Help! Septoria? What is this?!

[TEWNCfarms]

Here are some pictures of my plants. No tomato spots or death, but the foliage gets ravaged by spots and yellowing and then dies if I don't pull the spotted leaves off. Some plants are doing great but a majority look like this! What is it?! How do I fix this?! I'm using organics, biodynamics, and Korean natural farming inputs.

[rainbowgardener]

It is septoria. My tomato plants are suffering badly from it too.

After you remove affected leaves, you can try treating the rest with some kind of anti-fungal. Organic anti-fungals include hydrogen peroxide, diluted milk, baking soda solution.

But in my experience, in humid climates, tomato plants eventually succumb to it. This was a wetter year so the septoria is worse.

[imafan26]

Yeah, pretty much what happens to anything hairy here. It is important to sanitize the area. Pick up the leaves and try not to plant in the same place year after year. Getting disease resistant plants help, but it is hard to keep up with fungicides in humid wet weather. Be careful not to contaminate other plants by touching them after you touch infected plants.

Watch your plant spacing and trellis up. You can remove most of the leaves on the lower part of the tomato and it does fine. Don't save seeds from infected plants.

[TEWNCfarms]

It is septoria. My tomato plants are suffering badly from it too.

After you remove affected leaves, you can try treating the rest with some kind of anti-fungal. Organic anti-fungals include hydrogen peroxide, diluted milk, baking soda solution.

But in my experience, in humid climates, tomato plants eventually succumb to it. This was a wetter year so the septoria is worse.

Thanks for your help, yeah I was using milk and green cure (sodium bicarbonate), but felt like maybe I was doing too much then I see nope I was helping to keep it at bay it is just so intense.

[TEWNCfarms]

Yeah, pretty much what happens to anything hairy here. It is important to sanitize the area. Pick up the leaves and try not to plant in the same place year after year. Getting disease resistant plants help, but it is hard to keep up with fungicides in humid wet weather. Be careful not to contaminate other plants by touching them after you touch infected plants.

Watch your plant spacing and trellis up. You can remove most of the leaves on the lower part of the tomato and it does fine. Don't save seeds from infected plants.

Thanks for your help. Yeah I just kept throwing the leaves on the ground hoping it wouldn't spread. Thanks for letting me know. My problem is though I kind of have to plant in the same spot. I'm going to try and put down like 2-3" of compost in the fields next year hopefully that will help keep it at bay... it makes me sad and discouraged I'll tell you that!

[PaulF]

The septoria spores are spread by windblown water, by soil splash from rain or overhead watering, by human contact from one plant to another, by tools or machinery contacting an affected plant and then contact with a healthy plant or even from beetles flying from one plant to another. All this, as said above, made worse in humid or wet conditions. Affected leaves and plant material should be disposed of away from the garden. Septoria is not a soil borne disease so rotation will help, even one year not growing tomatoes, peppers, potatoes or eggplant in the same area will reduce the spore activity.

No tomatoes have resistance to septoria and although some say it can be seed borne, there is no proof that it is spread from seeds from infected plants...but better safe than sorry. It is mainly a disease of solanaceous plants, but can also be found on several weeds so garden sanitation, even getting rid of weeds around the growing area is important. Many say to plow the garden as soon as production is done in the fall to help keep septoria at bay.

A fungicide program as already suggested will help. Here in the relatively dry midwest septoria is less of a problem than other blights and wilts.

[applestar]

Hmm... maybe I'm being too complacent, but I don't think of septoria as seriously. Basically it happens every year, creeping up the plants and with me removing affected leaves and the plants producing fruits on more or less normal schedule. By the time septoria reaches the uppermost leaves and the vines are denuded of all leaves, they have mostly finished.

If I didn't save seeds from septoria-affected plants, I practically wouldn't have any except the earliest maturing varieties. I only use fermentation for seed saving control.

In terms of disease control pruning, I make sure to remove affected leaves that are overhanging any fruits.

[imafan26]

Some people can use hot water to treat seeds for fungal control. However, I prefer to save seeds only from healthy plants. It is just better to save the genetics from healthy plants rather from weak disease prone ones. Sometimes, if the plant is rare or hard to find, it might be worth it, but for the most part, tomato varieties are plentiful enough for me to select ones with the resilience I need to withstand heat, humidity, nematodes and at least the more common diseases. However, it is harder to find all that and good taste too. I wish people were working harder to improve taste rather than marketability.
https://ag.umass.edu/vegetable/news/hot ... t-of-seeds

When it rains a lot for days or weeks on end, and humidity is high, it is almost impossible for me to stop fungal growth on the hairy and matte leaved plants that originate in drier parts of the world. Even with weekly fungicides, I can only hold it off if the rain only lasts 4-5 days in a row. Oils do offer some protection as a preventive as it coats the leaves and helps to repel water. Rain washes off sulfur and other water based fungicides. Oils are not as effective as a cure.

I don't plant a lot of tomatoes. I usually don't have more than 3 because it is all I really need. I have them caged and they are spaced 3 ft apart. They are not in the garden, but in pots because of the nematodes, I like to keep them off the ground. My pots are 18 gallons and the roots will still sometimes go out into the ground anyway. I take off the lower leaves as the plant grows, pretty much only the top has leaves. It is the best way to control fungal diseases, just removing leaves that are not needed. My plant are in the sun but the bottom of the pots are sheltered by surrounding plants inside the garden so the fruit does not get sunscald and grouping keeps the pots cooler. I have bird netting and fencing around the tomatoes as well.
Planting in the drier times of the year in full sun with good air circulation
Mulching to limit splashing and removing all lower leaves and thinning leaves you don't need reduces disease as well as improving air circulation to help the leaves dry faster.
If you cage or trellis, you need to make sure there is enough room for the plant to spread out. Remove excess side branches and keep the plant open. Your tomatoes branches are crossing each other and I can't see through them, so they cannot be getting a lot of air and water will be trapped inside the branches.
Keeping the plant healthy with enough food and water to avoid stress makes them more resilient to disease.