Boomer,

The silver spots might be powdery mildew. Look at the photo in the link below and see if it is resembles what you're seeing on your foliage. Your plants might not have a case quite as advanced as the one shown in the photo.

The green aphids are common at this time of year. You can knock them off the back of the foliage with a strong blast of water. However, putting water on a plant that has powdery mildew probably isn't the best thing. If you have ladybugs in your neighborhood, their larvae will eat the aphids. If you don't have ladybugs, you can buy a package of them and release them. At our house, we have a healthy ladybug population and they normally show up to eat aphids about a week after the aphids show up. In no time at all the aphids are gone. Ladybug larvae, by the way, do not look like lady bugs. They look like small gray and orange alligators. About two weeks ago I noticed red aphids on my Sugar Snap peas. (They might have been there a while, as I was busy planting and wasn't paying any attention to them.) The very next day the lady bugs arrived. I haven't seen an aphid since then. This is a perfect example how a healthy population of 'good bugs' will help keep the 'bad bugs' under control.

Pick off and destroy all caterpillars. It is most likely you're seeing a young tomato hornworm. Spraying your tomato plants regularly with Bt with keep them from destroying your plants. However, Bt will kill all caterpillars, including those of desirable butterflies, so use with caution.

Hope this helps,

(And if your plant's problem doesn't look like powdery mildew, say so, and we'll move on to option 2 which is a lot worse.)

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Powdery Mildew

Hurry up Dawn! The suspense is killing me. And I know it isn't good for boomer either.

Hey Boomer...K&K usually has ladybugs. They're up by the front register. Seedmama - did you notice the last time you were in there?

P-mac, I know you won't believe this coming from an addict, but....
I didn't look around. I went in with a list and only shopped from my list, then got the heck outta there.

I'm sort of stuck on Boomer's use of the word metallic.

So, Boomer, we can play "Twenty Questions" and try to narrow it down, but before we do that, why don't you look at all the linked disease/diagnosis websites in the first post on Earl's Problem Solver 2 thread below. See if anything in any of the photos looks like what you're seeing. If you don't see anything there, then we can play "Twenty Questions" and see where those questions and answers take us.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Earl's Tomato Problem Solver 2

I have tomato plants that have some "silvery" spots - mine are a result of sunburn and wind damage I think - wonder if that's what's she's seeing?

Farmgardener,

I thought about that but he said in his reply to my 'powdery mildew' suggestion that the spots are on the undersides of the leaves.

It is hard to imagine sunscald affecting the undersides of leaves, and the only way that I could imagine that happening would be: (a) plants in small pots or cups or six-packs awaiting transplant were blown over and laid on their side all day, exposing the undersides to direct sun, or (b) young plants in the ground were blown horiontally for several hours by very strong winds (which parts of OK have had this week) exposing their undersides to direct sun for a prolonged period of time. How likely is either of those scenarios though?

After powdery mildew, I suppose white mold would be my next guess but the description of the spots as looking almost metallic is puzzling. I also thought about leaf miners. Sometimes the little whitish trails through the leaves can look almost silvery.

Got any other ideas?

Dawn

Color of the metallic spots? And are these spots upon the leaves or within them? (can you scrape 'em off easily?)

The more/better the info, the quicker the diagnosis ;-)

I see the color is silver...but could not edit or repost. Odd Forum software, but no biggie...

Well, I think maybe it just the reflection of the sun that makes them look silver. When I take a picture it doesn't look silver.

Here is a photo I took...
{{gwi:1095254}}

I have also been seeing worm damage from these worms...

{{gwi:1095255}}

What kind of worm is it?

I checked this thread earlier and I was hoping someone had answered you! Guess everyone is out planting!

Hopefully, carsonsmimi will check this thread and tell us if these are the dasterdly worms she's been fighting. I think Hornworms are green, so I suspect these might be the same culprit to her dilemna...

Boomer,

Do you see the damage only on the undersides of the leaves or does it go through all the way to the top? Have you seen anything chewing on the leaves?

I haven't seen damage like that on my plants that I can recall. If I see anything at all at this time of year (and haven't seen anything yet, knock on wood), it is bacterial speck or spot and the leaf discoration is purplish or brownish or blackish with some yellow leaf discoloration as well.

Maybe Alex or someone else will recognize what is shown in your photo.

You do have the ground around your tomato plants well-mulched to reduce soil splash, don't you? Many fungal and bacterial diseases are carried from the soil up onto the leaves of the plants when it rains or if overhead irrigation is used. I try, at all costs, to keep moisture off the foliage of my plants. Of course, you cannot keep rain off of them, but that's where mulching comes into play.

The worm probably is a cutworm...there are many, many different kinds. You can read more about cutworms in the cutworm thread.

Dawn

That was one of my chores this last weekend. I mulched the tomatoes. Thanks everyone for your help.

Boomer,

Unfortunately, the worm pictured is exactly what I've been fighting although mine have not simply been mulching little holes in the tomato leaves, they've been taking the whole plant out. All but one tomato plant, which was eaten from the top of the plant downward, has been severed at the soil level leaving a very precise cut. If you dig in the soil surface near the base of the plant you'll probably find the culprit 'snoozing'. I make sure it is their last siesta and happily squish 'em. Eeewwww!

Lynn