Tomato drying blooms, drying stems, beige spots

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

First one is a tomato stem I put in water for about 9 days till it sprouted tiny white roots. I've since pit it in dirt (mostly because I panicked when leaves started slightly turning yellow) I just want to know why bits of the plant are slowly drying up. I thought at first they were just closing off wounds since I had to cut it back a bit in the beginning, but over the past few days it's been slowly growing. What's it doing and will it stop with time or is there a way I can help? (Is it just mad kuz I had it in water so long lol) Also, I try taking it out for some good sun, but it gets super wilted. Even in shade so I keep it under a florescent bulb in my room. I don't think it's enough since my seedlings got leggy under it but it's all I have. So maybe that could be a problem.

My other question are for my tomatoes outside. They have a light of tiny beige spots their lower halves. Not sure if it's bad or not. They had a lot of yellowing leaves but I cut ofg all those stems a few days ago, all were on lower branches. Also, more than half of my blossoms seem to be drying up. One stem had 6 flowers but only one turned into a tomato. The rest just, fell off lol. I'm mostly assuming this was due to the freak rainstorms we had about a month ago (severe storms once a week with rains every other day, and a lot of the tomatos snapped and has broken stems) It's since stopped and its been fairly warm for the past 2 weeks. I'm getting new blossoms but some of them are still falling off. Since a few days ago I've been trying to shake the main stems gently to help pollinate.

This is the stuff I removed. Chopped off a lot if similar lower branches.
Any advice is great! Thank you everyone for always helping me.

Featured Answer

digdirt2

10 years ago

This is very confusing but let me see if I can sort some of it out.

The first picture - this appears to be a leaf (a tomato leaf is made up of a branch composed of several leaflets) that was cut off a plant. it does not appear to be a stem. Leaves cannot be rooted into a plant. Only small lateral stems (aka suckers) or stem growth tips will root enough to become a plant.

Plus if this were a stem sucker or stem growth tip then you would have to strip off all those leaves except for the top tuft for any roots to develop. Plus cuttings should be rooted in moist potting mix rather than water for best success as the roots that form in water aren't the feeder roots the plant needs to survive.

The second and third photos also appear to ne leaves, not stems. Leaves have a totally different cortex and all they will do is seal themself off, scab over. That is what they are doing in the photos. For that reason most cuts are made adjacent to the stem itself rather than in the middle of the leaf.

The fourth photo is apparently a plant inside but was apparently outside at one time as it has suffered some environmental damage. But without seeing the entire plant that is only a guess. Just remove that leaf and get the plant outside. Indoor plants seldom do well.

The outside plants - (1) the condition of losing blooms is called Blossom Drop and you can read all about it in the FAQ here or online. It has many causes most related to stress. Plants that aren't hardened off well before transplanting, poor pollination, over fertilization, air temps, over watering, too small containers, etc. etc. but you will seldom get every bloom on a truss to set fruit so don't expect that.

(2) the white spots are environmental and/or minor pest damage and no big deal. Leaves are seldom perfect. The last photo shows over-watering and some early signs of Early Blight. Remove the affected leaf (the whole branch) and begin spraying with the fungicide of your choice.

Basically all of these things are normal to some degree with tomato plants so don't let yourself get all caught up in every little detail or it will overwhelm you. So what to do? By some fungicide, read the label carefully, and spray the plants. Then do some research into Blossom Drop as that is the most potentially serious issue, ID what you are doing that may be causing it, and work to correct that problem.

Hope this is of some help.

Dave

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Comments (7)

Aerilaya (8b-9a SouthTX)
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for taking the tine to answer me! Sorry I didn't show a big picture, but here is a full image of the stem I put on water that's in my room.

Sorry about my terminology. Im a bit new lol. I'll try and take it out more as you suggest. He gets really droopy and soft outside but maybe if I do 2hrs and increase it weekly by 2 he'll harden up to the heat.

I trimmed them all off and made a baking soda spray and sprayed it just now since it's late.

I checked out the blossom drop and it might be the heat and freak rains we've been having. I'll try and give them little shakes to help with the pollinating. Also, I need fertilizer lol.

Thanks so much for all the help!
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digdirt2
10 years ago
Yeah he's never going to be really healthy that way. Too leggy with a weak circulatory system. I'd cut off that top part right below where you have that tape joint as you already have a new growth tip developing - that stem on the left. Reduce the stress on it and it will adjust much better to the outside.

Don't worry about the terminology as we all have to learn it some time. It just makes it difficult to know for sure what the problem is. When you get a chance Google 'anatomy of a tomato plant'. Several good diagrams available. That will help learn the terms.

Dave
Aerilaya (8b-9a SouthTX) thanked digdirt2
Aerilaya (8b-9a SouthTX)
Original Author
10 years ago
It rained hard last night and when I came out this morning, a lot of the lower leaves on 95% of my outdoor tomatos looked like this

I just took a quick pic before I chopped off all the stems that had anything resembling this black pattern. I wasn't sure if it was mildew or TSWV or something else so I cut them off to be safe. I will spray it with baking powder mixture tonight when the sun is setting. I'm not sure if this was on them yesterday but I'm gunna say no.

I just wanted to know what it is, and if it is severe or I could have just sprayed the leaves with fungacide. Thanks!
digdirt2
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
"or I could have just sprayed the leaves with fungacide"

Yes you could. Then you give it a few days and only then go back and remove any leaves that show severe damage. Nothing in your photos shows any sever damage.

Dave
Aerilaya (8b-9a SouthTX) thanked digdirt2
Aerilaya (8b-9a SouthTX)
Original Author
10 years ago
I've been spraying with some baking soda spray but I'm not seeing the problem stop. Does anyone know what this is?
digdirt2
10 years ago
Sorry but baking soda spray is not a fungicide. It is just a homemade concoction that can briefly alter the pH of the leaf surface. And if used incorrectly can do more harm than good.

As I explained above, fungicides do not cure or stop diseases issues they only slow it down. Plus you remove the affected leaves to slow the spread.

It is also normal for leaves to develop spots for all sorts of reasons. Including weather lack of nutrients, over-watering (which also turns them pale yellow like yours), etc. etc.

If the rest of the plant appears healthy then all you need to do is remove the damage leaves and ignore it. Obsessing over your plants usually causes the grower to do more harm than good.

Dave