ejscholz
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Posts: 3
Joined: Wed May 10, 2017 12:48 pm

Tomato help: wilted leaves

Hi everyone, so I'm sure this topic has been covered, but I'm having trouble diagnosing the problem.

These are of my first plant:
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There has been a lot of rain the past couple weeks, so I'm wondering if it could be some sort of fungus.

This is my first year gardening with fruits/vegetables, so I just don't have the experience to diagnose the problem on my own.
IMG_1213.JPG
IMG_1214.JPG
And this is the second:
image.jpg

ejscholz
Newly Registered
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed May 10, 2017 12:48 pm

Sorry, it looks like the formatting got messed up. First three are the first plant. Last one is the second plant.

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applestar
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Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Where are you located? Some pests and diseases are regional, so it really makes a difference to include your location in your profile.

The last 2 photos shown which you said is actually the first plant -- I see signs of what looks like tomato leaf miner moth caterpillars. 2nd from the bottom photo shows a leaf that had hosted the caterpillar until it matured -- it might still be in that rolled dried up edge, or it has left the leaf to pupate.

If it has been wet, they would be vulnerable to fungal and possibly bacterial diseases via the damaged leaves.

The other photos, the marks are not definitive to me and I'm not positive that's what those are from.

ejscholz
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Posts: 3
Joined: Wed May 10, 2017 12:48 pm

I'm located in northern New Jersey, United States.

I haven't seen anything that looks like a caterpillar or moth, but there's this big black fly that's been hanging around my plants for a few days. I'll definitely look closer at that dried up leaf though.

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applestar
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Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Rather than the fly kind of leaf miners that attack tomatoes, which seem more prevalent in the south, my garden - also in NJ - is beset by the moth kind. I get different kind of leaf miners that go after my aquilegia and maybe yet another or same that go after the lambs quarters and related plants.

Rather than squiggly tunnels, the tomato leafminer caterpillars make pockets between the top and bottom layers of tomato leaves. Thin windowpane layer on top and bottom with a dark bulge where the caterpilllar is hiding, and dark green/black deposit where they left poop behind.

The adult moths are non-description tan and small -- maybe a bit like sodworm moths and pantry moths. They normally don't overwinter well outside here -- only during very mild winter. They are more likely to have survived in the house or were brought home with groceries or greenhouse garden plants. One year, I lost control of them when I brought them in with some mature and fall-started tomato plants for the winter indoor garden, then they managed to use my winter indoor garden to perpetuate several generation over the winter, then moved outside with the plants to infest my summer garden. :x

There is another one called tomato pinworms. I forgot because I only learned about them recently thanks to another member who posted about them. I get those sometimes too.

...the big black fly is probably blowfly which is the earliest big flies (they have suction pads on their feet) -- I once worked at a scientific laboratory where the research assistants set out traps to CATCH them in early spring, when air was still a bit chilly like now, so they could perform brain surgery on them (true story) ... or they could be tachnid flies if very hairy.



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