[QUOTE=Gerardo;704028]Sure looks like it
Is is on other leaves? They can present as tiny spots, real subtle.
Is the plant on "pause" in terms of growth?

Your differential includes Septoria, so do a quick treatment for that, if it responds well then you're in luck.
Do you see wilting?
Does it have a lot of fruit set already?
When I see that I chop off the growing tips, and just wait out the fruit already set.[/QUOTE]
It's on several other leaves as well. Since I noticed it it's grown several inches, leaves aren't wilted, and on top of it...despite 90+ degree days and 80% humidity it just blossomed and set a few fruit. Overall the plant looks good, just some of the older leaves look that way. The one pictured was the worst I could find.

That doesn't look like TSWV to me; but it manifests itself in several ways. I would just keep a close eye on the new growth. A definite signal that an earlier indication of TSWV will be found in the new growth within two weeks. The new growth will be curled and stunted looking with almost seared. The edges of the leaves on the new growth will have a slightly burned look and growth of the plant will almost stop it will be so slow. Don't panic and pull out a perfectly healthy plant just because you suspect TSWV. Make sure that is what you are dealing with before taking that drastic action. If the plant is large and has nice fruit on it I never pull them until the fruit has a chance to blush even if they definitely have TSWV. However with young immature plants TSWV means you might as well replace it as soon as you can because it isn't going to produce much if anything.

Bill

Doc, I think it's bacterial spot or speck. TSWV doesn't hollow out in the center of the spot.

I thought I'd post another picture of the plant today. It's very sporadic, hasn't really taken over the plant or anything. 90% of the leaves look very healthy and it continues to grow steadily and is blossoming like crazy despite the heat. This picture is of a sucker that was about a foot from the base of the plant. Thought it looked strange that the stem was spotted too.

Still think bacterial.

I think bacterial too. I had TSWV and had leaf curl and bronzing in the beginning. I did not have spots like this.
Barb

Could this be spread from houseflies (black flies) landing on the plants? This all started after using Alaska fish fertilizer. I swear as soon as I applied it, hundreds of flies showed up and were all over my plants. I applied extra water to the containers afterwards just to wash some of it into the soil more to help kill the stench.

Put out some yellow sticky traps. I ordered 30 from Amazon. I've been catching little flies, mosquitoes and black dots which I think are baby thrips.
Barb

[QUOTE=DocBrock;704458]Could this be spread from houseflies (black flies) landing on the plants? This all started after using Alaska fish fertilizer. I swear as soon as I applied it, hundreds of flies showed up and were all over my plants. I applied extra water to the containers afterwards just to wash some of it into the soil more to help kill the stench.[/QUOTE]

I suppose it's possible. I don't know what kind of bacteria flies carry. I don't have any idea if it's the kind that gives bacterial spot or spec 2 tomatoes but I'm thinking it probably isn't because they're such different biological creatures then tomatoes are.

[QUOTE=barbamWY;704465]Put out some yellow sticky traps. I ordered 30 from Amazon. I've been catching little flies, mosquitoes and black dots which I think are baby thrips.
Barb[/QUOTE]

Flies are super strongly attracted to yellow sticky traps, so that's a very good idea. Your little black spots might also be white flies although I don't know if they're prevalent in your area

Last year I took a sticky trap into the extension office and the diagnosis was baby thrips. This year I've planted part of my tomatoes in reflective mulch, put up sticky traps and sprayed with neem oil. I've going to spray again next week.
Barb

[QUOTE=barbamWY;704476]Last year I took a sticky trap into the extension office and the diagnosis was baby thrips. This year I've planted part of my tomatoes in reflective mulch, put up sticky traps and sprayed with neem oil. I've going to spray again next week.
Barb[/QUOTE]

Horrible little nightmare rat ba$tids! I hate those things. It's war!

[QUOTE=ginger2778;704485]Horrible little nightmare rat ba$tids! I hate those things. It's war![/QUOTE]

Pyrrhic victories at best.

