That takes the cake (Disease pics on post #10)

[journey11]

Ugh...looking at those last two pics made me a little nauseous. Sorry if it had that effect on you too!

 

[vfem]

Argh! From my experience, I'm having to say early blight. So sorry, I think the blight has perhaps made the fruit succeptable to a fungal rot. I would treat right away or remove the infected plants to treat any close by to stop spreading. I wish I had better news.

 

[Sunsaver]

Yep. Blight. That sucks. Yank em an burn em. Hope the rest of them do better. Sorry for your loss. I was fortunate that only one of mine had the blight this year.

 

[digitS']

It looks like it has quite a hold on the plants since it has gone this far.

I know nothing about late blight but it looks like early blight to me, also. Some will get it, some will not.

Here is what I usually see first that suggests early blight to me: stem, early blight TAMU

If you had photographed those leaves a couple days ago, before they curled, I think they would have looked like this: leaves, early blight TAMU

Here are a couple more stem and leaf pictures of this common disease: early blight, Virginia Tech

All that rain you had, you know . . .

Steve

 

[journey11]

This is the first time I've ever had it. Bummer. I am going to go ahead and just pull the affected plants. They're not going to amount to much anyway. Then hose down the survivors with some neem oil. Thanks for helping guys!

 

[thistlebloom]

Aww, that's too bad Journey. I hope it doesn't spread to your other tomatoes...It's been an interesting year for all of us, hasn't it?

 

[Waylon05]

It looks like it has quite a hold on the plants since it has gone this far.

I know nothing about late blight but it looks like early blight to me, also. Some will get it, some will not.

Here is what I usually see first that suggests early blight to me: stem, early blight TAMU

If you had photographed those leaves a couple days ago, before they curled, I think they would have looked like this: leaves, early blight TAMU

Here are a couple more stem and leaf pictures of this common disease: early blight, Virginia Tech

All that rain you had, you know . . .

Steve

I agree - Early blight.

Growing tomatoes in Houston, I've got more experience with it than I'd like to admit. If I were you, I'd pull the affected plant and start spraying your remaining plants immediately with a fungicide. Fungicides won't cure early blight, but they can be very effective in preventing it. I've had good luck with Daconil. If you prefer an organic fungicide, there are copper based fungicides that are also effective.

I did alot of research this year to try to figure out the best way to beat blight. Here are some links that I found especially helpful:

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/fletcher/programs/plantpath/tomato-spray-guide/index.html

http://ag.udel.edu/extension/PDC/Fungicides and Bactericides Available for Home Use-2011.pdf

http://extension.unh.edu/Agric/Docs/Fungicidesedited.pdf

http://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/BP/BP-136-W.pdf

http://umaine.edu/ipm/ipddl/publications/5087e/

 

[journey11]

Thank you Waylon05, for those very helpful links! I read through them all.

That chart from the U. of Delaware will be a super useful thing to keep on hand for several things in the garden and I saved a copy. It gave a good break down of all the options, including organic sprays, for those of you interested...definitely check it out.

The general overview on Early Blight on the U. of Maine site was very helpful too. Now I know what I'm up against and I have a suspicion that it was a C. Genovese volunteer that came up in my compost pile that started it. I had let it grow, because curiosity got the best of me (and killed the cat) and yanked it out of there several weeks ago because I was certain it was diseased. Let that be a lesson to me! I am wondering now if the spores didn't originally arrive on the C. Genovese seeds I bought last year because I had trouble with them last year too and also took them out early, but blamed it on a ridiculous degree of crowding on my part. I used the last of that seed this year. Then here it is on them again. Bums me out a little...they've been my favorite for paste tomatoes so far.

I have never had much problem with tomato diseases before. Now I have been schooled. Ha. I am usually pretty lackadasical about spraying stuff. I spray usually twice in the summer to get the stink bugs off of my tomatoes as the fruit is growing, and occasionally spray to keep back powdery mildew on my squash and that's been it. I will be paying closer attention from now on. Looks like I will also need to spray my nearby potato patch too, before they get it. I have at least two C. Genovese tomato plants that need to be yanked, maybe more.

I was very, very diligent to space my tomatoes out well this year. That's probably been the only thing that's spared me big problems. I always rotate crops anyway. I think I'll put all of my tomatoes in a totally different plot next year, just to be on the safe side. At least Early Blight is not as persistent in the soil as some of the other tomato diseases. Do you think solarizing the soil will help?

 

[skeeter9]

That's really disgusting, Journey! Sorry you are having troubles. Hopefully your plan will keep the rest of your maters safe. If it's not one thing it's another this year!!!!!!!

 

[Waylon05]

Thank you Waylon05, for those very helpful links! I read through them all.

That chart from the U. of Delaware will be a super useful thing to keep on hand for several things in the garden and I saved a copy. It gave a good break down of all the options, including organic sprays, for those of you interested...definitely check it out.

The general overview on Early Blight on the U. of Maine site was very helpful too. Now I know what I'm up against and I have a suspicion that it was a C. Genovese volunteer that came up in my compost pile that started it. I had let it grow, because curiosity got the best of me (and killed the cat) and yanked it out of there several weeks ago because I was certain it was diseased. Let that be a lesson to me! I am wondering now if the spores didn't originally arrive on the C. Genovese seeds I bought last year because I had trouble with them last year too and also took them out early, but blamed it on a ridiculous degree of crowding on my part. I used the last of that seed this year. Then here it is on them again. Bums me out a little...they've been my favorite for paste tomatoes so far.

I have never had much problem with tomato diseases before. Now I have been schooled. Ha. I am usually pretty lackadasical about spraying stuff. I spray usually twice in the summer to get the stink bugs off of my tomatoes as the fruit is growing, and occasionally spray to keep back powdery mildew on my squash and that's been it. I will be paying closer attention from now on. Looks like I will also need to spray my nearby potato patch too, before they get it. I have at least two C. Genovese tomato plants that need to be yanked, maybe more.

I was very, very diligent to space my tomatoes out well this year. That's probably been the only thing that's spared me big problems. I always rotate crops anyway. I think I'll put all of my tomatoes in a totally different plot next year, just to be on the safe side. At least Early Blight is not as persistent in the soil as some of the other tomato diseases. Do you think solarizing the soil will help?

I don't have any first hand experience on solarizing soil but it seems to me that could help prevent blight as it should help eliminate soil bourne fungus. In addition to crop rotating, it may also be worthwhile to use a soil treatment at initial planting to fight off fungus diseases. I haven't tried this before, but I'm planning on adding this to my arsenal next year:

http://www.gardeners.com/Root-Shiel...eGardening_Fertilizers,31-949,default,cp.html

In my part of the country, early blight is pretty much inevitable - it's just a matter of how long you can hold it off. After doing a lot of reading and talking to county extension agents, I think the most important thing is to begin a preventative spray program BEFORE any signs of early blight. In my area, early blight generally starts to rear its ugly head right about the time the tomatoes hit golf ball size. As such, I will start spraying my tomato plants every ten days with Daconil around that time.