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Tomato Pests & Diseases

Need Help IDing Problem with Tomato Start Leaves

youliveandyoulearn

15 years ago

I am looking for some help with figuring out what is wrong with my tomato starts. They are about a month old and are in 2 inch pots. They are being raised indoors under lights and are being bottom watered. I can no find no sign of any major pest problem. They were looking wonderful until today I noticed several of them have developed some pretty bad looking areas on their leaves. The worst leaves have turned a blackish-grey color and become crispy. I'm including a photo. I have other tomato starts of different ages which are mostly fine, but a few are showing the same symptoms. Any help is greatly appreciated!

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Comments (2)

anneow
15 years ago
Hey, I'm not an expert, but here is my best guess: the leaves appear to have completely lost their green color before turning grey. This could be due to losing chlorophyll, due to magnesium deficiency. How soon before you move them outside?
Maybe artificial light is bad for the chloroplasts too.
lionheart_gw (USDA Zone 5A, Eastern NY)
15 years ago
Hi.

It looks like an over-watering/drainage problem. Let the soil dry out between waterings. Stick your finger in the soil and, if it's still damp, don't water. Only water if the soil is dry.

Tomato plants don't like continuous moisture and soggy roots. Plus, too much moisture can lead to other problems with seedlings, like damping off.
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