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Deformed tomato

Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 1:53 am
by Patatthelake
Can anyone help with this deformed tomato. The new growth is pinkish, some leaves arelime coloured & the flowers are weirdly formed/positioned.
Thanks
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Re: Deformed tomato

Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 8:55 am
by applestar
Based on the following link, I think it looks a lot like what is labeled "planta macho" virus, but I wasn't able to find info about the disease with admittedly a cursory search:

Subject: Cornell.edu and other Tomato Diagnostic links
applestar wrote:Found this link in an old thread:

This one's by appearance of fruit, but by clicking on the plant picture, you can go to diagnostic by appearance of leaves, stems, etc.


Tomato  Disease  Identification  Key By Affected Plant Part: Fruit Symptoms
...I hope someone else has a better idea or have seen similar problems. It will help to know where you live -- it may only occur in similar climate as yours.

Re: Deformed tomato

Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2017 1:25 am
by Patatthelake
Hi
Many thanks I googled it in images & it certainly looks the same, but we live 5 mins south of Wollongong & can find no mention on whether it exists in OZ, mostly noted on USA websites

Re: Deformed tomato

Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2017 8:01 am
by applestar
Is there any chance it was hit by stray herbicide? Is it just one cluster? ...has any more terminal clusters started showing symptoms? (Later/staggered development could be indication of ground leached/uptake herbicide rather than airborne/contact contamination)

Re: Deformed tomato

Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2017 12:31 pm
by imafan26
Since it is mostly the young leaves that are infected, do you see any insects? You may have to use a magnifying glass to look for mites. Viruses can be seed borne or from insects. Mites, thrips and aphids are the most common sucking insects that like the youngest plant tips. On zoom, your tip has a lot of small white dots that may be insects. If it feels sticky they may be sucking the plant juices which can cause stunting, yellowing, and curling.

Re: Deformed tomato

Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2017 3:00 am
by Patatthelake
Hi & thanks
I don't use herbicides, just old fashioned hoeing & hand weeding. There are no more shoots, all the ends of the current shoots end with deformed flowers, so any new shoots would only be in the form of laterals.

Could find no insects even with a magnifying glass, those white dots may have been from a nearby tree which is in blossom - it was a windy day.