Common Tomato Problems and Solutions from TomatoFest (2024)

FAQs

Common Tomato Problems and Solutions from TomatoFest? ›

If you provide your plants too much water you may suffer root rot. Insufficient watering will result in a weak plant and inferior, dry fruit. Avoid overhead watering or getting the leaves wet which can promote disease. It is best to ground-water your plants and avoid splashing lower leaves with wet dirt.

To create a solution that prevents and treats disease, add a heaping tablespoon of baking soda, a teaspoon of vegetable oil, and a small amount of mild soap to a gallon of water and spray the tomato plants with this solution. This needs to be reapplied regularly to maintain its efficiency.

Foreign competition, unpredictable weather patterns, pest and disease problems, regulatory burdens and the rising cost of labor are just some of the challenges the state's tomato growers face.

Unlike Fusarium wilt, Verticillium wilt causes uniform yellowing and wilting of the lower leaves. As the disease progresses, younger leaves begin to wilt and die, until only a few healthy leaves remain at the top of the plant. Although diseased plants are not killed, they are stunted and weak and produce small fruit.

Signs of Common Tomato Problems:

Water-soaked lesions. Holes in leaves and fruit. Cracks in fruit. Yellowed, distorted leaves.

Blossom-End Rot

Blossom-end rot is a common tomato plant disease that impacts the fruit. It is caused by a lack of calcium, usually brought on by fluctuating water availability. It appears as a sunken, dead area opposite the stem (the blossom end of the fruit). The area will expand as the fruit matures.

Symptoms in tomato plants are the upward curling of leaves, yellow (chlorotic) leaf margins, smaller leaves than normal, plant stunting, and flower drop. If tomato plants are infected early in their growth, there may be no fruit formed. Infected plants may appear randomly throughout the garden.

The signs of overwatering tomato plants are yellow, blistered or wilting leaves. Stems may turn yellow, too. To check if you are overwater, put your finger into the soil to assess how wet it is. If it feels boggy, especially after a dry day, your tomato plants are most definitely overwatered.

High temperatures, heat waves and hydric stress are hindering the crop of different fruits and vegetables, and the optimization of resources is causing fewer tomatoes to be planted or to be ultimately replaced by other more profitable crops.

If evening temperatures fall below 55 degrees, remain above 75 degrees, or if the humidity is too high, blossoms can also drop prematurely. Tomatoes are pollinated by wind or insects. During extreme weather conditions, there can be low populations of insects, which will result in low fruit production.

What is the problem with tomatoes rotting? ›

Blossom-end rot is caused by insufficient calcium in the tissue of the tomato. Calcium is taken up into the plant through the roots, however, it settles in one part of the plant. This means that the rot can occur even when there is an ample supply of calcium in the soil, stems or leaves.

Rapid wilting and death of plants without yellowing or spotting of leaves. Brown discoloration and decay are evident inside the stems of infected plants.

What Does Tomato Blight Look Like? Early blight is characterized by concentric rings on lower leaves, which eventually turn yellow, wilt and drop. Late blight displays blue-gray spots, browning and dropped leaves and slick brown spots on fruit.

The first symptoms appear when fruit begins to mature. Lower leaves turn yellow, sometimes on one side of the plant or one side of a branch. This is followed by leaf and stem wilting. When an infected stem is scraped or split lengthwise you will see browning of the vascular tissue (the tissue closest to the "skin").

Buck Eye Rot(Phytophthora parasitica): Fruit rot or buckeye rot is a serious disease in all the tomato growing areas. The disease causing the fruits to rot initially affects the fruits near the ground level. The pathogen does not affect the foliage and thus the disease is distinct from late blight.

The signs of overwatering tomato plants are yellow, blistered or wilting leaves. Stems may turn yellow, too. To check if you are overwater, put your finger into the soil to assess how wet it is. If it feels boggy, especially after a dry day, your tomato plants are most definitely overwatered.

Early blight and septoria leaf spot are two common fungal diseases that cause spots on tomato foliage. Young early blight lesions can resemble bacterial lesions and often have a yellow halo. Look for the dark concentric rings that indicate early blight. Early blight lesions enlarge and become angular over time.