Tomato trouble

[aalleva]

Hey all! I am brand new to this forum today and was hoping to get some guidance regarding some troubles I am having with my tomatoes.

I work on a farm in lower New York and have a whole bunch of tomato plants in pots in a greenhouse that are ready to be planted in the ground! I have one variety though (Sunkist) that has been looking kind of funny/unhealthy. I will attach some photos. I do have to say that we have been dealing with quite the whitefly infestation which could be contributing to the problem. The issues I am referring to in these photos include the curled up, crinkly, stiffening leaves, that almost look like they have been dried out and cut off. Also, there is some intense chlorosis on the bottom foliage. They are being watered just fine and have a nice balance of nutrients in the soil. I am a little nervous it might be early blight being spread by the white flies as I am beginning to see these same symptoms on other varieties.

Does anyone recognize these characteristics?

 

[Chuck]

IMO you have a twofold problem. Whitefly and iron chlorosis. I am pretty sure it isn't early blight as there are no halos showing. I don't think it is a lack of nitrogen either as the new growth seems OK.. If it were me I would start a spray and soil drench regimen of spinosad which will take care of the whitefly until you can move them outside

 

[aalleva]

Chuck! Thanks so much for answering so quickly. Are you relating the distorted looking leaves to the whiteflies? I do know that whiteflies can cause foliage to look chlorotic. I am happy to hear you say though that you do not think it is early blight. Phew! I have been using EndAll Safer Spray. We have only been using OMRI listed products on our plants. Do you know if Spinosad is OMRI listed?

Thanks again!

Anne

 

[Chuck]

Chuck! Thanks so much for answering so quickly. Are you relating the distorted looking leaves to the whiteflies? I do know that whiteflies can cause foliage to look chlorotic. I am happy to hear you say though that you do not think it is early blight. Phew! I have been using EndAll Safer Spray. We have only been using OMRI listed products on our plants. Do you know if Spinosad is OMRI listed?

Thanks again!

Anne

Yes, spinosad is OMRI. There are many brands with spinosad as the active ingredient. Distorted leaves are mainly caused by drastic weather changes, high low humidity, temperature etc but also by insects. Aphids are a big culprit. I do not know about a greenhouse environment as concerning whitefly only that spinosad is death to them

 

[Chuck]

Chuck! Thanks so much for answering so quickly. Are you relating the distorted looking leaves to the whiteflies? I do know that whiteflies can cause foliage to look chlorotic. I am happy to hear you say though that you do not think it is early blight. Phew! I have been using EndAll Safer Spray. We have only been using OMRI listed products on our plants. Do you know if Spinosad is OMRI listed?

Thanks again!

Anne

I forgot something. There is another insect that causes leaf deformity and it is called a Thrip. I live in Texas and during my 60+ years in the garden I have only seen this a handful of times on tomatoes. A thrip is an extremely small sucking insect about 1/100th the size of an aphid of which they resemble, both in looks and habits. These things live in the soil and when the weather warms up enough they literally crawl up the plant. You cannot see them with the naked eye. There are different types of thrips, the most common is the rose thrip. A rose thrip only damages the flower bud and the rose petals but the type of thrip that damages tomatoes embeds itself into the microscopic crevices of a leaf, sucking its sap and causing it to deform. The only way to know for sure if you have thrips is to detach one of the curled leaves, take it inside and thump the curled leaf onto a sheet of white paper. The ones that haven't embedded themselves into the plant will fall off and you can see them. They are much smaller than a grain of fine ground black pepper. Or you can see them with a magnifying glass if it is strong enough. The good news is, is that spinosad will kill them too. And for you rose growers out there spinosad will NOT work because the thrips are inside the bud and only a systemic will kill them. As I said, I am from Texas and don't know if you have thrips up there or not, but I can't imagine that you don"t. Hope this helps