Use the following set of pictures to help with your tomato disease identification and click on photos
for more information on symptoms, causes, and natural remedies. If you're
still unsure, read through the complete list which also includes less common tomato diseases.
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- Symptoms
- seedlings die or produce weak, stunted plants
- wilting, curling and browning of leaves
- leaf rolling
- later bird's-eye spots on fruit - whitish-brown
spots with a white halo and raised dark brown center
- Cause
- contaminated seedbed soil
- infected seeds
- Control
- one of the most difficult to control tomato diseases
- use only treated seed
- rotate crops
- don't add old tomato or potato fruits or their foliage into
soil
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Tomato Plant Diseases
- Symptoms
- Infected leaves show dark lesions
- Yellowing leaves
- Blossom drop
- small, dark, slightly raised dots with a water-soaked
border quarter-inch in diameter
- center of spot is slightly sunken with a rough
surface
- is similar to Bacterial Speck but actually a
different bacteria
- Causes
- ripe fruit is not affected
- may be carried by tomato seed
- carried by windblown soil or insects
- sometimes present on transplants produced in
southern U.S.
- spread by wind-blown rain
- Control
- same as for bacterial canker
- Use disease-free seed from western states or
hot-water treated seed
- rotate crops from year-to-year
- Apply a mixture of mancozeb plus copper during early
flowering and fruit setting periods
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Tomato Plant Diseases
Bacterial Wilt Tomato Disease Identification
- Symptoms
- Tomato disease with no visible spotting or yellowing of leaves
- Stems at ground level may be water-soaked and emit slimy ooze when pressed
- Often called brown rot
- rapidly kills entire plant
- Controls
- don't grow tomatoes in the same spot for 4 to 5
years
- Grow seedlings only in pasteurized soil
- destroy all diseased plants
- grow disease-resistant varieties like Venus
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Tomato Plant Diseases
Buckeye Rot Tomato Disease Identification
- Symptoms
- Water-soaked brown or grayish-green spots near
blossom end
- Spots located where fruit touches the soil
- Causes
- A disease that only affects tomatoes
- Controls
- Have soil with good drainage
- Don't wet plants when watering
- Stake so fruits don't contact soil
- Don't plant tomatoes in same spot every year -
instead, rotate crops
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Tomato Plant Diseases
Cloudy Spot Tomato Disease Identification
- Symptoms
- Blemishes on green or ripe fruit
- Spots are one-eighth to one-quarter cream colored
spots
- As fruit matures spot color changes to yellow
- Causes
- Controls
- Use weed control strategies where stink bugs live
- Hand pick insects from plants
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Tomato Plant Diseases
- Symptoms
- Stunted growth of young plants
- One of many tomato diseases that is shared with
other plants
- Odd stringy shoestring-type leaves
- Causes
- Virus spread by aphids
- Not seed borne like tobacco mosaic
- Controls
- control aphids
- separate plants from nearby weeds, flowers,
cucumbers, melons, or peppers
- Keep virus hosts phlox, petunias, hollyhock and
zinnias at a distance
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Tomato Plant Diseases
Curly Top Tomato Disease Identification
- Symptoms
- This tomato disease exhibits leaves that are curly and twist upward
- Causes
- Is a virus spread by leafhopper insects
- Controls
- Eliminate leafhoppers
- Reduce plant spacing more than normal
- Don't plant beets nearby
- Plant late varieties rather than early varieties
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Tomato Plant Diseases
- Symptoms
- A tomato disease typified by dead areas in leaves
that form along the leaf veins
- Brown streaks along main stem
- Dry shrunken spots on green fruits
- Causes
- Controls
- Suppress weed growth around tomato plants
- Avoid handling tobacco before handling plants
- Rinse your hands in a water/milk solution
- Spray plants with a 50-50 solution of water/milk
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Tomato Plant Diseases
Ghost Spot Tomato Disease Identification
- Symptoms
- Fruit has small white circles surrounding a green
center
- First spots appear on shoulders of green tomatoes
- Causes
- Controls
- Avoid planting in cool, damp conditions
- Rotate crop every year
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Tomato Plant Diseases
- Symptoms
- First symptom is gray spots on leaves and black
marks on stems
- Occurs mainly in greenhouses
- Fruit has gray-green or gray-brown decayed spots
- Is a major cause of rot of plant produce in tomatoes
and other vegetables
- Causes
- Fungus Botrytis cinerea
- Airborne fungus attaches to injured tissues
- In greenhouses conditions of high humidity and cool
conditions predispose
- Controls
- Fungicides will help protect but will not suppress
and established infection
- Treat the crop with fungicides before infections
build up
- Lower humidity and raise temperature
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Tomato Plant Diseases
Graywall Tomato Disease Identification
- Symptoms
- Blotchy ripe fruit
- Fruit has internal brown areas
- Causes
- Unknown, insufficient sunlight suspected
- Controls
- Plant in a sunnier spot
- Don't over-fertilize with nitrogen which promotes
excessive foliage cover
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Tomato Plant Diseases
- Symptoms
- Hard centers in ripe fruit
- Causes
- Temperature fluctuations, esp. low night
temperatures
- Controls
- Discourage this condition and other tomato diseases
by providing warmer, more consistent growing temperatures
using frost
protection techniques
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Tomato Plant Diseases
- Symptoms
- Curling/rolling/dropping of leaves, usually stops
after temperatures rise
- Not one of the serious tomato diseases--usually
clears up once temperatures warm
- Causes
- Physiological disease
- Wet spring weather
- Poor soil drainage
- Close cultivation
- Over pruning
- Controls
- Plant in well-drained soil
- Use straw mulch
- Don't stake or prune plants
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Tomato Plant Diseases
Nailhead Spot Tomato Disease Identification
- Symptoms
- Fruits have smallish tan or brown spots
- Causes
- See early blight for
causes and controls of this tomato disease
- Controls
- Plant resistant varieties
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Tomato Plant Diseases
- Symptoms
- Yellowing of younger leaves
- Wilting plants
- Purple streaks on stems
- Causes
- Virus transmitted from potatoes by aphids
- Controls
- Control aphids
- Don't plant tomatoes near potatoes
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Tomato Plant Diseases
Soil Rot Tomato Disease Identification
- Symptoms
- Fruits have small brown circular spots on lower half
- As fruits ripen, spots diminish but decayed areas
enlarge and split
- Causes
- A fungus harbored in the soil
- Controls
- Stake or cage plants, keep fruit off ground
- Remove any decayed or infected plant material
- Have well drained soil
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Tomato Plant Diseases
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Other good web resources on tomato diseases
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