{"id":2711,"date":"2019-05-03T00:03:59","date_gmt":"2019-05-03T07:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pal-question-500\/"},"modified":"2024-11-13T14:29:07","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T22:29:07","slug":"common-tomato-problems-and-diseases","status":"publish","type":"pal","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/common-tomato-problems-and-diseases\/","title":{"rendered":"common tomato problems and diseases"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was just outside checking on the slow ripening progress of my<\/strong>
\ntomato plants and noticed something that has me concerned. There seems to be a fungus or mold at the very base of my “super fantastic” tomato plant.<\/strong>
\nOther than this issue and the slow ripening the plant seems to be<\/strong>
\ndoing okay. I haven’t noticed this fungus\/mold before so I don’t know<\/strong>
\nif has just appeared and is spreading rapidly or if it has been<\/strong>
\nthere all along. Do you know what it is? Will it spread through<\/strong>
\nthe entire plant? Will it spread to the other tomato plants and<\/strong>
\nveggies in this bed? Should I remove the entire plant?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This sounds a lot like Fusarium wilt, but it could also be Verticillium
\n(another fungal problem) or even walnut toxicity (do you have any black
\nwalnut trees within 50 feet of your plants?). It might even be excessive
\nwatering which is causing the problem.<\/p>\n

According to The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Insect and
\nDisease Control<\/em> edited by Barbara Ellis (Rodale, 1996), you can cut open
\na stem near the soil line and look for internal discoloration.
\nVerticillium affects the whole plant, while Fusarium will start by
\ninfecting individual shoots and then spread. Tomato Fusarium only affects
\ntomatoes, while there are numerous plants which are susceptible to
\nVerticillium. The best thing to do if your plant is suffering from these
\nfungal diseases is to destroy them, so you may want to take a sample to a
\nMaster Gardener Clinic for diagnosis before you do anything drastic.<\/p>\n

General resources on tomato problems:<\/p>\n

Recognizing Tomato Problems<\/a> from Colorado State University Extension.<\/p>\n

Vegetable MD Online<\/a> from Cornell University.<\/p>\n

University of California, Davis Integrated Pest Management<\/a> has
\nexcellent pictures of the insides of the stems, for comparison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was just outside checking on the slow ripening progress of my tomato plants and noticed something that has me concerned. There seems to be a fungus or mold at the very base of my “super fantastic” tomato plant. Other than this issue and the slow ripening the plant seems to be doing okay. I haven’t noticed this fungus\/mold before so I don’t know if has just appeared and is spreading rapidly or if it has been there all along….<\/p>\n

Continue reading common tomato problems and diseases<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[661,261],"class_list":["post-2711","pal","type-pal","status-publish","hentry","keyword-tomatoes-diseases-and-pests","keyword-verticillium"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal\/2711"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pal"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=2711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}