I've got 2 sticky traps on each plant and all are covered with flies such as leaf miners. About the beginning of may I had serious problems with thrips but haven't seen any recently on the traps. I'm pretty shocked how well these plants with the bacterial speck are growing and blossoming. I've got a beefmaster that has one several vines and the one that is most infected has about 12 blossoms that have bloomed since I noticed the symptoms, and this is woth 90+ degree days. We'll see if they can successfully set fruit, but the plant seems healthy otherwise. I do have a few plants, such as cherokee carbon and golden jubilee, that look pretty poor. The undersides of the leaves do have a shiny bronze sheen to them. Is that what people are referring to with TSWV?

The sheen can be from whiteflies, dont know if thrips cause it too. It's the silverleaf whitefly that affects tomato plants. I don't think TSWV has a sheen associated with it, just small dark spots without a yellow halo, and wilting that goes fast.

[QUOTE=ginger2778;704914]The sheen can be from whiteflies, dont know if thrips cause it too. It's the silverleaf whitefly that affects tomato plants. I don't think TSWV has a sheen associated with it, just small dark spots without a yellow halo, and wilting that goes fast.[/QUOTE]
Sooooo many whiteflies....I quit caring. Not plumes when I shake plants but they're pretty well established now. Occasionally I'll hold a yellow card next to a plant as I shake it to watch them fly into it. Gives me a small sense of accomplishment. They really love my green beans, not quite as many on the tomatoes. Peppers are pretty loaded up too.

I just pulled one of my older plants set out in March with TSWV. It was loaded with small tomatoes but the TSWV hit it really hard and all the new growth was wilting and there was no way it was going to last long enough for those small fruits to finish growing and ripening. This makes three plants so far this year which is not so bad. Knock on wood.

Bill

Is this TSVW on my Santorini? Two weeks ago it was very bushy and well growing and now all the new leaves have these black spots and dried sunken areas. This appeared few days ago on couple of the stems and I thought that it was caused by the epsom-salt spray, but now it has spread on all new growth of this plant and other plants next to it are fine.

I had Verbena cuttings growing in the greenhouse this spring and I had to spray those frequently because of thrips. I read that TSWV affects also on Verbena, so that could be how I brought the virus to the greenhouse.

This is how it looked two weeks ago.
[IMG]http://tomatoville.com/picture.php?albumid=15&pictureid=3033[/IMG]

And this is the sad sight today.
[IMG]http://tomatoville.com/picture.php?albumid=15&pictureid=3032[/IMG]



Sari

I removed the diseased Santorini, but the noticed that next plant too has black spots on new growth.
[ATTACH]82700[/ATTACH]

Is there any way of preventing this from spreading?

Sari

I[QUOTE=svalli;706453]I removed the diseased Santorini, but the noticed that next plant too has black spots on new growth.
[ATTACH]82700[/ATTACH]

Is there any way of preventing this from spreading?

Sari[/QUOTE]

Before you 86 it provide a thorough dose of copper and wait and see, it may surprise you. It does not spread by contact, you have to reduce the thrips population

I do have a small packet of dicopper chloride trihydroxide, which I ordered from Estonia. I was going to try it against late blight in potatoes, since the small packets of Dithane earlier sold to home gardeners have been discontinued. The legislation changed and most agriculture chemicals are only sold to farmers, who have went through training and are certified. I have not been able to find any copper containing fungicides in Finland even before the laws changed, so I think that those are not normally used here.
I have to research more about this copper product, before I spray it.

Sari

Found another of my older plants with TSWV this morning and pulled it since it only had one decent fruit on it which was already blushing. All the new fruit that had set in the last week or so was obviously affected by the TSWV.

I agree it doesn't spread by contact. I have left TSWV infected plants in my beds for months before with no spread to the neighbors. I have only done this with very healthy large plants that were loaded with fruit and seemed to be resisting the affects of TSWV somewhat. Usually that is not the case even with large plants so if it is spreading rapidly on the plant and really slowing or stopping growth I pull it.

