Tom Problem?

[Aaron T]

Hi,

I am putting this on here as a tomato grower virgin in the hope you can help me, is there anything wrong with my 2 tom plants? The bottoms have gone a bit manky but the top seems ok. There are a number of spots and marks on the stems and leaves and the leaves have gone curly at the bottom, is this something I should worry about?

They are grown outdoors against a wall.

[rustylady]

They look fine to me. Leaves do get a bit manky looking as they get older.

[Aaron T]

Phew, even the black marks on the stems?

[rustylady]

I can't see any black marks on stems. Yes, there is a bit of brown on one of the leaf stalks, but I wouldn't worry about it.

[Aaron T]

Great, bit panicky about my first year so worried about lots of things.

I expect everything to be perfect on all the plants but I am learning fast they can't be!

Thank you.

[bramble]

Aaron, the leaf growth looks very healthy to me. If there is a bit of damage on any of the bottom leaves just trim them off.
Remember the leaves are needed for photosynthesis so don't take too many off.
Best of luck and hope you get a good crop.
By the way, what varieties are you growing.

[Aaron T]

I went to the GC and picked what I thought was suitable for me. The label said "good for begineers" so I went for that one!

Its Alicante, I did have 3 in the bag but one took a turn for the worse so I'm now left with 2. To be honest they are growing quite bushy and would have eaten into each others space. I don't know when to trim the tops off as I understand you only want a few trusses per plant but they aren't that high yet.

[smallblueplanet]

I'd let them grow trusses until about a month before there might be a frost...why stop them growing when you don't need to? However I'd suggest you search for info on taking sideshoots off of cordon/indeterminate type tomatoes. I think there's a threat called something like 'armpitting tomatoes' that is about the aforementioned subject.

[Aaron T]

I have been taking of the side shoots over time and they seem to be ok, picking the right ones at least!

I'll let them keep on growing.

[Tomatoking]

First picture loks like early blight to me! cut off any affected leaves and get a bordeaux mix spray on.

Mr TK

[womble]

First picture loks like early blight to me! cut off any affected leaves and get a bordeaux mix spray on.

Mr TK

It's a possibility, I would take off the leaf stalk asap and put it in the rubbish bin.
if they brown marks have spread since yesterday, then it's blight, but tbh it looks a bit wrong to me, I'm uncertain.

[Aaron T]

It is spreading at about 1/4cm a day. I have now cut off the leaves and the worse of the branches and I have purchased some Bordeaux mix which I'll spray on tonight when the sun goes down.

I have a few specks here and there all over the plants.

[Aaron T]

I one problem in certainly bacterial speck. I have looked it up and the leaves do have very similar marks to that shown on here.

Bacterial Speck - Tomato Leaf Disorders - Tomato Problem Solver | Aggie Horticulture

It also says that the brown marks can appear anywhere on the plant, although the marks on the stems don't have yellow on them but this page also claims to have some of the symptoms.

http://www.cpp.uk.com/UPLOADS/public...sesEnglish.pdf