What is wrong with my tomatoes?

[MaryLou]

All of my tomato plants are coming down with this problem.
What is it?

What can I do to get rid of it?


I don't know how to put a picture in here. :(

How do you do it?

Mary Lou

[sandih]

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1237&highlight=inserting+images

[sandih]

Can you at least describe the problem?

[MaryLou]

Since the picture does not exist on a public server I guess I can't get it here.

The leaves are turning yellow and dying.

I have been using corn meal juice spiced with some powdered milk weekly as a soil drench.

I have fed them cottonseed meal, bone meal, green sand weekly.

I have sprayed them with compost tea.

I have even done a "tomato-get-well" dance.

Mary Lou

[sandih]

I love that dance.

Were they looking good before all the rain started? It could be just too much rain and now they have a little fungal issue. Don't panic. I assume they are in a bed with really good drainage and they get plenty of sun?

Also, take a super close look at the leaves and make sure you don't see any signs of a pest.

BTW - the way I post a link to my images:

go to a free website like www.ofoto.com and upload the images. It's simple and free. BE SURE and click on the box that says "do not require my friends to log in, to see this album" or something like that.

once you've got your images in an album, click on "share your album" and send it to yourself. Then go to your email and open the message you just sent to yourself. You'll see a long URL listed that you can copy and paste on this website.

Hope that was clear..

[khwoz]

Quit using all those soil amendments weekly; you are overdoing it. Use sprays like the cornmeal juice, garlic juice sprays, milk, etc. It sounds like you are overstimulating the soil but not protecting the plant. The soil is too wet with all the rain & you are making it worse by drenching the soil.

[MaryLou]

Thanks to SandiH I found a public server to upload the picture to. :D

You can see it at:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=7eebzb7r.7ig7rydj&x=0&y=-r57vs7

Since Central Texas is not known for well draining soil, I have a raised bed with sandy loam that I planted some tomato plants in. Another circular bed about 18 inches high made from bricks that contains only 1 tomato plant (the picture). I have other tomato plants in large pots. They all have the crud.

There were a few yellow leaves before the rain. :(

I have found a little worm or two crunching a few leaves but I don't think they were causing this problem. I dispatched them... :evil:

One of the plants looks like it is not going to survive. All the rest are getting worse everyday.

Any ideas?

[e Craig]

MaryLou,
I don't have a direct answer to your situation, and I'm not sure that I understand Quote: I have a raised bed with sandy loam that I planted some tomato plants in. Another circular bed about 18 inches high made from bricks that contains only 1 tomato plant (the picture). I have other tomato plants in large pots. They all have the crud. Does this mean that you piled some sandy loam onto your native soil?

If so, did you take any steps to break up the interface between the two soils? If not, you may be dealing with a situation where the rainfall or irrigation saturates the top layer and cannot continue downward. In essense, you may be dealing with the problems of container gardening.

I have heard of entire fields where repeated moldboard plowing created such an interface. The crop's roots could not penetrate thru to the native soil and even in more normal rainfal, the top layer dried out and the crop was lost while neighbors were harvesting well. This may seem the opposite of your current symptoms, but is possibly another symptom of the same problem.

Take care.
Craig

[MaryLou]

Craig,

The raised bed is made of stacked concrete blocks. No mortar. Water runs out if it gets too wet. And yes, I piled the sandy loam on top of the local clay. I did not break up the interface between the two soils. Two tomato plants are planted in this bed (5 X 12) along with corn, onions.

The picture is of the plant in the circular bed; stacked bricks about 4 feet in diameter 18 inches high.

Five other plants are in large pots. They sit on 2 boards so as to not block the drain. Two of these I bought as plants from the nursery. The other 3 are from seed that I started.

The plants in the large bed and the circular bed are doing better than the plants in the pots; larger and less sick.

Even before they got sick I realized that either they need a larger area for their roots or they need access to the ground. (Experiments are educational). Now, to get a really big pot...


I don't think any of them are getting water logged as 1 person suggested.

What is moldboard plowing?

Do you have any ideas on how to break up the interface between the local clay and the sandy loam that I hauled in? I am planning another raised bed and if this is the problem I would like to fix it.

Please do not tell me to just add ammendments to the local clay till I have it turned into a decent garden: I am 71 years old. I did the "add ammendments" to my garden in Southern Calif. for 30 years and had a good garden when I left there... sigh

Mary Lou

[e Craig]

MaryLou,
Please have some respect for your elders. And check out Ruth Stout, who was mentioned recently in another forum. She gardened (and wrote about it in books & OG) into her eighties. She & I would usually seek the easier way whenever possible.

This is one of the reasons that I am a fan of organics, especially when we can turn loose all those billions of "unpaid workers" to do the soil amending. I regard the "amendments" as "activators" that will help to feed those little guys. And they don't need years to do it. In less than a year, I have seen changes nearly two feet deep in areas where I amended only the top six inches.

The possible problem is that the vital virtical drainage is by capillary action. When soils of different textures are side by side or layered, then the capillaries do not line up and the water movement is interrupted. At the time the "new" soil is added, it is helpful if first, the "native" soil surface is broken/roughened. This allows the needed capillaries to form new connections more easily.

A "moldboard" plow used to be the one most used in the USA. It was designed to cut a furrow, usually 6 to 8 inches deep, and turn the surface soil under, bringing the deep sol to the top. A team of horses cold pull a "gang" that would turn 2 or 3 furrows. Tractors could pull larger "gangs", turning more furrows in each pass.

In the example that I relayed, the non-organic farmer had turned under considerable surface vegetation, which formed an additioal layer of the organic matter that could not even break down. This, in combination with the pressure that the plow applied to the bottom of the furrow, isolated the surface layer from the"planting bed" above. Picture a layer cake with icing between.

These days, those who haven't bought into "no till" prefer a design that will only "disturb" the upper soil strata. This could be simply a harrow, some use roto-tilling. Gardeners would use a fork rather than a shovel.

If you want to break up an interface, try a fork that will reach thru the interface and loosen without turning. There is no firm requirement that everything must be changed. Just do what you can.

Hope that this is helpful. Perhaps others can suggest helpful "juices" etc.

Keep us posted.
Take care,
Craig

[e Craig]

You might also find some help in this old topic
"How the heck do you dig in this sticky clay?"
w/ "no till" and "Ruth Stout", etc.
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2778&highlight=

take care.
Craig

[khaecker]

I have the same problem with the leaves on my tomatoes turning yellow with brown splotches. I sprayed them with Garret Juice, garlic pepper tea, and potassium bicarbonate.

Any ideas? They are loaded with tomatoes and I dont' want to lose the plants.

Kathy

[sandih]

Well, mine started doing the same thing the other day. I sorayed it w/ Bioform and Potassium Bicarb. I plan on doing that every 3 or 4 days if it doesn't rain. I'm hoping that once the rain is gone for the summer, this fungal-related problem will clear up.

[khaecker]

Will they live and come out again? I had this last year so I treated my soil with corn gluten meal hoping it would kill the fungus. Any other suggestions?

Kathy

[khaecker]

Here is a picture of the damage. I am just sick about this. I have 28 tomato plants and don't want to lose them all.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Kathy