Tomatos gone dotty!

intraclast · « **on:** September 07, 2008, 21:05 »

Hello everyone! I'm hoping one of you may be able to help me with a problem that has developed with my tomatos. They have developed small brown spots, that originate from the stalk of the fruit. Some have developed this before they have ripened and end up a sickly pale orange. The fruit also has a very matt finish, not nice and shiny as you would expect them to be.

The leaves have developed dark patches on the fleshy part of the leaf between the veins, and curled a little at the edges as if dehydrated. This happened a while before the fruit started to suffer.

here are some pics:

They are grown in a greenhouse, we keep the window open all the time, and the door open most of the time, although recently only about 10cms as the weather has been so horrible.

We are planning to pull up and dispose of the offending plants, but have left them in at the moment in case anyone asks something about them to help solve the problem.

Thanks in advance!

Beetroot queen · « **Reply #1 on:** September 07, 2008, 21:08 »

Looks like some of the other pics I have seen, its my first year of all this, but the others have been talking about potato blight. :?

intraclast · « **Reply #2 on:** September 07, 2008, 21:29 »

oh dear, I was hoping it might just be bad ventilation or something similar...

can anyone confirm this and advise on how best to deal with it?

thanks for the speedy reply!

Beetroot queen · « **Reply #3 on:** September 07, 2008, 21:30 »

Quote from: "intraclast"

oh dear, I was hoping it might just be bad ventilation or something similar...

can anyone confirm this and advise on how best to deal with it?

thanks for the speedy reply!

It may not be but someone far more wise than me will help

kezlou · « **Reply #4 on:** September 08, 2008, 08:30 »

Dont think its blight, which is what potatoes had, they go brown and look rotten rather than dotty.
Could be it may need some more tomato feed and water.
But i'm a novice so i'm someone more experienced will be along shortly.

jennyb · « **Reply #5 on:** September 08, 2008, 08:39 »

i wouldn't have said blight but again i'm no expert. my blighted tomatoes, the brown is a lot stronger and deeper and on the leaves its not spotty.

i was under the impression that the picture of your leaves was more to do with mineral deficiency. like iron or magnesium.

paintedlady · « **Reply #6 on:** September 08, 2008, 08:51 »

Have a look on this website http://www.trygardeningwhich.co.uk/article.php?p_id=20&jlnk=csl0100
as there seems to be similar descriptions but you might be able to pin point exactly which one intraclast

gobs · « **Reply #7 on:** September 08, 2008, 18:38 »

Freckles!

Probably not...

Any symptoms on the stems, on the base of the plant?

What were the spots like on the orange fruit? What is the spotty fruit like inside?

Where are the affected fruit and leaves located on the plant?

Are the spots mostly on the sunny side of the fruit?

How long ago did this start?

cudders · « **Reply #8 on:** September 08, 2008, 21:05 »

Hi,

I've had quite a few leaves go like that over the last few months and have just snipped off the offending branches. So far nothing on the toms or stems so I havent been worried by it. I'm over flowing with toms and all in good condition.

Not sure what it is though. The leaves are kind of purple just like mine have been.

Cudders

Big Jen · « **Reply #9 on:** September 08, 2008, 21:24 »

Me too, had spotty leaves and some rotten fruit earlier in the season but have ended up with a massive crop of good toms- well until the blight started anyway.
Decided the spotty leaves was a deficiency of some kind from poor compost perhaps, overfeeding with fertilizers seemed to remedy the problem. I have had a few toms with these spots on but they are ok inside and I have been eating them with no ill effects.
Every single tomato plant in my greenhouse (24 plants) got these spots, the ones outside were mainly unaffected but they were in different compost. I wont buy cheap growbags next year because I am sure that was the cause of the problem.

BJ

intraclast · « **Reply #10 on:** September 09, 2008, 07:29 »

Thanks for all the replies. I'll get back to you on your questions as I'm back in the office now & it was dark when I got home.

As far as I can recall the leaves started a while ago, maybe 1-2 months and the fruit started getting very pale freckles about three weeks ago.

We ran out of tomato feed about 5 weeks ago, and didn't have a chance/remember to get any more.

We are also growing a cherry variety and whilst its leaves have done a similar thing, the fruit are ok.

On the pale fruit the marking were a bit more blotchy, and there was one where the surface of the skin was really thin and loosing its integrity.

We've also used an auto watering system (hoselock) this year a bit, not all the time, as we have been away/busy quite a bit, as a result I think the atmosphere has been quite damp in there at times.

I'm really hoping that its just an end user problem, and not something nasty brewing in the greenhouse.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far, and at least it doesnt look as if its blight

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Tomatos gone dotty!

Beetroot queen

Beetroot queen