Sorry-looking tomatoes

[differentfrom]

Hello there
I'm an enthusiastic novice gardener and I appear to have a problem with my tomatoes. Can anyone help me to identify this leafy disaster please? Does this look like blight (I don't know what to look for) or (fingers crossed) is it a more benign issue? I have 6 plants and 3 of them are starting to look quite wonky. Have posted a picture and would be really grateful for any replies. Many thanks.

[OllieMartin]

I'm not too sure I'm afraid, but my book (which usually tells you it's some awful disease rather than something simple like over watering or frost) says either blight or tomato leaf mould.
Are they in a well ventilated area?
I have no personal experience of either of these so wouldn't like to suggest that it's either.

[Tomatoking]

Hello there
I'm an enthusiastic novice gardener and I appear to have a problem with my tomatoes. Can anyone help me to identify this leafy disaster please? Does this look like blight (I don't know what to look for) or (fingers crossed) is it a more benign issue? I have 6 plants and 3 of them are starting to look quite wonky. Have posted a picture and would be really grateful for any replies. Many thanks.
[ATTACH]14674[/ATTACH]

Well I will have a stab at this, although a picture of the rest of the plant and the others would be more help.

If you look at pictures of blight, there are usually tiny spores, and the blight starts as a dark spot on the leaf, then spreads. It is quite early in the year for blight, so I am hoping it is not.

I notice the leaf is quite yellow and the veins are dark, which looks like a root problem to me. Also there is a little leaf edge scorch, which again points to this, and is common at this time of year with difficulties getting the watering right.

Have they been in good clean compost, and what size pots are they in?


MR TK

[differentfrom]

Thanks for these replies - was out and about and have just checked back. Hmm, good clean compost? Possibly not (can't remember, but I think I used some from a garden centre which had been lying around in an opened bag since last year). They're in large pots- 30cm I believe. Will have a google of tomato leaf mould. If it is a root problem, are the plants necessarily lost to me? So much to learn - don't only want to learn through a succession of failures though!

[OllieMartin]

I'll duck out as Tomatoking is here! *Play Superman music now*

Was only guessing anyway

[Jeanied]

If it was me and I was not growing organically I'd take the affected leaf off and spray the plant to make sure.

[tamsin]

Is it just the bottom couple of leaves? A few of mine are a bit yellow at the bottom, just pull them off and if you need to pot up again you can bury them deeper so you don't have so much bare stalk.

[Tomatoking]

I'll duck out as Tomatoking is here! *Play Superman music now*

Was only guessing anyway

If differentfrom gets a full picture of the plant, it will give me time to change
into my outfit!





Mr TK

[taff]

some of mine looked a bit like that last week,I didn't get round to potting them onwhen i should have and they dried out a bit too.

[bramble]

If its only the bottom leaves just pick them off. A couple of mine were like that a few weeks ago and I picked them off and the plants are fine now and have tiny toms on them.
It takes a while for the plants to settle when they are being potted on, are trying to get used to differing temps as the weather is all over the place at the minute and are struggling to produce fruits.
Its far too early and also too cold for blight and its not leaf mould.
Keep them watered but not too wet, keep them in as much light as possible, pot them on if the roots are growing out through the bottom of the pots and start feeding them when they start producing tiny little fruits (after the blossom falls of) and relax and enjoy the growing season.

[differentfrom]

Blimey - thanks for all the replies here. My neighbour has put the fear of wotsit into me by telling me that, in the valley where we live, no tomato will thrive because of the damp/humid conditions and the blight (it's only Cornwall, not St Lucia!).

Contrary to what I said previously, the toms are potted up with soil from my now garden. It was an overgrown field and we have 'dealt with' an area in order to garden. I didn't think this would have been a problem. The plants were kept in a gappyish cold frame to begin with and have been in a polytunnel for the last 4 days or so. Suppose it could be temp related. They are in 10L pots.
Thank you all for your time spent helping out a total amateur here. Muchos appreciated.
Mr TK, hope you have donned your costume and are ready for some pics...

[Tomatoking]

Didn't need the costume for this one.


It's probably the soil that you grew them in. They certainly look starved of nutrients.

Compost has the nutrients in it to last for the first months of the plant's life.
Just re-pot them into larger pots with a good potting compost.

As you can see, the plants even have their first truss, so they are staying very compact, that is a sign of lack of nitrogen, not potash which they need for fruit production.
Mr TK

P.s they look a little dry as well, of course the cold didn't help.

[HayleyB]

Yep... wot he said

[differentfrom]

So, wrong on every front then Gah... Thank you for your patience. I shall take your advice and see where it leads. By hook or by crook, I will eat one of my own tomatoes this year!

[King Carrot]

Tomatos are very difficult to kill - a bit of fresh soil in a bigger pot and then a seaweed feed will work wonders.