Thanks so much for replying back to me!

Yes, it's pretty much throughout the plant(s). I'm in zone 7a/6b..I think...North of the mason dixon line, so our weather has been quite chilly/wonky/cold, for May.

Plants are maybe about 1.5-2 feet barely. Still small-ish. My greenhouse 'backup' plants look perfect and have not been affected at all.

Just a bit disappointed about the sungolds since we were looking forward to them this summer. Perhaps I can buy replacements at the local nursery, we will see. I'm thinking it may be the wiser choice to just go and replace the plants. Like you said, disease this early on is troublesome, and not worth the hassle, most likely.

My question though...would the new transplants need to be pre-treated with the fungicide before planting (since they will be 'moving in' so to speak, lol..) where the other sick plants were leaving?

Anyway, thanks for looking at the pics and the input! Hoping for better/sunnier/warmer weather in June!! :D Happy growing!!

Garden Lover: Just a bit disappointed about the sungolds since we were looking forward to them this summer. Perhaps I can buy replacements at the local nursery

Sungold is a very popular variety, and it's common to find Sungold plants even at big box stores. Good luck, but I think you'll be able to find some.

Garden Lover: My question though...would the new transplants need to be pre-treated with the fungicide before planting (since they will be 'moving in' so to speak, lol..) where the other sick plants were leaving?

Fungal disease is so common on tomatoes, and available remedies are rarely curative, only preventative and for slowing the progression of disease. Therefore, many gardeners, myself included, spray tomatoes on a regular schedule from day one of plant-out as a preventative measure because that's how most fungicides available to home gardeners, especially the organic or biological ones, are supposed to be used. If disease has already shown up in your garden, I would definitely recommend it.

Thanks a bunch!

Super helpful advice!

I will go ahead and pre-treat those 'babies' and replace the others!

Next year I will wait longer and be more vigilant!

Happy gardening!! :D

In your zone (which is also my zone), Mother's Day should normally be more than fine for planting out. But both last year and this year, we had a very wet, cool May. Last year some of my plants also got speck very early, during May. Replacement plants, however, that were very small and young when they went into the ground, caught up to the older plants easily after a few weeks and went on to produce just as much. Those didn't go in until after the first week of June.

Of course, we also had warm weather until late into fall, with a killing frost not hitting until November.

This year, I'm deliberately planting late. I have some tomatoes planted out, but not all yet.

The Drowns who run Sandhill Preservation in zone 5 IA say they now start their tomatoes in mid-May and put them out in mid-June (!!!) because they see less disease, and they still get plenty of tomatoes.

I'm a little too impatient to get tomatoes to wait quite that long, and we're a bit warmer here, but around the Philadelphia area, older gardeners still say Memorial Day is when you plant out tomatoes. The race to boast the earliest tomatoes may not be worth it here (well, not yet), since we're still not racing extreme heat and pests the way more southern gardeners are, and we do have a rather long growing season, unlike more northern gardeners.

Anyway, the short version is: I don't think you need to wait longer, but if you do, you'll have to spray your plants frequently during May if we get a lot of rain again. Or you can wait and set them out later. But if you go that route, prepared to be constantly tortured as others post beautiful photos of lush tomato plants they put in the ground early, LOL.

LOL!

But if you go that route, prepared to be constantly tortured as others post beautiful photos of lush tomato plants they put in the ground early, LOL.

Thanks for the laugh!

I did end up replacing and planting out. Not going to wait longer this year, but I have a plan for them if it gets cold/rainy again. Figure i'll keep the tomato cages off for now, and cover them with home depot buckets in case the cold wet rain shows up again.

Thanks so much for the help/insight!

Looking forward to our yummy harvests!

:D