When is the best time to transplant my plant to a different location?.

Is there another solution to riding the garden of what ever caused this issue in the first place from causing harm next year after I pluck all of the plants?. Like could I spray some thing, add some thing, do some thing to make sure that my soil is healthy enough to start a new harvest?. I just want to make sure that next year, I start out RIGHT THIS TIME. Let me know. Maybe I can do some thing before next year and then at the beginning of harvest next year too.

 

Good Morning S--Just saw your postings. I must go to the lottie now, but will try and respond when I get back this evening. don't loose hope. You have tom flowers and fruit...your tom season will not be a total loss. seeya later alligator.

 

Update. I got the chance to pluck all the damaged and yellow leaves and turns out, most of my tomato plant leaves are in still pretty good condition. I plucked it down to a healthy look, somewhat skinny for some but healthy never the less. I saw some leaves with Just the beginning of the yellowing, so I think if I find that one page I saw earlier that showed me what yellow leaves mean, I may be able to determine what is going on. As for the Browning and the dots, I am unsure still. I am still battling that. Will keep you posted.
The leaves when they begin to yellow look kinda tie dye.

Oh my goodness, I just stumbled upon a page that talked about early blight and the photo of it, is identical to what I have going on with my plants. So unfortunate.

Can I safely after all the veggies are removed this fall, dig up quite a bit of soil, replace if with a mixture of compost and dirt and then add more the next following year while planting the tomatoes in the opposite side of the garden?. This would help avoid this from happening again right?. I will also look into making a green house over it.

With this said, it would be safe to consume the tomatoes now that it is just blight right? Lol

Let me know.

Here is the first leaves I found that were affected and this to me now looks like early blight. What do you think?

 

Hello there Sharalyn,

I shall make a few comments now and will begin with your most recent posting.

In your update, I see that you have removed the yellowing leaves and branches. That is good. Of course the tom stalks look skinny, but that is oké. I keep mine quite bare of foliage.

The yellowing leaves---if they are yellowing in-between green "nerves" or "veins" which compartmentalize leaves then I have found that the most common reason for this is a shortage of MgSo4 (Epsom Salts). The leaves that are yellowing in this manner can be removed, for they shall never return to their greenness.

Right then, you can remove the affected leaves, but that does not do anything to correct the Magnesium deficiency. You will need to supplement your soil with Magnesium and/or spray a solution onto the leaves of your plant. The plant will take this up and the balance will be restored. Once this deficiency has manifested itself, then you will be obliged to supplement on a regular basis until the end of the season...like weekly or bi-weekly.

Obviously other things can cause leaf yellowing such as too little or too much water; however, as I said, Magnesium deficiency is the most common in my experience.

I do not know what your feeding pattern is with your plants, but you will need to give them plenty of food once the fruits appear. It is difficult to say how much and how often--that comes with experience and understanding of your region and it's weather patterns.

The browning and dots---Well, that is a difficult one. I have seen the little buckshot patterns on lower leaves of my spuds in the past. Phytophthera (Blight) presents differently here. Similar but different. The typical blight spots on leaves have a characteristic appearance.

The spots here are a light greyish-brown and have irregular borders. The central portion of the lesion on the underside of the leaf can be slightly moistish and/or "fuzzy" with a tanish or greyish tone. I have seen leaves with a sort of speckled presentation, but the borders are irregular. The typical location of the Phytophthora here is in the middle of the leaf and at one location on the edge of the infected leaf. There can sometimes be leaf-curling of the sick leaf.

There are several types of blight and a variety of appearances on the leaves.
It is interesting to note that there are blight imitators. I am thinking of things like leaf mould, drought stress, Septoria leaf spot, fusarium and verticillium wilts, bacterial spots, bacterial speck, virus types and grey mould. So you can see with this small list that diagnosis is not always a clear and exact science. It makes treating a challenge.

Your plan to replace a layer of the soil where your toms are growing this year is not only a goods idea, but a necessity I feel; otherwise you could wind up having even sicker plants the following season. This soil replacement is exactly what I do in the greenhouse every year--a lot of work, but necessary. I have good and better years, but never a disastrously bad year.
If you are not planning to plant your toms in the exact same plot next year, then it is not so essential to remove the layer of soil. I would then not plant in this years' plot for at least t years (unless you do a soil removal as you suggest).

The toms you can eat I believe. However if your toms have brown spots, then I would not eat them.

I would begin combating this tom situation by removing every leaf that appears with the typical brownish spots. Bag 'em and destroy 'em. Keep an eye on the stems, if there are no brown spots forming on the stems, you may be in good shape. If you see brown lesions forming on the stems, just remove the plant and destroy it. Take no chance with spreading the disease.

As things stand at the moment, I cannot say that I am 100% convinced that you have a blight problem...based upon what info you have provided. As time goes by, you will know eventually.

If and when a definite Dx of phytophthora has been established, you can then begin with a chemical intervention if you feel so inclined.

