I've been examining it over the last week. Any ideas what bugs I'd be looking for? I have some potato plant seedlings growing across the room and they don't appear to be having any leaf issues. Could still be a bug - just doesn't apparently like potato plant leaves!

If the organic fungicide caused the black spots, is there something I should do about that? I tried to follow instructions pretty rigidly...

imafan26 · Sat May 28, 2016 7:08 pm

Since you haven't had this plant long, I would try to return it and get your money back. It looks like it may have a bacterial or fungal problem but once it attacks the stem like in early blight, it is hard to control. This is a large plant for such a small pot.

imafan26 · Sat May 28, 2016 7:13 pm

Aphids should be visible and you should be able to rub them off with your finger. They feel a little sticky. Invest in a hand magnifyer. They don't cost that much and it makes it easier to see small bugs. You can get 30x loupes on the internet sometimes for between $2.50 - $5.00 30x gave me the best results anything higher and it is hard to focus. You can go a little lower. Mites are the hardest to see.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/30X-40X-Glass-M ... TkuMtYATOg