Need Some Help Please

[BobT]

For some reason we have not been able to get a decent tomato crop for a few years. We usually transplant started plants rather than starting them from seed. We've try placing them in different locations in our garden. My wife suspected some kind of blight and tried bleach treating the cages. Last year we didn't use cages. This year we bought new cages. We tested our soil last fall and the tests came back good. Our soil is rather heavy and this year we have been getting an abundance of rain. The soil may look dry and cracked but trust me, it is plenty moist under the top surface. When I took this photo it was about two days after receiving close to 2" of rain. The garden is located where it can receive full sun most of the day but not for the full day.

 

As can be seen, the top leaves are shriveling up. In some ways it looks almost as if they were hit with 2-4,D herbicide but I know they have not. Any ideas? Do I need to add sand to help improve drainage perhaps? We're out of ideas.  I've attached a few photos that hopefully are helpful. 

 

Thanks.

 

 

Edited July 9, 2019 by BobT

[Pat K]

It looks like the early tomato blight we had trouble with for a few years. We tried both a baking soda mix and a borax mix that were recommended on organic gardening sites, applying it when my wife planted then again 2 weeks later, neither of them worked.

This year we used Bonide 811 Copper Sulfide treatment and the plants look great, no signs of blight.

Just mixed a quart in a spray bottle. That was enough to treat 14 plants 3 times. 

Our son was having problems with late blight (black lesions on the stems) he's sprayed with the Bonide after the lesions appeared but said his plants are looking better.  

[Juneau4]

Pull the worst plant and check for root rot and root maggots,  both are possible with all the rain.

[Grainbelt]

@BobTI am guessing cutworm. 

A little info for you. https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-insects/cutworms

 I used to cut ice cream pail bottoms out and place around new plants about an inch into the soil. My plants closest to the grass got it first. I haven't had any issues since I built raised beds about 7 years ago.

Edited July 10, 2019 by Grainbelt

[BobT]

Thanks for the replies. Will be considering both. 

[ozzie]

did you ever find a solution to your problem Bob?

[otterman91105]

Try planting them in straw bales. That what i did and they turn our great. Plus no weeding

 

[BobT]

On 8/28/2019 at 4:44 PM, ozzie said:

did you ever find a solution to your problem Bob?

Sorry about the delayed reply. It is too late this year but there was a change since I first posted. For some reason our tomatoes, peppers, and green bean plants took a change for improvement. The tomatoes are lush and loaded with green fruit. I have been able to harvest beans three times and they are still flowering. Our peppers have left dormancy and are now growing and flowering, although maybe too late for this year. 

 

About the only change that I can think  of is that the weather started drying out a bit. Maybe they were just getting too much rain for our soil, which is heavy.

[smurfy]

i had the same issue with 6 of my plants. looked like they would recover but never really did. produced a few tomatoes. i finally pulled them.

 

i couldnt understand it.................i planted them in 2 rows. and in both rows the plants by the neighbors wood fence did that. the others were great.

[Grainbelt]

Sounds like they may have been planted and it got too cold for those heat loving plants. I'm  pretty sure that is what you had Smurf as you were in the same boat as me when it got to 37 degrees with plants in the ground. I've had this garden for 27 years now and I have planted too early before. Cold plants go dormant for a long time, best if you can replant if that happens or wait till beginning of June to put them in the ground. I had the little greenhouses over mine and it got back up into the 90's inside during the day after the cold from the sun. I had one tomato plant in the NE corner that got too cold that night which still did good but not as well as the others. 

In the pics the tomato on the right is the one that got cold.

Overall things are producing well.

Edited September 10, 2019 by Grainbelt

[roony]

9 hours ago, smurfy said:

i had the same issue with 6 of my plants. looked like they would recover but never really did. produced a few tomatoes. i finally pulled them.

 

i couldnt understand it.................i planted them in 2 rows. and in both rows the plants by the neighbors wood fence did that. the others were great.

Any chance some herbicide could have drifted from the neighbor?

 

[smurfy]

4 hours ago, roony said:

Any chance some herbicide could have drifted from the neighbor?

 

LOL! No she had a hard time mowing get lawn much less using any kind of weed control. And there is a wood border fence.

 

I thought to I may have had some overspray too but not that far into the center of the garden.