The last foto that you sent looks like it could be early blight; however, it is late in the season for early blight. It also looks like imitators. I cannot say with certainty. That isn't very helpful is it. You must continue plodding along and keeping an eye on your toms to see what happens. Like I said though, when you see leaves with suspicious spots, remove them. I like for my tom plants to have plenty of air circulation around then precisely so that blight cannot easily take hold.

I can feel that you are letting this tom problem wind you up. I can understand that so well. It is frustrating when you have garden probs that you can't understand and correct. Naturally it improves with time, as each good and bad experience adds to your cerebral bank of knowledge. It is true that sometimes I encounter a problem for which I can find no answer and no correction is possible. I have to accept that and see what happens next year...it is all part and parcel with the gardening hobby. I also have to accept that some things will not grow in my garden soil. After coming to terms with that, I look for something else to put into the rotation and move on.

As for you, I hope that you can indeed manage to make some sort of greenhouse. I have a small old one, but it functions and is the only way that I can grow toms in my location. Perhaps you can find a used one there or even make a wood and plastic structure. The tom's roots need warmth day and night during the growing season as does the foliage, blooms and fruit. Anything you can do to facilitate that will only help.

I look forward to your next update.

 

After my last message about removing the affected leaves, I went out just yesterday and saw a whole bunch more affected.
This is quite discouraging as you have deserned by my comments. I have found that I need to be out there removing bad leaves almost daily to make sure and get a handle on this. Today I have to go out and once again remove. I did notice while going to pick up toys of my children outside, that at night it tends to drop in temperature and get a dew that falls all over the ground. I am wondering if this has anything to do with what is going on or encouraging my toms to have this issue. My cucumbers are affected as well, their leaves show sure signs of some sort of disease or lacking in something. Some are green, others have yellowish coloration, others have white spots, etc. Some my cucumbers are growing out in a tear drop shape. It is the oddest thing.
I think the fact that I once again planted later in June has some thing to do with the condition of my harvest too.

According to the carrot package, I am supposed to be able to harvest my carrots this next week. With curiosity, I plucked one last night to see the condition of them and they are super, super, super tiny. You know those ones you can get in th store, in a bag, the baby carrots, mine are only one quarter of those size. Just pencil thin. This happened to me last year too, I waited and waited and waited and waited and they stayed on the smaller side.

I told my husband just yesterday that if my garden gives me trouble this next year after all the work I do to prevent it and plant early etc. I won't be gardening anymore because it is just TO much for me, emotionally and physically. Only to get a tiny amount. We used two packets of cucumbers this year instead of one, and still I am getting like one cucumber a week, that is NOT ENOUGH for a family of six who absolutely loves cucs.

I will upload some photos of the condition of my tomatoes now, but as I understand, I probably won't find out what is going on. It is disheartening. Wish I could help these toms.

 

Boy Sharalyn--it sounds as if the evening temps are way too cool for cues and toms. They don't to very well when the night temps are too low.

I agree that beginning in June is a bit too late, but only a bit. I begin in may., but I begin with broad beans and peas as well as purple-podded peas in march. I also plant things like broccoli and pak choi quite early. Lettuces I also plant out fairly early.
My beans and courgettes (zuks) I must put out later as they do not do well with cooler temps.

I have much better success with cues , peppers and bell peppers in the greenhouse along with the toms. This year I had (and still have) red spider mite on the cues. They frustrate me as they are proving difficult to get rid of. Ach wel, we have had quite a few harvested already.

Odd about your carrots. Such small things! Do you recall the type that they are? they might become larger if you used some sand in the beds where you plant them. Apparently they can expand and develop better.

Thinking about your toms again--Do you think that you could fashion some sort of wire cage around some or all of your tom plants and then wrap clear plastic around that to keep it warmer inside the " cage"?

Something for next year could be growing your toms in a bag of soil. I tried that on our balcony here at home (I live in a flat). I had great success. I wrote about it here on GardenStew. Lookie here: http://www.gardenstew.com/threads/veggies-in-containers.8753/#post-82043

Just scroll down until you find my piece.

Well meid, I can understand your feelings completely. I hope that you do not give up. I believe in you and am always available for your questions as I am sure that others on here are. As long as you want to keep at it, I will be here and offer my impressions when you ask.

Hang in there kid.

 

Well, I lost three tomato plants. As you said earlier, if there is black spots on the bottom part of the stems itself that I need to just pluck it. So unfortunately, I had to do just that, to three of them. One of them will need to be plucked soon too. Leaving me with only 7 plants right now.

I have yet to take off bad leaves from four other tomato plants soon here but already, I had a grocery bag full of them. What ever this is, spreads like wile fire.

I told my hubby I am ready to just say, I am not doing this again next year.

 

Some folks use copper sulfate to combat blight. If your plants have blight and are getting away from you, it may be worth considering.

BTW is it only the toms that are failing for you this year?

Keep me posted on how things are going. Oké?