It looks like early blight to me. I get some of that every year, even this year when I have gone to great lengths to keep lower leaves trimmed, and spraying neem oil for a fungicide.

Thanks!
I sprayed some Serenade - i hope it will help.

I'll keep pulling off the bad leaves, shouldI keep the plants that are really bad?

Thanks!

That does not look like Early Blight to me. And I didn't know neem oil was labeled for use as a fungicide.

Learn something every day here at GW, huh?

Well, I looked it up and found that a 70% neem oil product is labeled for early blight and other tomato leaf fungal diseases. But the product carries a warning regarding honey bees. You may want to note that when selecting a fungicide.

Neem Oil Product Label

I get a small amount of Early Blight most years and a greater amount of Septoria. The spots in the pictures look more like Septoria to me than Early Blight. I may be wrong on both accounts.

However, I've found leaf trimming the affected foliage, and continually maximizing air flow by distancing plants and management pruning gives my plants an opportunity to outgrow most Early Blight and Septoria infestations.

Still, I have to eliminate entire plants occasionally to safeguard the others.

This year is the first time in several years that I've had to spray Daconil to arrest a severe Septoria infestation at one end of my garden (the least sunny end of the bed). And in this instance I trimmed off all the the lower and visibly infested leaves and only sprayed the foliage just above that point trying not to hit any fruit or flowers.

I'll keep the neem oil thing in mind, but don't want to kill honey bees since I also have cukes and blackberries simultaneously and in same garden with tomatoes.

agree its septoria.

In case it's helpful, here's a link to Attra for information on spray options to combat Septoria.

Here is a link that might be useful: Attra

I just pulled 2 Opalka and 1 Mortgage Lifter with Septoria and hoping that it hasn't affected the other tomato plants. From what I've read it was advised to pull them. I checked all the other plants and they look clean. Fingers crossed. :)

I've never had to pull plants with septoria or early blight. I've found that removing all the affected leaves (from the very beginning) has pretty well stopped those infections. I've just come to expect them, despite careful watering (with soaker hoses) and deep mulching. I have Ortho's Garden Disease control on standby but rarely have used it except for the first year I purchased it. Maybe I didn't spray often enough but what I did do that year didn't keep the funguses from spreading.

This year you'd never know my plants had either infection since I've kept the affected leaves religiously removed, and everything is growing lushly.

Odd, that...

I just pulled 2 Opalka and 1 Mortgage Lifter with Septoria and hoping that it hasn't affected the other tomato plants. From what I've read it was advised to pull them. I checked all the other plants and they look clean. Fingers crossed. :)

****

I have never pulled a plant with ANY foliage disease be they Early Blight ( A. solani), Septoria Leaf Spot, Bacterial Speck or Bacterial Spot, which are the most common ones and the first one is THE most common foliage tomato disease in the world.

As was discussed above there are ways of limiting the foliage infections. And they don't spread that easily from plant to plant. All four are initially spread airborne and/or embedded in rain droplets although there can be splashback infections due to infections in a previous year.

Sunsi, I don't think I've heard of a recommendation to pull plants with common foliage diseases. If I'd had to do that there's no way that I could have ever grown and enjoyed as many varieties as I have.( smile)

Carolyn

I have been looking at sites to help figure out what my plants have, and that is the poster-child (um, plant..)for septoria. second guess would be bacterial spot though. I'm a newbie, so im just going on my resent research! here is a site with the most common diseases and how to help:

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1266.pdf

good luck:)

Thanks, Carolyn and anney you've saved my last remaining Opalka which is showing the same disease issues and the three pulled plants. I went back to see where I had read this and it's a good thing too in my panic I misread the info at Cornell website and you both are right. I have approx. 35 plants so no real harm but certainly frustrating to lose a couple of my favorite variates.

Here's the info I read at the Cornell site before pulling those plants.....I admit to not reading the entire sentence and it's obvious were I stopped reading before rushing out to the garden in great haste to save the other tomatoes plants near the effected ones. meh

QUOTE:
"3. In the field, remove or destroy tomato debris by deep plowing immediately after harvest. A 1-year rotation out of tomato should be sufficient if no other sources of inoculum are available. Make sure perennial weed hosts such as horsenettle are eliminated before planting."

http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/factsheets/Tomato_Septoria.htm

Thank you all the the feedback and the great links! I think it's too late for me. I planted nine tomato plants and it looks like all of them are showing the symptoms. I pulled off the affected leaves a couple of days ago but the new growth looks bad once again.

I've been gardening for a few years now but this is the first time I've had issues with tomato plants this early in the season.

Thanks again!
Kendra

Whew!
Man, it's nice to put a name to this thing and what to do with it. I am lucky this year to have the only Septoria infected plant planted in a container (my only one that is in a container) that is well away from my in-ground plants. I think it must have been infected when I bought it from the store. I am feeling much better after reading this thread. Perhaps I will get some lemon boy fruit after all!
Mit