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Common Tomatoe Diseases And Problems

The very first time I grew tomato plants, I believe, it was a fairly successful season. What I mean is, I harvested a decent amount of fruits and it tasted okay. At the time I did not know anything about tomato plants having diseases, I never thought anything about the yellow leaves, and leaves with spots or even a fruit now and then having a dark spot on it.

It was not until I did a little research about tomatoes and planting them to have more success in future growing seasons, that I found out my first tomato plant had diseases. I also found that there are numerous problems you can encounter, but fear not because my first season was okay even though I did not know anything.

Leaf Spot

Keep Your Tomato Plants Disease Free

Diseases And Pests tomato plants

Tomato plants’ diseases are a problem for all gardeners, even those old pros who have been growing tomatoes for years. Fungi and bacteria can cause disease in easy grown tomato plants. The good news about these problems is that you can prevent and easily cure them. It is easiest to minimize plant distress by early detection. Good gardeners must always keep a close watch on their garden to monitor that their plants are healthy and thriving. As soon as any problem is spotted, the issue needs to be dealt with as soon as possible to keep the disease contained and to lessen plant suffering.

It is always a good idea to stay a step ahead of tomato disease while planting your garden. Choosing the type of tomato to plant is the first step in disease prevention. Hybrids are a good option because many are specially bred to be resistant to certain diseases. It is a good idea to be aware of common diseases in your area and then choose a plant that is resistant to that sickness. The bad news is that many heirlooms are vulnerable to disease, therefore a variety of tomato types should be planted, just in case disease strikes. Always remember that varying the types of plants in your garden will help keep diseases at bay, and you will be able to enjoy an assortment of flavors all summer long!

Keeping your plants healthy is not just about planting healthy plants, but also providing them with a nourishing physical environment. Moist climates are more predisposed to fungal disease, so it is very important to be methodical in the way you water your tomato garden. It is important to make sure you don’t saturate the leaves of the plants when watering, just moisten the soil. Watering in the earlier hours of the day will help the absorption into the soil, and the warm daytime sun will evaporate any moisture that may have gotten on the leaves of the plants.

Plant Disease – “Garden Creep”

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One thing you either might have to watch out for or embrace is something I call Garden Creep. This is the ability of certain gardens, let alone the plants in them, of slowly growing and spreading or even multiplying over time. Any dedicated gardener can explain to you the visible symtomology of the disease. New garden growths appear almost randomly at times as new outbreaks of gardens pop up in sometimes rather unexpected corners and sections of the area.

This problem is also seen in certain plants as well. When they have managed to obtain a foot hold in an area, where the available space for them, is inadequate for their realistic size. You will find these plants spilling outwards or upwards into space they were never intended to occupy. This causes constant problems for entryways & walkways, as well as air space occupiers like power lines. These plants then have to constantly attacked and kept back within their territory, often at great cost in time and money to their garden owner. Lawn areas and sometimes even pathways in it’s way are encompassed and/or swallowed up. It even can escape from your area onto and around footpaths and along road verges. It appears I reckon to be a possibly viral disease that affects both the gardens and their gardeners alike. It means that these garden areas extend over a period into every little space they can infect and take over, sometimes far outside the originally intended boundaries of the initial garden/s.

Keep Your Garden Organic – 5 Home Remedies and 5 Helpful Tips to Beat Common Plant Diseases

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There are many diseases that can attack your garden and wear down the health of your plants. After you’ve tilled the soil, started your seedlings and faithfully watered and nurtured your vegetables, the last thing you want is for powdery mildew or fungus to get between you and that first crunchy cucumber. And buying pesticides and treatments at the store will add harmful chemicals to your future food, your soil, and the water runoff that returns to our creeks, rivers and oceans. Please don’t do that!

Here are 4 simple home remedies that can help you get rid of many common problems in your garden, safely and naturally. And you probably have at least three of them in your home already.

1. Apple Cider Vinegar

How to Identify Tomato Plant Diseases

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With good planting methods your tomato plants should grow up to be strong and healthy with vibrant green leaves and healthy fruit. Unfortunately things may not always go smoothly and your plants may catch one of many tomato diseases. Fortunately, with good tomato disease identification most can be controlled or treated if you spot them early enough.

Identifying Whether Your Plant has a Disease:

Most tomato plant diseases start appearing on the leaf first so you should be inspecting your plant leaves very regularly both topside and underside. You want to be looking for brown spots and yellowing of the leaves. Certain tomato diseases also affect the stem and fruit so you want to check these areas also. We will now look at the symptoms and related tomato disease most likely to affect your plants.

Symptom #1: Small Brown spots with dark outlines on mature leaves:

This is most likely a case of Septoria Leaf Spot. Typically the spots have a diameter between 1-3mm, sometimes circled by a yellow patch. If the number of spots increases the leaf will die and drop off. Fortunately this disease is rarely fatal to the plant and only affects the leaves. To treat Septoria Leaf Spot you should remove infected leaves, keep the plant dry if possible and prevent it touching neighbouring plants. Fungicides can also be applied successfully. Crop-rotation is a longer term solution recommended by experts – consider planting your tomatoes in a different location next season.