I can't believe you can't buy a simple copper fungicide. Most of them are considered organic. It seems if that is the case that the state is over zealous in protecting you from yourself. However a fungicide is not going to help you with TSWV.

Bill

TSWV is spread by thrips.

I think removing diseased plants is important, because thrips on that plant can spread TSWV to nearby plants, although the rate and frequency of spread is very variable.

I have removed 3 so far this year. Getting better at seeing them when symptoms are still subtle.

And weeds are major carriers. Alot of common weeds...

[QUOTE=Fred Hempel;707071]TSWV is spread by thrips.

I think removing diseased plants is important, because thrips on that plant can spread TSWV to nearby plants, although the rate and frequency of spread is very variable.

I have removed 3 so far this year. Getting better at seeing them when symptoms are still subtle.[/QUOTE]

It took me a while before I started recognizing those very early signs of TSWV. It doesn't always manifest itself the same way early in the disease.

Bill

It took me years to recognize early signs. The biggest one, that demands a closer look, is when 1 out of 4 tomatoes of the same variety (we plant in 4's) is much smaller than the others, and paler.

Usually then, when you inspect up close, it has signs of TSWV.

[QUOTE=b54red;707126]It took me a while before I started recognizing those very early signs of TSWV. It doesn't always manifest itself the same way early in the disease.

Bill[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=b54red;707000]
I can't believe you can't buy a simple copper fungicide. Most of them are considered organic. It seems if that is the case that the state is over zealous in protecting you from yourself. However a fungicide is not going to help you with TSWV.

Bill[/QUOTE]

The stuff which is available for home gardeners here has always been limited. Especially any biological or organic controls for plant pests and diseases has been hard to find. The consumer market for gardening products here is so small that it is dominated by few companies and the same products are then sold at every gardening center. Copper has been mentioned as fungicide at some writings about organic farming, but I have never heard of any home gardener here using it.

I got some effective microorganisms, which I activated by fermenting. I am not a true believer in that stuff, but I am now experimenting and spraying that on couple of plants, which started to show signs of TSWV. I know that it will not cure them, but as long as it does not hurt, I'll give it a try.

Sari

I pulled another of my older plants with TSWV yesterday and noticed one of my newly planted tomatoes is infected so I will probably pull it in a day or two. I also have three bell pepper plants that are showing symptoms. One is an older plant that has been sickly for a while and the other two were planted about a month ago. I will keep a close eye on them because TSWV is much harder to recognize in the early stages on peppers than on tomatoes.

Bill

Two weeks ago I thought I was seeing this dread disease for the first time. Black spots on some upper leaves (but not the very newest ones), purpling edges etc. I was not ready to give up on the plants, and I knew they were bothered by pests as well as some nutritional and pH issues and a shrinking volume of soil in a small pot. So I pruned off the spotty leaves and I put a couple of inches of fresh compost on top of the soil. Their condition improved immediately, and since then they also put on new flowers and fruit, as well as ripening fruit with quality #1 the best. Only one had some scarring on early fruit from insect damage, but no sign of the 'circles' as with the virus.

I did see one more leaf with the spots on it, so I left it to see how it developed. In fact some purpling of the spots and yellowing around them, typical of the effects of certain mildews we do get here when it gets hot and humid. I've never seen them start black before, usually it's purple. But in the beginning it sure looked like the TSWV. The spores blow in the windows if weeds outside are not controlled, and I guess I missed a few.
Very relieved not to have it, since tiny pests this year have been a constant battle.

I pulled my first TSWV infected plant this past weekend. It was a Brandywine Suddith’s” that had been planted a month ago. It didn’t even have any open blooms yet. It was one of only eight plants set out in my first tomato bed. I usually set out at least thirty in my first planting but I have had problems with my seedlings and my grafting this season. I did get a second planting in two weeks ago with twenty plants and I will try to keep planting right through June or early July.

Bill