Thripe

[Annie]

I don't know if I have this or not. My tomatoes are planted in whiskey barrels and they are doing great but I noticed one plant at the end has yellow leaves that are starting at the bottom with some brown spots on them. The plant if beautiful at the top and full of blooms and tomatoes. I picked of the yellow leaves but now I notice the plant next to it has started getting yellow leaves at the bottom and it also has a lot of tomatoes on it. Do I have thripe and what can I spray my plants with. Do I need to pull up those two plants. I hate to because they have so many tomatoes on them and otherwise look healthy. We have had such weird weather, cool at night and hot during day. I have about 15 plants and the rest look good. Don't know what to do. Annie

[Dewayne mater]

Yellow leaves and brown spots sounds like plain old early blight. I can't really tell without pictures, but, EB is an inevitable condition in my experience so far, and that is what it looks like. Still, I would remove the affected leaves, throw them away, and treat with antifungals, actinovate, and do your best to keep the leaves from getting wet as that seems to spread all foliar disease. Good luck.

Dewayne mater

[Annie]

Dewayne, thanks, we have had rain and cool nights. They were looking so good and then these yellow started to appear on one plant and then the one next to it. I will spray and keep checking. Ann

[amideutch]

I don't know what is going on but a lot of members in Texas are reporting disease problems in the last week or two. Ami

[dice]

This is what early blight looks like:
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/IPM/engl...ly-blight.html

(If that is not it, you can look at these links for more diagnostics:
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/IPM/engl...ers/index.html
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/p...problemsolver/
http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.corne...ys/TomKey.html
)

[John3]

Annie did you start them from seeds or did you buy them as plants. If you bought them as plants are they Bonnie plants? Just wondering?

[Dewayne mater]

Ami - very observant of you! I think it is a combination of wet cool weather, some of us had that with major storms with hail, etc, along with an early spring that seemed to start in late Feb in N. Texas and with very little freezing weather, that meant disease and insects didn't die back as much as usual. Now they are thriving. Definitely is a time for vigilance!

Dewayne mater

[Annie]

I started with seeds and they all did great, we had a really hard rain last Friday and then we had weather in the 40's at night. My worry was these were the only two plants that had it on them. I did find some minute black bugs on them and also found two little grey worms. We had no freeze this winter to kill any bugs. I planted my tomatoes on the 26th. of Feb. Just took a chance that it wasn;t going to freeze. My grandson who lives next door planted at the same time but he sprayed for everything before he even saw anything but some aphids. His garden is a picture, all kinds of tomatoes and everyone is beautiful and loaded with tomatoes except for a few that are now blooming but hasn't produced as many as some of the others. He probably has 50 plants and everyone looks great. Mine are in whiskey barrels and all look good except for these two. The ones planted in the ground just do better but I am glad not to have to weed. We are still having cool nights. Texas weather in our area has been very nice, no hundred degree weather yet. Annie

[dice]

A descriptive article on thrips:
http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/444/444-281/444-281.html

Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus and thrips:
http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.corne...pottedWilt.htm

[amideutch]

My grandson who lives next door planted at the same time but he sprayed for everything before he even saw anything but some aphids. His garden is a picture, all kinds of tomatoes and everyone is beautiful and loaded with tomatoes except for a few that are now blooming but hasn't produced as many as some of the others.

Annie, please find out exactly what products your grandson used for his spray and let us know. I can't emphasize enough the importance of treating your plants as soon as you plant them out for disease. Ami

[Crandrew]

^yes im understanding that more and more as I go.

Cause instead of going from to to to starting early allows you to go totototo .

[Annie]

I sprayed them with daconil late this afternoon for the blight and yesterday I sprayed with neem oil late in the afternoon for aphids. Now in a few days I need to spray for worms because I found two little dark worms on one of the plants. I am about sprayed out. If the leaves continue to turn yellow I guess it is the spotted wilt so I will jerk those plants out but they sure have a lot of tomatoes on them. Will keep you posted. Annie

[Annie]

He sprayed every two weeks with dacomil. I have looked everywhere for anything that looks like a thripe and can't find anything. Did find a few aphids but not many. I have day lilies and know what aphids look like.

[Annie]

Oh I forgot to add, the two tomatoes that have this is German Johnson and Mortgage Lifter. These I did not grow from seeds, my grandson gave them to me and his are doing O.K. So far these are the only two that are bad. I have Brandyboy not too far away loaded with tomatoes and they look O.K. Now I grow these in whiskey barrels so it is hard to judge whether they are too wet are too dry. They all have good drainage but sometime if they look a little wilted I water them with a drip system but it is still hard to judge. Maybe the yellow leaves are from too much water. I used to grow tomatoes, just put them in the ground and never did anything to them but gave them a little fertilizer and never had any problems. I am beginning to think I have spent too much time babying them. Annie

[amideutch]

Well, if the only thing Annie's grandson used is Daconil then it is an airborne bacteria/fungus. Again if your plants are already infected Daconil will not help.
Ami