Help! what is wrong with my tomato plant?

[cazp]

I bought a tomato plant "gardeners delight" from a market stall last week, and it has since developed gold papery patches on the leaves - see attached pics.. any ideas what is causing this and practical advice would be much appreciated.

Many thanks

ps... new leaves seem ok ... so far

[Bramble_killer]

looks like it's deficient in some nutrients, perhaps it's because the pot for the plants seem too small. Repot into some fresh compost and it should be ok?

Some proper tomato expert will be here soon

[sagegreen]

No doubt I will be corrected, but this looks like 'sun scald', caused by the leaves being exposed to strong sunlight - sounds amazing with our current weather! Overall, the plant should be ok.

[northepaul]

Looks like sun scold to me too...water it from the bottom rather than on the leaves and top. It could do with a new pot too, that will make it grow well and dont forget to put a stake in with it when you do

[cazp]

Thanks for all your replies so far... yep, it needs repotting - which I will do today! as a precaution I will keep it away from the other tomatoes though...

[Tomatoking]

Well, harzarding a guess, I would say scorch. Which also can be caused by the roots not getting enough water to the leaves in the hottest part of the day.
The plant, apart from the scorch, looks quite healthy but as has been said, it's well time it was repotted, which would help a great deal.

Usually with a deficiency, the leaves tend to go a bit pale and have dark areas on them.

Mr TK

[cazp]

Thanks again - I feel happy now that it's nothing too serious.. as I said I bought the plant from a market store so I dont know what type of compost they used and how it was kept - sun scorch and lack of water/nutrients could well be the cause. I am about to go off and re-pot this and hopefully the new growth will stay lush and green!

[arknor]

yep i'd go wtih sun scorch aswell the pot is to small it will be severely root bound and wont be able to take in enough moisture because of that.

never get a plants leaves wet if it will be reciecing sunlight either which i suspect you have done.

btw on the underside of one of your leaves there is what apears to be a little black fly, check there are no more on it and if there are kill them they will lay eggs in the surface of wet compost which hatch into grubs that eat new root growth.

which is why bottom watering is good :P and the fact it encourages roots to seek out the water

[cazp]

I am very pleased to announce that the tomato plant now has a new home in a much larger pot filled with premium vegetable compost. I think the fly in the photo was a one off as could see no more - well spotted!!

I am very grateful for everyones advice - thanks again. May this little plant grow strong and yield plenty of tomatoes!