What's wrong with these tomatoes? :-(

[Chiefs Mess]

I live here in Va and my garden is not doing well also. Tomatoes look bad, never had problem. By now I would be getting some. Same goes for the Green Peppers. This is the first time I had Crows it my Sunflower plants! I am wondering if this is just a bad year around here. No rain to speak of, heat came early this year.

 

[nachoqtpie]

Well.. digging down is not so easy. Once you get down about 9-10 (or so) inches it turns into sandy clay. We're not that far (about 20 miles as the crow flies) from the coast, and I believe where we live was originally either swamp or marsh land many years ago. (Tho I can't be 100% certain)

We did receive our first rain in about a month last night (during grilling for lil miss' birthday party!! LOL) but it wasn't really that much. I can see a noticeable color difference in the grass this morning tho.. what little of it isn't completely dead that is. (we don't water our lawn, just the garden and trees)

I've never had a garden that wasn't my parents... and I grew up in Ohio! This is a WHOLE new ball game!


I guess I'm just confused on why the middle is dying off and there is new growth on the soil line. Doesn't make sense to me. I will go ahead and cut off the dying (and dead) leaves. It was rather spindly when we got it, but I figured that it was just because it was in a small peat pot and would perk up once we got it in the ground. Apparently this is NOT the case! :-/

We're trying really hard to have a garden this year. I just don't want it to get hotter and hotter and kill everything. Most of the field corn here is either dead, almost dead or severely stunted. I did go to a baseball game about an 35 miles away (which is like an hour travel time... who would have guessed it!! LOL) and the corn going out there looks fantastic!

 

[Veggie PAK]

I live here in Va and my garden is not doing well also. Tomatoes look bad, never had problem. By now I would be getting some. Same goes for the Green Peppers. This is the first time I had Crows it my Sunflower plants! I am wondering if this is just a bad year around here. No rain to speak of, heat came early this year.

We live in Hampton Roads in Virginia and my tomatoes look like the ones in the pictures. I hate to say it, but I think it's tomato blight. There is no cure, and you have to be very careful touching the plants that are infected. You can spread it to the other plants after touching infected ones. I've hoped against having to do this, but today I am pulling the infected plants and putting them in the trash can. I probably have ten or twelve of them. Do NOT put them on the compost pile! The disease will spread where ever you put the infected compost.

 

[nachoqtpie]

How could it be blight? There's never been any plants in this soil. We also added some bagged compost as well.

Also... it didn't have any spots on it at first... the leaves just started turning yellow. THEN they got spots on them....

 

[digitS']

Well.. digging down is not so easy. Once you get down about 9-10 (or so) inches it turns into sandy clay. ... and I grew up in Ohio! This is a WHOLE new ball game! . . . Most of the field corn here is either dead, almost dead or severely stunted. . .

I suppose this is one of those places where farmers don't use irrigation . I was talking to my retired farmer neighbor the other day. His son farms about 100 miles to the west of here. He was saying that California Central Valley farmers put down 4" of water at a time and complain that they have to share water with the cities. He puts down 1/2" of water at a time on his farm and feels lucky to have it.

No, I'm not talking about digging down very far. That clay may be a big part of the problem, tho'. Just to see what the situation is where the plant roots have been able to get to.

There are blights and there are blights. I'd expect very rapid deterioration with the more virulent types. Septoria is very common here as is what I suspect is early blight. These 2 diseases aren't necessarily killers for the plants however. Late blight has only been reported in greenhouses so far this year. The U of Massachusetts directs people to this site regarding that terrible disease: http://usablight.org/

Steve

 

[vfem]

How could it be blight? There's never been any plants in this soil. We also added some bagged compost as well.

Also... it didn't have any spots on it at first... the leaves just started turning yellow. THEN they got spots on them....

Ok sweety, here's what I can say as a local. :watering

First, where did you get the soil in your raised beds? Did you fill them from bagged soil or from a landscaping supply place or city landfill compost? I'm concerned that even with this heat and lack of water, the soil you used to fill your beds is lacking 1 major nutrient or another. Probably NOT nitrogen since that seems to be the majority of what is in Miracle grow. I do think you are adding too much miracle grow anyways. That much will give you more 'green' on the plant rather then fruits after awhile. They'll look prettier then produce well.

Secondly, I don't think it is blight. I've had blight twice now, and the main cause with blight and most fungus is it travels through the air and through other dead materials and ends up in the soil. When soil splashes up on the leaves from rain or heavy watering from above it spreads. There are treatments for it if you were to have it, but you'd end up with a less productive plant over time. I've only lost a few plants because of it, but did lose quite a bit of harvest from my surviving plants.

Third, the new growth is a good sign, its still fighting to come back, so don't give up on it. Try some watering spikes rather then water twice a day. These are spikes you put on empty 2 liter soda bottles filled with water. As the ground dries out deep near the roots, the bottle will release more water because it takes in the extra air where it was one wet. This way it keep constant moisture, but not overly damp which can cause dampening off and eventually rot and decay on the plant. Inconsitant watering is an issue in its own.

That's the problem with gardening its too dang hard to be perfect ALL the time! All good gardeners miss something and loss something... it just goes with the hobby.

In fact, I just lost 3 more squash plants, and a tomato plant broke from that storm that came through last night. I just throw my arms up... and move on!

 

[nachoqtpie]

We got the compost from Lowes. It was like $2.50 a bag. It wasn't the most expensive stuff and I know that sometimes you get what you pay for... I'm hoping that this isn't the case with it!

You think we should do the Miracle Grow every other week then?? I'm trying to convince hubby that we need to take some of OUR compost (kitchen scraps and whatnot) and make some compost tea and put some of that on them. I think it would do them some good! Thoughts?

I didn't think it was blight in the first place... it just doesn't look like blight.

I was holding out hope for the lil fellas! (Both the ones we got from Lowes have the middle lookin sickly) I don't tend to give up on things unless they're dead dead or I can see that whatever is spreading (not that I've had that problem... nor do I ever hope to have it!).

I DID learn my lesson about trying to make my own soap spray tho... the hard way... I killed about 4 of our bean plants. Oh well!! At least I learned a valuable lesson and didn't wipe 'em all out!! LOL

That storm that rolled thru last night was REALLY mild by the time it got over here. Sam said it rained for maybe 20 minutes last night after lil miss and I went to bed. The boys stayed up to play video games and watch movies!

 

[chris09]

What type of tomatoes are they (name)?
This looks like Fusarium Wilt or Fusarium Wilt could even be Southern Root-Knot Nematode but I don't think so :/
Dig one of the plants up and look at the roots and see if there knotted up.

Chris

 

[chris09]

You think we should do the Miracle Grow every other week then??

Which Miracle Grow are you using?
I use 20-20-20 every week and once they set blossoms I go to there 10-52-10.

Chris

 

[momofdrew]

They may have been stressed at Lowe's... probably not being watered properly... I deffinately would try feeding them your "tea"... check under your mulch for fungus...and remove if there...also was any of the paper colored??? some color paper like supermarket flyers have poisons that could effect the plants...

edited to add: try starting your own plants next year...they are so much healthier than box store plants...