First impression was either f or v wilt, but when you said Early Girls are supposed to be resistant, well......

If it were the tomato bugs you should be able to see the feeding sites on the stems.

Those plants look really tall. How long have you been harvesting tomatoes from them?

So frankly I'm stumped, but that's not hard to do. I'm still sticking with the wilt theory. "Resistant" is not 100%.

Thanks for the feedback ed. I wish I could get more opinions.

The tomato bugs are definitely there and have left their marks. Just not sure if they would cause the leaves to yellow and die.

Harvest since about late June. I should be getting great harvests until, at least, November though. The way they're looking now, I don't see that happening.

Kevin

Mine in the field are looking like that too, I was waiting hoping someone would give definitive answer. I thought maybe V. or F. wilt plus bacterial spot/speck but my neighbor's are doing the same thing (yellow spotted leaves, yellow petioles, progressing to dry crispy petioles still clinging to the stem) so I'm thinking wind-borne rather than soil-borne.

Off now to do more pruning, will have to sacrifice (no big deal) some of the worst plants to look at pith/vascular system. Found this diagnostic flow chart, may help.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato disease ID flow chart

Thanks ajsmama. Of course, charts like that are always so confusing because terminology is always so muddled and unclear.

Regarding the pruning -- one good thing about it is I don't have to use nearly as much BT on them than if they were healthy.

:P

Was thinking that if I gave them some doses of N that it might tell the plants to put out more foliage. Dunno.

Kevin

I've had plants survive a nasty case of wilt. lost 2/3rds of the foliage, but the top foliage survived and so did the tomatoes.

Yep. That's what's going on here ed. They're still producing -- just not like they should be. I was overrun with tomatoes in July, but now I'm not sure if there will be enough to do a second(and third) run of my salsa like I usually can do. Plus sunscald is becoming an issue.

Kevin

Kevin, you've got a long enough season I'd try some pruning (indeterminates, right?) and ferts to stimulate more growth. I'm afraid I'm done here - just hoping to get fruit that's already set to ripen. I pulled a lot more foliage the other day, didn't cut stems to look for vascular disease b/c I didn't want to lose fruit from a CP (worst looking ones) but will after I harvest. Could be all bacterial/fungal even though we haven't had a lot of rain the past few months, it's been very hot and humid followed by a few cool days/nights around 50, now warming up again. The worst-looking plants are the ones that sat there and turned purple in June rains, poor root growth so they've just been weak from the start. Even the Cosmonauts that were growing well, very lush, are practically defoliated (mostly by me) now. The best-looking ones in the field are the Rose de Bernes that I replaced in late June and the leftover Brandywines, CP, and Rutgers that were in 1 gal pots that I finally threw in my bean row, with lots of manure, in early July.

The Burpee hybrids in the house garden that never turned purple, just had a slow start, are a positive jungle now, not ripening yet, the volunteer cherry has swallowed my 3-bin compost pile (started outside by the door, now is sending up shoots in the finished compost and I think the middle bin) but still no ripe fruit (except 1 I ate a few days ago).

I'm going to have to rely on those plants for any appreciable harvest, the CP and BK will be few and far between, I don't know if I'm going to get any BW, Rutgers or Mark Twain before the plants die (either of disease or frost).

Yep. Early Girls ajsmama. I trimmed them up and dousedf them with a hose sprayer with potassium bicarbonate. I then gave them all a couple gallons of fish fert. There still 4 feet of UPPER foliage, so hopefully that will carry them for a couple more months.

I've pretty much gone to organic ferts, but they're pretty much slow release. I do have some Miracle Gro soluble lying around. Maybe a couple treatments with it?

Kevin

Yellow leaves with brown spots. I had the same issue with a number of my plants. I have been pruning off the infected branches. It got to the point where I was taking branches off the plants every day. I was worried that my plants would run out of branches before I was able to harvest the tomatoes. Then I read about a study about the benefits of spraying the plants with a milk solution. Three days ago I first removed any branches with yellowing leaves and then I sprayed them with a 60% water 40% powered milk solution and as of today after thoroughly inspecting my plants, I have no branches with yellow leaves. I'm going to re-spray them after it rains. I know the calcium in the solution is good for the plants and apparently has an impact along with the other ingredients on killing the bacteria that causes the leaves to yellow (brown spots). I'm keeping my fingers crossed. This is an organic solution to my problem! Hope it works for any here that try it.

Yep. Milk as a fungicide is trending. I just find the numbers to not work out when compared to commercial ones. I may have to do it though, because I don't want the potassium bicarbonate I've been using to harm my freshly released lacewing larvae. Thanks Joe.

Kevin

My policy is to get rid of any yellow/ suspicious/ damaged leave, as soon as I spot them. Then, If I think it is caused by fungus , I will go ahead and spray or do whatever . Such leaves are just a source for additional infestation and do not make any contribution to the plant's life. Most soil born diseases are cause by : TOO MUCH moisture, TOO LITTLE air flow under and around the plant. So that is where pruning make sense (to me!) Some people believe in keeping the lower leaves(even the sick ones) as a source of shade. But I would rather use a mulch that will not remain soggy