Does this mean what I think it means? (pics)

16 years ago

I have a German Queen which is dying. I picked one blushed tomato today and am hoping the other two greenies make it to blush stage before the plant totally goes down. I trimmed most of the bad leaves off it, so it's almost naked except for the few remaining yellowed leaves. The stems are fine. One of the fruits has some little spots on it. But I couldn't diagnose it from the resources here, maybe it's just unhappy or rootbound or something I can't figure out.

Anyway, when I picked my one blushed GQ, it looks like this on the bottom. The scar does not bother me, but does the hole mean that there's a worm inside? I realize I'll find out when I cut it open, but the top side is still quite green, so it's not quite time yet.

My Cherokee Purple, which is right next to the GQ, has the same issue, but not quite as severe (it has more leaves left), and also has a few fruit of which I hope to get at least one ripened.

So, I'll stop rambling.

Do I have a worm in my GQ, and any idea what the disease is with these plants? Thanks.

GQ Scar and Hole

GQ Foliage

GQ Baby fruit with spots?

Cherokee Purple leaf

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Comments (6)

mulio
16 years ago
the worm probably ate what it wanted and moved on

"now he was a big, fat caterpillar"

the glare on the fruit is a little much but I suspect bird or stinkbugs (or both). Sometimes the birds damage fruit going after the fruitworms.

Hard to tell the disease problems. Since you're in NC Ill take a wild guess that one GQ might have fusarium but it could also just be nutritional defn. It looks like some mold/mildew on the CP leaf (maybe LB but I doubt it if you arent in the mountains)
bcday
16 years ago
Check the back sides of the leaves with a magnifying glass for tiny bugs. That looks like spider mite damage.
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avid_hiker
16 years ago
If it were spider mite damage, at this point you would see small the small webbing of the mites. Spider mites are not spiders, but when they really get on a plant in large numbers they crate a weblike material where the leaf meets the stem and where the leaf stem meets the main stem.

If it is spide mites use seaweed. Spray both the top and bottom of the leaves with seaweed and watch the mites go away. I am not sure this is spider mites though, but it cannot hurt to try.

Tom
bigdaddyj
16 years ago
spidermites
lee_71
16 years ago
For a fellow NC diagnosis.... probably spider mites. Had/have 'em on my potted plants on the deck, and the foliage looks the same.

Lee
ditnc
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks everyone for the input. I sprayed them both with Murphys Oil soap diluted with water - hope that was the right thing to do. My county extension service said the treatment for mites was to spray with "horticultural soap," which I could buy at Lowe's or make my own. So I used Murphy's since I had read about others' using it.

I have nothing to lose since they are quickly on their way out.

I thought mites was a problem that the west coast/dry climates had to deal with and that it was not an issue in an extremely humid environment!

Well, we'll see what happens. If I can salvage just one of them I will be happy. Oh, I think I could see the tiniest of specks on the undersides of leaves which came off when sprayed. If they were mites, they were really hard to see (didn't have a strong magnifying glass). And I see webs all the time, but thought thay was just spiders since they're everywhere.

(I still wonder if there will be a worm in the tomato when I cut it open!) :-)