Tomato Plant Problem [General]

2015 Jul 18
We have four raised gardens, one of them is just tomatoes. This is the second year in a row that our all of tomato plants turn yellow with brown spots. This year we changed out the soil yet still have the same problem. We've thought it might be blight. Based on this, we've been treating it with baking soda/oil and soap in water. It's not working and we are beyond frustrated.

Has anyone else had this same problem?

2015 Jul 18
With more information, I might be able to help.

When you say changed the soil, changed it with soil from where?

Do you plant your tomatoes in the same place every year?

Are you fertilizing, if so with what and how often?

Do the leaves turn yellow, then get spots, or other way around?

Do you still get fruit, or does the whole plant die before the tomatoes ripen?

2015 Jul 19
I'm getting a good crop of purple caribe potatoes this year, but some of the plants are doing the same as your tomatoes.

The Inca created the tomato and potato from the same ancestral species and they share something like 98% of the same genes. One produces berries, the other tubers. You are still getting berries it seems, and I'm still getting tubers.

Looking forward to Organic girl's answer.

I think my leaves went yellow first, then spots.

I might have grown tomatoes in some of the same spots last year.

And I was wondering if spraying with a solution of epsom salts in water would help (Magnesium Sulphate).

When the plants turned yellow and started dying I dug up the potatoes and I still got a lot and quite large ones. I started the tubers indoors around the beginning of April, and used the "pull start" method.

2015 Jul 19
We had top soil delivered from Greeley Sand and Gravel. We replaced the soil in all 4 boxes.

Normally we rotate but because we changed out the soil, we used the same box.

No we don't fertilize any of the boxes.

Brown and then yellow.

We have lots of unripened fruit but at this rate like last year all of the plants will die off before we can harvest them.

As you can see from this picture it's spreading all over the box and quickly.

Thank you!

2015 Jul 19
It sound's like it could be late blight.

Here is a basic FAQ about late blight webpage for you (and Francis too, as you might have it as well).

www.agf.gov.bc.ca

I'll ask a few other farmers and see what they say.

EDIT: The article I posted may or may not have solutions you want to use. One thing you can try is thinning the patch, it's packed pretty tight. On the plants you remove, keep the unripened tomatoes to ripen in your house. Then there may be enough air flow to keep the blight at bay.

2015 Jul 20
Ok, so after seeing the picture of the leaves, I've got some farm folks that say nay to late blight, and yea to bacterial spot. You might be able to sort out what it is with this:

vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu

Sorry I can't be more help, we grow our tomatoes in the greenhouse to avoid problems like this. And the problem of chickens eating the tomatoes!

Regardless of what it is, more space between plants should help next year.

2015 Jul 20
Thank you very much for all of your advice Organic Girl, we really appreciate it.

Last year we had quite a few less plants yet still had the exact same problem. We added more plants this year hoping it might be better for them.

We've been growing in these boxes for 6 years, only in the last 2 years have we had this issue.

2015 Jul 20
Did you plant disease resistant varieties?

Also your plants are waaaaaaay to close together and it is a petri dish of bad things, more air needs to flow through there.

Even though you changed the soil, it could still be in the wood or deeper in the ground.

Be sure to plant a disease resistant variety next year and I would space them 4 plants wide. Cannot tell how much depth/length there is to your bed.

2015 Jul 21
What ever it is, if you remove the dead leaves, wait until the plants are very dry. Remove any diseased leaves and throw them away.