Free app that diagnosed my tomato disease from a photo

[val26]

Hey fellow gardeners My tomato plants were struggling last month with yellowing leaves and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I found this free app called Chlora that lets you take a photo of the affected leaf and it identifies the disease and gives you treatment steps. It actually saved my harvest
I'm not affiliated with them, just wanted to share since it really helped me. Has anyone else tried plant diagnostic apps? Would love to hear your experience

 

[Meadowlark]

So, what "disease" did it identify and what treatment steps did it give? Post the photo here.

 

[Martin Mikulcik]

Hey fellow gardeners My tomato plants were struggling last month with yellowing leaves and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I found this free app called Chlora that lets you take a photo of the affected leaf and it identifies the disease and gives you treatment steps. It actually saved my harvest
I'm not affiliated with them, just wanted to share since it really helped me. Has anyone else tried plant diagnostic apps? Would love to hear your experience

What did it tell you to do? It might just have greened up a little after the hottest part of the summer faded and you got rain. Or it said something generic like fertilizer and you growing in peat moss so yeah.

There's few people competent to judge what you're asking from just a picture, i don't believe ai can do more than get lucky at this stage

 

[val26]

Thanks for asking, the app identified it as Late Blight and what impressed me was it explained the likely causes specific to my situation like wet foliage and overhead watering, then gave me a 7-day recovery plan with practical steps to save the plant. I've attached screenshots showing the diagnosis and recovery plan - the plant has stopped deteriorating and is showing new healthy growth after following these steps for about a week. Has anyone else dealt with Late Blight in humid conditions?

 

[val26]

What did it tell you to do? It might just have greened up a little after the hottest part of the summer faded and you got rain. Or it said something generic like fertilizer and you growing in peat moss so yeah.

There's few people competent to judge what you're asking from just a picture, i don't believe ai can do more than get lucky at this stage

Fair skepticism, to answer your question it specifically told me to prune the lower affected leaves, switch to watering only at the base early morning (not overhead) add straw mulch to prevent soil splash, and apply copper fungicide every 7-10 days.

I'll admit I was doubtful too, but the difference was it didn't just say "add fertilizer" it explained why my plant got sick (wet foliage + poor air circulation in my specific setup) and gave me a day by day recovery plan.

You're right that it could've been the weather, but my other tomato plants in the same conditions didn't recover - only this one did after I followed those specific steps.

I'm not saying it's perfect, but it gave me more actionable advice than the generic "could be this or that" answers I was getting everywhere else. Happy to keep you posted on whether the plant fully recovers or if it was just luck

 

[Martin Mikulcik]

Can we see a before and after?
The picture you provided isn't late blight and looks frankly more like ai slop. The square showing the affected area is a shadow, background looks generated

And late blight isn't really even cured as much as managed and thats with fungicides. It gave you preventative advice you probably should have been doing anyway for a disease you don't have. Well really youre trying to sell a product...

 

[Sheal]

I agree with Martin. Also, that tomato looks too perfect for a plant that supposedly has blight.

 

[Meadowlark]

... it gave me more actionable advice than the generic "could be this or that" answers I was getting everywhere else.

The truth is it could be this or that or nothing at all.

That's one of my biggest complaints about the current state of AI plant diagnosis and ID. It too often does not allow for the very real possibility that it is incorrect.

Action based on incorrect knowledge can often be worse than no action at all.

As a tool it has great possibilities, but those possibilities simply have not been realized as yet, IMO.