septoria leaf spot, bacterial leaf spot, neither?

16 years ago

I embarked on my first garden project this year. I cleared the brush, built 2 10x5 raised beds, had soil delivered and amended it with peat moss, manure (a very small amount), and a good organic fertilizer (from gardens alive). I put weed fabric on the bed where the tomatoes are because I read somewhere that they do better that way. I am really disappointed in the VERY wet weather in Northeastern PA because it has prevented a lot of my veggies from doing well. At least the tomatoes (which I grew from seed with the exception of 3 big boys from Lowes) were doing well.

Until last week. They started to develop spots on the lower leaves (even the ones in containers away from the main garden got the spots). I looked up tomato diseases online and compared photos and it looked just like septoria leaf spot. So, I picked up a bottle of Ortho Garden Disease Control and a nice pump sprayer, followed the directions, and sprayed the plants. That was this past Friday. All the tomatoes are going downhill and whatever the problem is, it is spreading fast. I am trying to remove the affected leaves, but on a lot of the plants more than 50% of the leaves now have spots.

I can't find aphids or other insects on the plants. Also, initially there were no spots on the stems, but now there are. The last two pictures show the big boy plants wet from me spraying them with the fungicide (Ortho garden disease control).

Please, if anyone can ID the problem from the below pics and give me some advice, I would really appreciate it! I put a lot of work in the garden this year and it breaks my heart to see this happening, especially to the tomatoes, which I was most looking forward to.

Thanks, Tina

Pictures:

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Comments (7)

melissel
16 years ago
The tiny spots look like septoria to me, and the bigger yellow patches look like blight, which is why I'm here today too :-( Someone else may have more info, but based on my research, that would be my guess.
raisemybeds
16 years ago
I would concur. When there has been an inordinate amount of precipitation you can usually find more than one fungal thing going on with your plants.
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talonstorm
Original Author
16 years ago
So, I should just continue treating with the fungicide?

Thanks again, Tina
melissel
16 years ago
From the research I've just been doing on my early blight, which is what I see on yours (not the dreaded late blight), you need to get ALL of the affected leaves off there, because the spores are easily transferred from leaf to leaf, and yes, continue spraying. Serenade is an organic spray that's often recommended, and Daconil is also very popular (I don't know if it's organic though). And when you pluck off all those leaves (very carefully, so as not to spread the spores even more), you should bag them up very carefully and tightly, or burn them. Don't compost them, because you'll just be incubating the spores into your compost, which will cause further trouble.

Good luck! We're in NJ and were nailed by the same rainy weather you probably had, so it's been quite the uphill battle for us too.
recluse
16 years ago
I have both early blight and bacterial speck this year. Your pictures look like my plants.

I know what early blight looks like because I had it last year. But when the spots/specks starting showing up I did some research and Bacterial Speck looks like the culprit.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Leaf Disorders
talonstorm
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for the advice. Did you treat for the bacterial speck? I would hate to have to hit the plants with copper. It is my understanding that copper is the treatment of choice for bacterial speck. I would almost rather let them die than treat with copper. :-(

I have removed the majority of the affected leaves. Hard to get to everything on the big plants. I brought a container to the garden with me and put everything in it. I will bag it tonight and get rid of it.

Tina
liz63
16 years ago
Looks like what I have on my mortgage lifter. It hasn't grown at all in 3 weeks. Everything else is thriving. I'm not sure if I should dump the plant or get a stronger spray - I only used an organic sulfur spray. I have one tomato on it that is stunted.