Tomato plants have brown spots on leaves!

[willyg]

hi all, just wondering if anyone knows whats going on here with these tomatoes
i bought them a couple of weeks ago from lidl and have had them in my wee greenhouse i got for 20 quid

there is a problem with this greenhouse though, as i can see lots of green algae on the soil of all the plants in it , everytime it rains the condensation waters the plants for me but i fear they are getting over watered this way and i dont think i can stop it
could this be overwatering? i recently dug up last years blighted potatoes in the garden a few yards away from the wee greenhouse could this be blight?
any help is much appreciated thanks!

 

[Chuck]

I don't know if it is blight but it is a fungus. Tomatoes do not like to be wet and dampness causes fungus. I doubt if they will survive no matter what you do.

 

[Beth_B]

Sad to say it does look like blight.

Is your weather warm enough to open up the sides of the greenhouse? Not sure if that will save your tomatoes, but they sure are not liking those humid conditions.

 

[willyg]

that is bad news , i have more cherry tomatoes in there too that are showing no signs of it at all
sounds like i should remove and get rid of all the affected plants
i have just put the plastic on my big polytunnel, what if i moved them to that?

 

[Beth_B]

I've had blight issues too. Oddly enough, the cherry tomatoes still produced like crazy all season long, even the ones that were affected and had sad brown leaves.

 

[Chuck]

that is bad news , i have more cherry tomatoes in there too that are showing no signs of it at all
sounds like i should remove and get rid of all the affected plants
i have just put the plastic on my big polytunnel, what if i moved them to that?

As long as it is not wet and super humid your big greenhouse should be ok. Can you put a fan in it to provide air circulation. Once a tomato has a fungus like that survival is at a minimum no matter what you do. You can try fungicides but IME it seldom helps very much.

 

[Tech]

It does look a little like blight but it's not showing all the classic indicators of it. I usually get weird phenomena like this on at least 1 tomato plant each year. I usually chalk it up to some sort of stress. It possibly experienced an over watering period and is now showing signs of some deficiency due to it, or like chuck said some other fungus. If it's not blight, I'd expect it to recover quite well.

 

[willyg]

i brought the 6 tomato plants that have it inside a few days ago because i havent got doors on my big greenhouse yet as im still constructing it so theres just plastic on it , but not much circulation and i cant get a fan in there, but i have other plants inside that i started from seed and im hardening off such as lettuce and brocolli, strawberries and some herbs. the lettuce and brocolli are sitting beside the tomatoes and they seem to be getting small brown blotches on the leaves too just one or two. i am going to keep an eye and see if it spreads, but if it does it wouldnt be blight then right? cuz only tomatoes and potatoes are susceptible to that?
if it does spread would it be some sort of fungus for definate? and if so should i get rid of all the affected plants?
the tomatoes may have been overwatered as the humidity in the greenhouse condenses the rainwater and waters the plants for me like that but i cant control the rain so but i have other tomatoes in there and they are perfectly healthy still. and peppers in there are all healthy too and chillis aswell.
i hope its just some deficiancy and they pull through!

 

[Tech]

I don't think the same strain of blight effects one species to the next. I get early blight every year and it only ever effects our tomatoes, it's possible though, especially in a greenhouse where plants might be more susceptible to something that otherwise wouldn't effect them. Apparently there is such a thing as broccoli blight (who'd of guessed)

"if it does spread would it be some sort of fungus for definate?" It could be, I've seen a lot of weird little things come up over the years, especially when plants are in the seedling stage, accompanied by over watering, a mix of cold nights, possible climate shock or transplant shock, + growing in a greenhouse. A lot of weird things can happen, but it is starting to sound more and more like a bacterial/fungus infection. Maybe a bit too early to tell, but feel free to post some pictures.

Maybe that lettuce and broccoli can go outside soon, might free up some space in there and allow for more air movement.

 

[willyg]

what your describing tech is exactly whats been going on in my wee greenhouse recently as its colder here in ireland but i meant i brought the tomatoes into a windowsill in the house and i also have the brocolli and lettuce here in the house, theyll be hardened off by next week. the brown spots on them dont seem to be spreading maybe its something else but i will check again tomorow, i am bringing my strawberries in and out everyday and i can plant them out on monday , but there is bad frost coming next week apparently so i dont know if i should
as for the tomatoes im wondering should i just get rid of them , or keep them in my house because if i put them in the big greenhouse, which will be ready to plant in by the end of next week, the suspected fungus on them may infect the rest of my tomatoes? i can get some more tomato plants at my local shop next week to replace these ones like, maybe its best just getting rid of them?

 

[Tech]

Plants in general are extremely resilient to most things if just left to their own devices. Best case scenario, you might just loose a few leaves, and it was nothing that major Eventually those tomatoes will be going outside? If it's not blight I don't really see an issue, recovery would be high.

In my experience, and If blight is indeed the culprit, separating plants or removing leaves wont help. By the time blight is spotted it's usually too late and all plants are usually effected by it even if the other plants don't show signs of it, even still, you can crop tomatoes with blight but expect a lower yield, and count on them not vine ripening.

In 3-5 days post a pic of that same leaf again and If there is changes to it, we might be able to rule one way or another. I'm very skeptical anything of major concern is actually going on. Don't be too hasty, quarantine the problematic tomato plant if you can, but don't kill it, you can use it as an indicator for what is really going on.

 

[willyg]

my 6 cherry tomatoes are all affected, but this happened before i noticed, when i noticed the spots they were all affected like, i cant remember which leaf i took the picture of either lol i moved them around since but i will take new pics now and then take pics of the same one in a few days and we will see if it is spreading, my other big tomatoes are still fine no signs at all they look really healthy and they were in the greenhouse with these ones,
the plan is to plant these tomatoes in the big polytunnel greenhouse in a week or two along with all my peppers chillis different basil strains and other tomatoes, along with my watermelons i just started
i will go take a few pics now, hopefully the spots stay the same but ive got a week or two to find out so not so bad

 

[willyg]

here are the pics of them, i took close ups of one branch on one plant that i will go back and take again of the same one in a few days time

 

[zigs]

That looks more like leaf miner damage, or sun scald from water droplets. Way too early for blight here.

 

[Chuck]

That looks more like leaf miner damage, or sun scald from water droplets. Way too early for blight here.

I agree with sunscald. I wonder if these pictures are of the same plant in the original pictures? If so it is not a fungus. Also the purple veins in the origional pictures possibly could be caused by a lack of phosphorus