What is wrong with this picture?

Rufus · May 21, 2012

Ok, so I have a problem tomato plant.

From right to left in this picture these plants are Sweet 100, Sungold, and Chocolate Cherry. (with a few bell peppers hanging out in between)

They were all planted on the same day, guess which one is giving me a headache...

That last tomato has had some bad luck. It grew slowly from the start, and then a deer visited and gave it an informal pruning, but the deer snacked on the other two plants as well and they recovered nicely.

What could be causing that last plant to stay stunted? Could it be insects? I have taken a few pictures of the various bugs on the plant.

The plant:

The suspects:

So yeah... essentially that last tomato is the neighborhood salad bar.

Any ideas?

ddsack · May 22, 2012

Rufus, your pictures are not showing up. Try copying and using the picture link next to the phpBB choice on PicPaste

TomatoDon · May 22, 2012

Instead of what's wrong with that picture, it looks like something is wrong with all of them.

Worth1 · May 22, 2012

Looks like ghost tomato sickness to me.

Otherwise known as Tomatergeist.
No cure for it, the only way you can see the tomato plants is through a Medium.

Worth

Rufus · May 22, 2012

Odd, They worked when I previewed them... lets see if I can make it work this time.

Rufus · May 22, 2012

And just to be sure... here is trying the other way:

Doug9345 · May 22, 2012

Rufus. Welcome to tomatoville. The problem I had uploading pictures ,the first couple of times I tried it, was to forget to click on the upload button that's to the right of the bottom browse button.

BarbJ · May 22, 2012

Rufus,

The third pic down is a Lacewing larvae. It is a Good Guy! Don't disturb it.

It will eat tons of what is in your other pictures, which are aphids. Pic number 4 looks like an eaten aphid. And the last pic has a few live aphids, but not a lot of them. I'd encourage the Lacewing larvae and they'll dispatch those few aphids in short order.

The deer munching a lot sure could stunt it. They do that to some roses in the front yard, I just don't expect much from those bushes.

I suppose it's possible also that it could have gotten a virus or something from the aphids, but if that was so, I'd expect the other tomatoes right next to it to be affected too, and they look fine.
So yeah, maybe the deer.

Kazfam · May 23, 2012

I do believe that larva pic is a Syrphid Fly larva which becomes a Hover Fly. It is beneficial in that it eats aphids. Here is a pic: http://mint.ippc.orst.edu/syrphid.htm

I have been told by old time veggie gardeners that fishing line around your garden or plants will keep deer away. Perhaps put in a few stakes and stretch a couple lengths of fishing wire at various heights between the stakes. I am going to try this in front of my Sunflowers (Mammoth) that I just planted last week along the outside of my garden fence. We have LOTS of deer.

May 21, 2012	#1
Rufus Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 3	What is wrong with this picture? Ok, so I have a problem tomato plant. From right to left in this picture these plants are Sweet 100, Sungold, and Chocolate Cherry. (with a few bell peppers hanging out in between) They were all planted on the same day, guess which one is giving me a headache... That last tomato has had some bad luck. It grew slowly from the start, and then a deer visited and gave it an informal pruning, but the deer snacked on the other two plants as well and they recovered nicely. What could be causing that last plant to stay stunted? Could it be insects? I have taken a few pictures of the various bugs on the plant. The plant: The suspects: So yeah... essentially that last tomato is the neighborhood salad bar. Any ideas?

May 22, 2012	#2
ddsack Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Northern Minnesota - zone 3 Posts: 3,220	Rufus, your pictures are not showing up. Try copying and using the picture link next to the phpBB choice on PicPaste __________________ Dee **************

May 22, 2012	#3
TomatoDon Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: MS Posts: 1,521	Instead of what's wrong with that picture, it looks like something is wrong with all of them. __________________ Zone 7B, N. MS

May 22, 2012	#7
Doug9345 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Durhamville,NY Posts: 2,706	Rufus. Welcome to tomatoville. The problem I had uploading pictures ,the first couple of times I tried it, was to forget to click on the upload button that's to the right of the bottom browse button. Last edited by Doug9345; May 22, 2012 at 09:12 AM.

May 22, 2012	#4
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Looks like ghost tomato sickness to me. Otherwise known as Tomatergeist. No cure for it, the only way you can see the tomato plants is through a Medium. Worth

May 22, 2012	#8
BarbJ Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: California, USA Posts: 154	Rufus, The third pic down is a Lacewing larvae. It is a Good Guy! Don't disturb it. It will eat tons of what is in your other pictures, which are aphids. Pic number 4 looks like an eaten aphid. And the last pic has a few live aphids, but not a lot of them. I'd encourage the Lacewing larvae and they'll dispatch those few aphids in short order. The deer munching a lot sure could stunt it. They do that to some roses in the front yard, I just don't expect much from those bushes. I suppose it's possible also that it could have gotten a virus or something from the aphids, but if that was so, I'd expect the other tomatoes right next to it to be affected too, and they look fine. So yeah, maybe the deer.

May 23, 2012	#9
Kazfam Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Upstate South Carolina Posts: 113	I do believe that larva pic is a Syrphid Fly larva which becomes a Hover Fly. It is beneficial in that it eats aphids. Here is a pic: http://mint.ippc.orst.edu/syrphid.htm I have been told by old time veggie gardeners that fishing line around your garden or plants will keep deer away. Perhaps put in a few stakes and stretch a couple lengths of fishing wire at various heights between the stakes. I am going to try this in front of my Sunflowers (Mammoth) that I just planted last week along the outside of my garden fence. We have LOTS of deer.