Is My Tomato Plant Dying?

9 years ago

Please help...
I managed to keep a tomato plant, Gardener's Delight bought from a Tomatomania event, alive and it even grew 4x its original size in 2 months. But it might be dying?

I've searched and read A LOT of posts and now able to name the tomato superstars (Carolyn, Dave, somebody living near the coast, somebody with mama in username, a username I pronounced as 'season', etc.) and have learned when it comes to this condition, you all always ask for pictures, close ups preferred.

This thread looks to be maybe closest to my situation and Carolyn and Dave asked for a close up - I didn't want to highjack the thread so I thought I'd start my own in case the OP's leaves condition isn't the same after all:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tomato/msg050828057326.html?12

So here goes. As you can see, the bottom are curling, wilting, yellowing. A local nursery told me to pinch off the yellowing leaves, so I did that (pic1). Pic 2 shows how it starts: it'll curl with yellow spots. Pic 3 is the aftermath and Pic 4 is close up.

Question: Is my plant dying? Is it early blight? Is it fungus? Is it early wilt? I water 2x/week thoroughly, I fertilize with Jobe's 4-4-4 three times since April, I'm in zone 11 I think (Socal, 3 miles from the beach)

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Comments (5)

NoYardYet
Original Author
9 years ago
Pic 2 - this is how it starts. Curled in with yellow spots:
NoYardYet
Original Author
9 years ago
Pic 3: Final condition - dead and yellow
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NoYardYet
Original Author
9 years ago
Pic 4: Close up.
What is this? early blight? early wilt? fungus? I don't think it's herbicide as there's no other plants around.
digdirt2
9 years ago
Looks like Downy Mildew in the second pic. Probably other issues too but would need more info. Container size, mix, nutrients, etc.

Is all the damage only on the lower, older leaves or new growth too? Strip off all the affected leaves, bag and dispose of them and spray with a good fungicide to see if you can get ahead of it. If it has an unaffected, healthy growing tip I'd take a cutting and root it so you have a replacement ready to go.

Good luck.

Dave
NoYardYet
Original Author
9 years ago
Good idea about a backup, didn't even think about that.I pinch off the yellow leaves and leave them on the soil so guess that's not a good idea, I'll remove. Thanks.

Yes, new growth look good - green, no curling, healthy looking though not as large of foliage as the bottom. But the curling and yellowing sure are catching up fast.

Container is 5 gal (or 4.75 if I did the math right), I know it's a bit too small. I saw someone's Gardener's Delight in a 5 gal pot and it did well but I know many factors can affect.

Mix is Kellogg's organic potting mix (specifically Patio Plus). I didn't add anything else other than Jobe's fertilizer (4-4-4) when I first transplanted it from the 4x4 container @ purchase to the 4.75 gal container, that was 6+ weeks ago.

Wonder if I will kill this plant after all. Man, I thought I was doing well.