Mystery tomato disease

9 years ago

I was hoping someone might be able to identify what is going on with one of my tomato plants, a Cherokee Purple. I have been dealing with this since early August. First the leaves exhibit brown areas, and slowly the entire branch turns brown, dries up and dies. I have been to all the tomato disease sites. At first I thought it was late blight. But ruled that out as it has progressed slowly, stems and fruits are not affected, and none of my other tomatoes, some in close proximity, have shown any signs of this. It has slowly defoliated over three quarters of the plant. Pictures of drought stress looked similar, but there has been no yellowing of leaves. All my indeterminate tomatoes are grown in #15 nursery pots, watered by a drip system, sprayed regularly with a fungicide and fertilized weekly. The rest are going strong. I have checked the micro spray head on this plant and it is not clogged. I remove all diseased leaves and branches immediately on this one and continue to spray with a fungicide, but it hasn't stopped the progression. So I am stumped.

It is late in the season so I am not worried about saving it at this point. It has enough foliage so the last tomatoes I will probably be able to harvest. But would like to know for future reference if I ever run into this again.

Thanks for your help.
Jennie

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Comments (6)

sheltieche
9 years ago
look up grey mold
Jennie Sims
Original Author
9 years ago
Linda, I was suspicious of that also. There isn't the fuzzy growth on the underside of the leaf. I even put an affected branch in a baggy with a damp paper towel overnight, and no mold growth. So I sort of ruled that out. If it is Gray mold, wouldn't a regular fungicide regimen have kept it contained somewhat? It just keeps marching on.
Jennie
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Jennie Sims
Original Author
9 years ago
Also, I did have grey mold on one of my dwarf project tomatoes. The foliage is so dense it created an airless environment it the center of the plant. I thinned the foliage dramatically and sprayed a fungicide religiously and contained it. So I know what grey mold looks like. And the disease on this plant looks nothing like that.
seysonn
9 years ago
I do as Jennie has said.
Most bacteria and fungi thrive in moist stagnant environment. That is where pruning excess foliage, especially the lower ones makes sense to me.
Yeah, religiously fungal spraying pays off. TRy to spray from the underneath as well as from the above. Keep your plants dry. I know, you cannot help it when it rains a lot. But thinning, pruning can help to provide air flow and dry the foliage.
lycopenequest
9 years ago
Could it be from chemical drift from nearby. Cut the stem after harvest to see if there is any discoloration. Do you spray early in the morning or late afternoon?
Jennie Sims
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks all. Lycopenequest, I spray in the early morning before the sun hits the plants. It isn't chemical drift from nearby, I lost almost all my tomatoes one year from herbicide damage, so know what that looks like. I am beginning to think Linda is right and this is Grey Mold. This plant sits in the back of the garden so gets much less wind and airflow than the other plants. I am getting a touch of it on the other plants, but I am able for some reason to contain it on those. The dwarf with the very dense foliage started out with white spots and then got the brown areas with visible fuzzy growth. But the end result of the leaves looks identical. So I think it must be grey mold and probably this plant suffered more as it was at the back of my garden. Thanks all,