Tomato virus?

sussexbaker

Hi all

I can see it's obviously the time of year for tomato problems having read the other recent thread on the subject. Anyway I've put up a blog post with photos of the plant in question. Small brown patches appearing on the leaf, and the plant seems to be in decline as well:

Photos of the leaf

They're growing in Tomorite grow bags, each plant is in a bottomless pot with two to a bag.

I do worry about overwatering at the moment. That particuarly bag is getting about 1.5l of water a day via a bottle top watering spike. Too much too soon?

I'm really hoping it's something as simple as overwatering as it's my first attempt at greenhouse growing and I really don't want to see my whole crop being ruined by some nasty bug.

wallbash

That particuarly bag is getting about 1.5l of water a day via a bottle top watering spike. Too much too soon?

Yes , would be thinking that amount with a VERY large plant , fully laden in August.

My toms ( same size / green house/ growbag )are only been watered every other day , just not getting the warmth.

sussexbaker

OK, I didn't water this morning so I'll leave them for another day and see how they do.

Yorkie1

Someone on another forum suggested thrip damage - I've not seen it before but have a google for images to see whether it tallies.

sussexbaker

It doesn't look like thrips, and I've searched the underside looking for them as well.

What ever it is it does appear to be spreading. I'm wondering if it might be something to do with how I've planted them. They're sitting in bottomless pots filled with John Innes 3 which then sit in Tomaroite grow bags. I've not fed them yet as the most 'advanced' only have a single truss of flowers so far. It's rather silly but I'm really quite upset/worried by this!

Higher resolution photos

One of the plants also has some purple blotches appearing on the edge of the leaf.

Oh, and my potato patch is alongside my greenhouse (though I have no louvre vents on that side).

ALIBOBSY

When you water the plants do you only water the roots, or do the leaves get wet as the first brown marks could be burn marks if the sun was very bright onto water drops on the leaves?

The second photo looks like possibly whitefly/aphid damage. TBH it all looks pretty minor and as long as the plant is growing strong I wouldn't bother too much.

I think we must have been lucky with our weather here as my toms in the greenhouse are massive and the "hildare" variety I got from lidl that is supposed to be desease resistant has grown like triffids and is now covered in green tomatos ALREADY.

If they taste good then it will be a real winner and worth looking out for.

Ali x

sussexbaker

I use watering spikes with plastic bottles so hopefully it's all going down into the roots. As an aside, I've got them in bottomless pots set into growbags, should I be putting the spike into the pot or into the bag?

It does seem quite minor so I've calmed down a bit, I've got a couple of small green fruit on one of the plants as well so hoping it'll bode well. I gave them all a first feed last week and they seem to be responding nicely to that. I'll stick a couple of glue traps above them though (although I do worry about them catching bees instead).

demystified

It doesn't look serious to me, I think you're worrying too much. Possibly sun scorch damage or some kind of bug/aphid is taking the occasional meal.

Plant looks healthy enough, I wouldn't worry about it myself, its not serious/fatal at this point.

jap200

It's too patchy to be a virus. I agree with demystified that it is some minor insect damage or possibly scorching from water droplets (although less likely as we haven't had much sun recently).

The plants look v healthy to me - there are far worse problems to have with tomatoes! You should get a good crop with a bit of time and patience.