powdery furry mould on tomato leaves and flowers

[mrscorpio]

As the title says

HELP
what can I do, or are all of my toms going to die.

They are all in the GH and the problem is spreading.

[binley100]

Try cutting off the mouldy bits and making sure you keep it all well ventilated..

[milly2306]

I have this too!! but its affecting the fruit as well as the leaves. I have cut off the lower leaves to try and get more air to the plants and also cut off all affected leaves/fruit.

[pdblake]

Sounds like mildew. Make sure you keep it ventilated properly.

IIRC you can give them a spray with half milk half water.


It could of course also be blight. Is it grey and powdery or white and furry?

[mrscorpio]

Sounds like mildew. Make sure you keep it ventilated properly.

IIRC you can give them a spray with half milk half water.


It could of course also be blight. Is it grey and powdery or white and furry?

it is grey and powdery

[Bountyhunter]

I had it the last 2 years in my greenhouse and all the above advise is correct. I used soapy water on mine though. I was also told that the wetter the area the harder it is for it to spread. Also, dont go from infected plants to healthy ones as you will spread it.
Good luck

[pdblake]

Grey and powdery sounds more like blight to me but it's hard to say without a photo.

[ginger ninger]

Wet conditions favor the development of fungal blights of tomato. Two common foliage diseases of tomato are early blight, caused by Alternaria solani, and Septoria blight, caused by Septoria lycopersici.

Both blights attack foliage, particularly older (lower) leaves. Early blight causes brown spots of varying size (up to more than 1/2" in diameter) that typically contain rings of darker brown. Septoria blight causes numerous small ( about 1/8" to 1/4" in diameter) brown spots that develop light tan to white center as they age. The overall effect of both blights is similar. Leaves turn yellow, brown, then wither and die.

Septoria blight and early blight both overwinter on infected debris from previous years. If there are only a few plants in a garden, the progress of the blights may be slowed somewhat by removing infected leaves as they appear. Nevertheless, fungicide sprays are likely to be needed if these diseases are present. Many products are available and should be applied every week to 10 days through harvest.

Cultural techniques can help to reduce the risk of foliar blight outbreaks, but it takes some advanced planning. At the end of the season, remove as much tomato plant debris as possible from the planting area. Dig thoroughly in the Autumn in order to break up remaining infected debris. Rotation away from tomatoes and potatoes for 3 to 4 years also helps to break the debris link in the disease cycle. If a long rotation is not feasible, a 2-4" layer of organic mulch (leaves, grass clippings, straw, etc.) placed over the soil surface after transplanting acts as a barrier against release of fungal spores.

Other treatment is to destroy and burn the effected plants

[rustylady]

Could be botrytis Royal Horticultural Society | Advice Search | Grey mould

[OllieMartin]

Judging from ginger ninger's photos, I would suggest grey and powdery do not suggest blight as this is more brown and crispy.

Botrytis was certainly my first impression, I can't think of any other common tomato diseases that would cause this on the leaves.

[mrscorpio]

Thanks all
I will get some photos this weekend.
I sprayed them last night with milk/water mix as suggested. I have been removing suspect leaves, but it is spreading faster now. (last night I found a completely covered tomato golf ball sized)

It looks like a grey fur on the affected areas. when it is disturbed it puffs off and you can see it in the air like a small mist.

My greenhouse does have an auto vent and I do tend to leave the door open. This is a virgin greenhouse so last years fungus is not an issue.

One problem may be that I need to get rid of some plants as it is stuffed to the rafters. ( It is my first year with a greenhouse and I may have got a bit excited with quantity)

[teakdesk]

I sprayed them last night with milk/water mix as suggested. I have been removing suspect leaves, but it is spreading faster now. (last night I found a completely covered tomato golf ball sized)

It looks like a grey fur on the affected areas. when it is disturbed it puffs off and you can see it in the air like a small mist.

I get a lot of this most years and use milk/water and extra ventilation to control it.

I believe mine is botrytis which in my case tends to attack damaged material (leaves, stalks, fruit, etc.) rather than appearing on completely healthy plant material.

It is rather worrying that you say a tomato was attacked as I don't tend to get this on healthy tomatoes - if a tomato falls off the plant then it will be attacked or an over-ripe tomato left on the plant may also be. Was this tomato ripe and was it on the plant or had it fallen off.

Ventilation is very important to control it (my greenhouse is in the shade of a massive oak tree and when the weather is cool my greenhouse is cold, damp and uninviting which is not good for controlling botrytis.

I know I am my own worst enemy because I...
A/ have a hosepipe in the greenhouse which had a small leak for a few weeks thus increasing moisture
B/ often drop small sideshoots on the floor after "armpitting"
C/ I get bacterial speck (small back spots) on the lower leaves which I do not remove quickly and this gives a site for botrytis to attack

In previous years I managed to control an attack and get rid of all signs of the fungus but this year I have not managed to do so despite milk and ventilation (and cleaning the greenhouse of all rotting material!!) so I hope you have more success.

The good thing is that after taking steps to reduce botrytis my crops are not affected and I think you should find the same.




Just on the blight aspect, which is a different fungus, the two fungi get into the plant much easier if the plants are damaged in any way. I have inspected my plants quite closely and not found any evidence of early blight.... until this year when I had a couple of leaves that seemed to have the classic "concentric rings with a halo of yellow" around them which I think could well have been early blight. I put those leaves in the dustbin and - touch wood - haven't seen any since.

If you are not going to use chemicals then the control of botrytis and blight is much the same.

Good Luck!!



EDIT: well, spurred on by this thread I have just checked my greenhouse (been too ill to get out for a few days) and removed quite a lot of botrytis affected leaves BUT I found 5 leaves which I am sure have BLIGHT spots on. These had grown a bit bigger than they normally are when I pull the leaflets off and had the white spot in the middle of concentric grey/brown circles surrounded by a yellow halo so, to me, are definitely blight.

I'm pleased I read this thread otherwise I wouldn't have limped to the greenhouse for another day or two!!