I’m a first-time gardener, trying to grow tomatoes and other vegetables in a 1’ tall raised bed in full sun. The bed is filled with a ‘planter mix’ from a local nursery, (I think they said it was made of compost, bits of wood, sand, and some fertilizer, but I’m not sure and don’t know the ratios). I have attached two pictures, showing some issues.

My first question is about the leaf roll I have on a Champion II. I know I had watering problems a few weeks ago, but I read about using the wooden dowel trick to determine when to water, and hopefully I’m doing better now. We had some really hot days (90-100 F) in between some 70 F days, so I was inconsistent and only noticed the problem when I saw the leaves rolling. The new growth looks normal, but will the old leaves ever flatten back out?

Thanks for your help,
-Chris

Could be physiological leaf roll. This can be caused by a number of factors including heat and drought. What are you feeding them by the way?

As for the possible disease on your second picture, I will let more experienced posters handle that one. But, personally, I start picking leaves off when I notice that much black spots.

Here is an article from the Clemson Extension that may help.

http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/hot_topics/2008/05tomato_leaf_roll.html

I sprinkled a small handfull of a granular organic fertilizer (3-5-5, or something?) around the base and watered it in 2 weeks ago. I just bought some Miracle Grow Tomato fert. for regular use on a tomato I'm growing in a container, but I haven't used it on the raised bed yet.

I was afraid the 2nd photo was blight. I've read a bunch of posts today that talk about preventative spraying from day 1, but the ship has sailed on that. I'll pick the damaged leaves off tonight, and try to find some straw mulch to put around the base, to prevent splash-back when watering. Is there anything else you recommend?

I also have 4 other tomatoes, that so far don't show any sign of blight. They're all within about a 6 foot radius of each other. Is there anything I can do to prevent the spread?

Thanks.

If you have a closer picture of the leaves and the damage it would help to confirm if it is early blight or possibly something else

Also, possibly but not necessarily related, many of the ripe cherry tomatoes seem to have many little yellow dots on them. In this picture, the two in the middle have some strange blotches, where the center is fine but surrounded by yellow, and the tomato behind to the right has a big yellow blotch. It's not dried out or leathery, so I don't think it's sunscald... any ideas?

Thanks - Chris

Usually when i see damage on the leaf i remove the leaf, if the leaf stem has damage i remove the leaf stem.

You shouldn't worry too much about removing foliage as long as there is a healthy growing tip it will be fine. Even if it doesn't have a growing tip it might just grow a sucker, tomatoes from what i seen will fight as hard as they can to keep growing.

Here are two more pictures of my leaf disease. It's on a Sweet Million, which should be fairly disease resistant, right? So far, it's the only one out of five tomato plants to have problems. The plant is quite big, though, maybe 4 feet tall with 6 good growing stems and lots of ripening fruit.

Thanks,
-Chris

Anyway, it's not fusarium.
Probably environmental. -- you live in a hot dry place.
The spots on the tomatoes remind me of damage from a sucking pest, perhaps stink bugs.