Symptom #2: Brown spots composed of circular rings that resemble a shooting target:

These concentric rings are a tell-tale sign of Early Blight. Unfortunately this disease can also affect the stem and fruit of your plant. You can use similar fungicides as used for septoria leaf spot. Remove any ripe or damaged tomatoes immediately to prevent spreading of the disease. Crop-rotation is a recommended solution going forwards.

Symptom #3: Small dark circular spots appear on the fruit only:

This is likely to be a case of Anthracnose – the most common fruit-attacking disease. It typically appears on ripe/over-ripe tomatoes. The fungus can remain in the soil and survive winters. Fungicides can be used to treat the plant and all ripe fruit should be removed as soon as possible.

Preventing Tomato Diseases:

Taking certain measures will go a long way to preventing your tomato plants catching diseases. Use disease resistant varieties of seeds and plants to reduce chances of disease. Also diseases flourish more when the leaves are wet – try to keep your leaves dry when watering and support your plant well so that the leaves are open to air and sunlight.

Three Most Prevalent Plant Diseases Caused by Bacteria

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Bacteria are extremely small organisms, ever-present in practically every environment on planet earth. Measuring only a few micrometers, they can prove to have grave consequences to the infected, be it plant or animal. They can be found in soil, water, any organic material and even in radioactive waste.

Bacterial diseases in plants can be extremely damaging. Some plant diseases caused by bacteria can rapidly kill your plant, others will cause it to gradually pine away. Usually, diseases caused by bacteria in plants are not destructive to the plant as it cannot enter the stems or foliage of the plant; however it will penetrate through artificial or natural openings or wounds.

The three most prevalent plant diseases caused by bacteria are Crown Gall, Bacterial Leaf Spot and Fire Blight:–

7 Deadly Tomato Plant Diseases and How to Spot Them

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Your tomato plants can be quite vulnerable to a whole range of unpleasant little diseases. Unfortunately, many tomato plant diseases are fungus-based and pretty lethal. But if you identify them early you might be able to take some action and save your plant. Or at least stop the disease spreading to your other plants.

Here are ten of the most common diseases and some hints on how to spot them:

1. Bacterial Spot & Bacterial Speck

This highly contagious disease which most commonly strikes during wet or moist weather, when the plant is not properly ventilated and kept dry. It can be quite hard to control, because it’s so contagious be sure not to move the contaminated spot about.

You’ll recognize it from dark, raised spots appearing on the fruit or leaves.

How to Deal With Tomato Plant Diseases

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Tomato plants are very vulnerable to disease, most of which are fungi-based and almost impossible to get rid of once a plant has become infected. The best way to save your plants from tomato plant diseases is with adequate care and preventative measures. But here is how you can identify a disease and deal with it in the best possible way:

Identifying a Tomato Disease

Most diseases will cause spots or dark patches to appear on your plant leaves or on the fruit itself. Often these patches will discolour – becoming dark brown or black in wet weather. The diseases most likely to strike in dry, hot weather tend to be lighter in colour.

As the diseases tend to interrupt the proper flow of nutrients, water and oxygen through the plant’s system. Growth of the outer-reaching areas of the plant will often be inhibited and one of the first symptoms of any tomato plant disease is the upper leaves beginning to wilt and turn yellow.

Tomato Plant Diseases – How to Win the Battle

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Wikipedia lists 59 various strains of disease for tomatoes. Not an incredibly large number considering the worldwide prevalence of the fruit but still concerning to the home gardener who doesn’t want any disease affecting his or her crop.

Fortunately there are a number of things that you can do to drastically reduce the chances of your plants suffering from disease and I will cover them in this article.

Research: The first thing that anyone should do when they start out growing tomatoes (or anything for that matter) is to consult local authorities about the plant. By authorities I mean people who have experience in growing the plant locally.

So go talk to people at your local market, nurseries and gardening fairs and see what they know. Find out what diseases, if any, are prevalent in the area and if there are some then plant a variety that is resistant to that disease.

Solutions To Growing Tomatoe Problems

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I know you can’t help it. You can never deny that homegrown tomatoes are certainly a top grosser. You love it and you want more of it. But the fresh tomatoes you have in your homes are not products of one day labor. To have a piece of the best, you need to work for it and you need to be very cautious of some problems that may be observed as your tomatoes grow. These problems may be caused by natural conditions while most are caused by diseases, viruses and pests. But hey, you don’t have to worry so much. These troubles are very easy to handle especially if you could handle them earlier.

Here are the signs that you should look for in able to avoid tomato growing problems. You need to observe if green patches are evident on your fruit. These green patches signals that your tomato plant is exposed too much to the sun. This will later lead to fruits that will turn yellow instead of red. Blossom end rot is another problem that you might encounter as you grow your tomatoes. This is the condition wherein the fruit rots down. This disease occurs because of the lack of calcium or if there is an irregular water intake on your plant. Early signs of blossom end rot are the black spots that are formed on the bottom of your tomato’s blossom (just like how it is named).

The most common symptom for tomato plant infection is actually checked through the observation of the leaves of the plant. If the leaves that are found at the lowest part of the stem bows down and when there are brown stripes formed at the midribs, that means the plant may soon suffer from Bacterial Canker. If there are black spots on leaves specially the old ones, this is a symptom of Early Blight. This later on will continue until it includes the stems and even the fruits.