CrazyConure
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I'm curious to know what causes tomatoes to look like this.
Why do my tomatoes look like this? *Pictures*
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Chuck
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More than likely the damage was done by thrips while the baby tomato was just barely starting to show or when the tomato was forming inside the bloom. You can confirm this when the tomato turns a motley reddish yellowish color instead of a solid color. They don't normally damage the eating quality they just make the tomato not grow as large as it should have. Two other possibilities are aphids and baby stink bugs but I think you would have noticed them.
CrazyConure
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Hmm. I don't think I've seen thrips, aphids, or stink bug on my tomato plants before. I've definitely seen whiteflies though. It doesn't look like this on all the tomatoes, just on a few of them.
Chuck
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That is why I think it is thrips. You don't see them. When they first emerge they are much smaller than spider mites, impossible to see without magnification. BTW, remove all those dead and yellowing leaves on your plants and do not put them in the compost pile.
CrazyConure
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Ok. This variety is Solar Fire. It's a determinate. I didn't bother removing the dead leaves because I thought it was normal for the leaves to all die from the bottom up before harvest. Am I wrong in that assumption and it's actually thrips that's causing the leaves to look like that? There is quite a bit of dead leaves.
Chuck
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Thrips did not cause the yellowing of leaves. Either spider mites or early blight did. Probably the later and there isn't much you can do about it. I put a thin layer of horticultural cornmeal all around the base of the plant and that helps but doesn't cure the problem. By removing the affected leaves you will save the plant long enough to get your harvest and that is what counts. It is normal for leaves to die from the bottom up but not this soon. You might get a few dead leaves but not a bunch of them.
CrazyConure
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I just used baking soda with water as a fungicide. Won't that stop the early blight? Why can't we treat it?
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I am sorry to say this but there is no cure for EB. We can slow it down but we cannot stop it. The only thing we can do is to slow it down long enough for our fruit to ripen. Baking soda semi-works. I have tried it. I have used milk. It semi-works. The best thing I have found is horticultural cornmeal applied to the lower parts of the plants and spread around the base of the plant. Who ever finds a cure for EB will be a zillionaire. All we can do is take precautions such as covering the soil with mulch to keep the soil from splashing up on the plant. We can spray with a fungicide like Neem which works better than baking soda but cost a lot more. Commercial tomato growers are coming out with EB resistant varieties but even they still get EB although not as bad. EB is wind born and soil born. Some areas of the country do not have EB. I, you and many other gardeners have it so all we can do is try to live with it.