Brown stem tomatoe plant

[CrazyConure]

What is this?

 

[Chuck]

What is this?View attachment 65565View attachment 65566View attachment 65567

Before I can give you my opinion I need to know a few things. What is the variety of the tomato? Are ANY leaves or fruit affected? Are there ANY necrotic (dead) spots on the stem. Is the base of the plant affected in any way? Please describe your weather conditions for the past month. Please take pictures of all of the above questions plus a few pictures taken at random of the plant. This may or may not be a serious problem.

 

[CrazyConure]

The variety is super sweet 100 but all my tomato plant varieties are affected.

The leaves Are affected, but not fruit.

weather has been really wet. I feel all this started after I applied copper fungicide. I burned the plant and it hasn’t been well since.

 

[Chuck]

The variety is super sweet 100 but all my tomato plant varieties are affected.

The leaves Are affected, but not fruit.

weather has been really wet. I feel all this started after I applied copper fungicide. I burned the plant and it hasn’t been well since.

It is NOT the fungicide. Has any of the fruit ripened and was it OK? Please send pictures, a lot of pictures of all the plants and their symptoms.

 

[CrazyConure]

This has never happened to me before.

 

[Chuck]

This has never happened to me before.

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Your plants are not infected with a fungus but with a virus. It is impossible to say exactly which virus without sending it to a lab but I suspect either Yellow Curly Top or Tomato Spotted Wilt. But no matter what virus it is, it is a serious problem. I hope I am wrong. Call the county extension agent and ask him what to do. He will probably want to see the plants or at least a bunch of pictures.

 

[CrazyConure]

Wait, what?!?

I will say that all these varieties are heirloom. Not hybrids.

I feel kind of lost. Should I dump these plants out?

 

[CrazyConure]

I’m going to remove all the tomato plants and discard them.

is the soil considered contaminated? I just bought it and it was all new. It will pain me to throw them all out.
How can I go around this dilemma?
I did plant the tomatoes too close together. But I spaced everything out yesterday.
What do I do?

 

[Chuck]

Wait, what?!?

I will say that all these varieties are heirloom. Not hybrids.

I feel kind of lost. Should I dump these plants out?

One thing wrong with heirlooms is that they are susceptible to many virus. You really should find out what is wrong. Are all of your plants infected? To know what you have planted and what is infected would be a big help in determining what is wrong. Also, at any time previous, did you have insects and if so what kind? Many insects are vectors for virus so knowing what kind would also be a help. The main insects for transmitting a virus are whitefly, thrips and leafhoppers but just about any insect can transmit. Were any of your plants showing signs when they were young? This could be important because it could have come from the grower. Some virus stays in the soil but most are transmitted through the air, by insects and by handling. It would be a shame to lose all that soil so knowing what is wrong becomes even more important. It would also be helpful to let what fruit is there to ripen and see if it is also affected. If you start seeing lesions or concentric rings or abnormal color of the fruits that can also be an indicator of what is wrong.

Don't dump the plants out yet. You have had this disease for some time so a little longer won't make any difference. If it was going to infect other plants it already has. Just try to keep them alive until fruit ripening. You can learn more about this disease that way. And don't dump the soil yet. It may not be soil-borne. Keep a close watch on them for any other symptoms that may occur.

Did you plant any full size tomatoes? If so, what are they doing and what variety are they? Are any tomatoes OK?

 

[Chuck]

I’m going to remove all the tomato plants and discard them.

is the soil considered contaminated? I just bought it and it was all new. It will pain me to throw them all out.
How can I go around this dilemma?
I did plant the tomatoes too close together. But I spaced everything out yesterday.
What do I do?

Don't do anything yet. The soil may or may not be contaminated. You must figure out what is wrong before you start doing things. You did not do anything wrong. If this were a fungus maybe, but its not. A virus is completely different from anything else in the plant world.

 

[CrazyConure]

Ok. I will try to answer all of these questions.

1. I planted everything from seed

2. varieties are Brandywine, Sun gold, super sweet 100, better boy, Arkansas traveler.

3. I had many many whiteflies on all the plants.

4. when the plants were young, they were ok, but they never grew more than the pictures shown. They stayed small.

In the first picture, I had many super sweet 100’s tomatoes, but before I made this thread, I threw them out because I thought it was bad.

I will keep the plants, but it appears they are only getting worse and worse. The pepper plants look really good though. It’s just the tomatoes that are affected, and the heirlooms look worse.

 

[Chuck]

Ok. I will try to answer all of these questions.

1. I planted everything from seed

2. varieties are Brandywine, Sun gold, super sweet 100, better boy, Arkansas traveler.

3. I had many many whiteflies on all the plants.

4. when the plants were young, they were ok, but they never grew more than the pictures shown. They stayed small.

In the first picture, I had many super sweet 100’s tomatoes, but before I made this thread, I threw them out because I thought it was bad.

I will keep the plants, but it appears they are only getting worse and worse. The pepper plants look really good though. It’s just the tomatoes that are affected, and the heirlooms look worse.

What you have told me helps a lot. It sounds like Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl. This is a fairly new disease to Florida. It is spread by whitefly. It also stunts tomato plants. Maybe the following link will help

Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus Management for Homeowners

ipm.ifas.ufl.edu

It may not be yellow leaf curl so keep all of your remaining tomato plants and see what the fruit does. At least if it is Yellow Leaf Curl the soil is safe.

 

[CrazyConure]

What you have told me helps a lot. It sounds like Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl. This is a fairly new disease to Florida. It is spread by whitefly. It also stunts tomato plants. Maybe the following link will help

Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus Management for Homeowners

ipm.ifas.ufl.edu

It may not be yellow leaf curl so keep all of your remaining tomato plants and see what the fruit does. At least if it is Yellow Leaf Curl the soil is safe.

ok perfect. I read that article and it’s exactly true.
I have some plants that are not going to give any fruit. So I’m gonna remove those. Do you think I should stop growing tomatoes? I’m always going to have whiteflies.

 

[Chuck]

ok perfect. I read that article and it’s exactly true.
I have some plants that are not going to give any fruit. So I’m gonna remove those. Do you think I should stop growing tomatoes? I’m always going to have whiteflies.

Keep growing tomatoes. Everyone gets whitefly sooner or later and not every whitefly will carry a disease. There are ways to control whitefly. I would guess that the tomatoes that don't have fruit are the large fruited varities?

 

[Chuck]

What are the Arkansas Travelers doing? Are the booms on them OK?