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Tomato Problem

zebrinazebrina Posts: 31
in Problem solving
I'm having trouble with my tomatoes this year. It's not the usual blight as that usually comes later and I know what it looks like. This is sort of brown spots (see photo). The plants looked yellow and have barely grown since I planted them. Any ideas what it is and whether I can do anything to treat it? Septoria maybe?

Thanks

Posts

  • mrtjformanmrtjforman Posts: 331
    It's hard to guess what is ailing your plants but i would tip on poor soil combined with tap water.

    It is a deficiency. 9 times out of 10 it is a deficiency yet 9 times out of 10 people will think it's a virus. Even if it's not a virus, most likely it will be some form of fungus.

    Anyway, get some decent john innes soil, feed it with rain water and use a tomato fertilizer feed at 1/3 recommended strength once established to prevent a deficiency. Increase strength if needed.
  • mrtjformanmrtjforman Posts: 331
    ps: the reason I say tap water is because tap water contains too much lime(scale) and will also have a wrong ph which locks out nutrients. 
  • zebrinazebrina Posts: 31
    Right, thanks. They're in a new grow bag so I'm thinking it can't be a deficiency.
  • mrtjformanmrtjforman Posts: 331
    Maybe. So if you believe it's not a deficiency then the next culprit will be waterlogged soil causing possibly calcium to be locked out. 
    A simple way to sort this is raise the grow bag on something and punch a bunch of dranage holes into the bag.

    Hope you can sort it out. A little bit of feed should help but don't overdo it, they are still very young.

    Maybe someone more experienced will be able to advise whether they are too young for this time of year but if you can sort this problem they can grow fast.

  • zebrinazebrina Posts: 31
    I did try feeding them but it didn't help. I have also put holes in the sides of the bags and they were not waterlogged. It does look like leaf spot to me, but I can't find anything to buy to treat it.
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,391
    If it is a leaf spot fungus there isn't much you can do treatment-wise other than try and keep water off of the leaves and reduce the humidity of the air.  If they are outdoors, things become more difficult but if you can make a cover out of clear plastic and canes (for example) to help keep the rain off, that will only help.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
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