Lots of problems, several pics... Need opinions.

[rainyseasonblues]

I read that I cannot view images until I make my first post. I really need to see the pics because I am desperately trying to figure out what is wrong with my plants. I know I have a problem with thrips and aphids. I think I took care of the aphids but, judging from the blue sticky traps, there are still hordes of thrips in the garden. I had to use a magnifying loupe to figure out that they weren't just specks of dust on the sticky cards.

Last year, the tomatoes and peppers had a bad case of TSWV (may have been a mottle virus on the peppers...?). It really is heartbreaking to see the plants you have nurtured since the seedling stage get sick -- and then have to pull them out of the ground to toss them into the garbage.

I took some pics of the tomatoes and peppers last year:




This year, I have a different set of problems... I think.

The jalapeno I was growing in a pot was a beautiful productive plant but, over the course of a few days, something happened and now it looks like this:


It loses more leaves every day.


Many Leaves are very leathery and have a little yellow mixed in.


The eggplant has several slightly distorted leaves that also have yellow blotches, often with tan beige, papery spots of varying sizes (similar to the jalapeno plant, but not nearly as severe):



2/3 of the leaves on my Sweet Million cherry tomato plant and a few leaves on the Cherokee Purple look cruddy. It seems to be progressing up the plant, but, so far, hasn't been a serious problem.


The Sweet Million has been very productive, but many of the tomatoes on it have turned partially red (orange-ish) and seemed to have stopped ripening. They are just sitting there, and the calyxes seem to be drying up a little.

The Cherokee Purple has a problem because the last 4 sets of blooms have been tiny and distorted or, like this bud, had no petals.


Otherwise, most of the buds seem to turn yellow and fall off before they even open.

I'm seriously considering pulling up half of the plants in my garden. I made clones of some of the plants a couple of weeks ago and I think it isn't too late to plant fall tomatoes.

Does anyone recognize any of these problems?

BTW, I live in Columbia, SC. The temps here have been, roughly, in the mid to upper 90s at midday, 70 - 80 at night.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

[ginger2778]

I think you have some virus issues, but I'm not that good with peppers, or growing in the summer, so I am bumping this to try and get you some help.

Guys?

Marsha

[Kazfam]

Leaves dropping usually means too much water.
Had this happen to me last year when it rained every day for a month (do you remember that?)

I am in the Upstate - Spartanburg, SC.

It's not too late to plant Fall tomatoes - look at the Clemson Extension info here:
http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgi.../hgic1323.html

YOUR PHOTOS ARE TOO LOW RESOLUTION TO ENLARGE, SO THEY ARE VERY HARD TO SEE--CAN YOU TAKE HIGHER RES? (sorry for all caps)

[rainyseasonblues]

They got resized when I posted. I will see if I can figure out how to post them properly.

Sent from my KFOT using Tapatalk

[rainyseasonblues]

I actually had to reduce the resolution to upload. Here they are, all 1280x1024. I guess I should always upload as attachments instead of inserting as pictures.

I actually pulled up the potted pepper plant. I was worried that it had something that could be transferred to my other plants (by aphids, wind, etc.). I took good care of it. It definitely wasn't overwatered. Take not of the bare branches and deformed/damaged leaves.

The lower leaves on the sweet million plant look worse now. Several are now partially white/beige and crispy. I wonder if the sun is causing this. The calyxes on many of the tomatoes are dried and discolored as well. The fruit remains orangish -- not fully ripening to red.

[b54red]

I can't see anything so wrong with your leaves. You may have some aphids sucking the moisture out of your pepper leaves. Look on the undersides and in areas where the leaves are bunched up and shady and the new growth tips. Check the undersides of your tomato leaves for spider mites or their webbing. You may need a magnifying glass to see them if they are present.

Lower leaves on tomatoes down here in the deep south are not going to stay healthy for very long. Keep your plants sprayed with a good fungicide and remove the really bad looking lower leaves. I have already removed several wheelbarrows of bad leaves this season off my tomatoes.

Bill

[rainyseasonblues]

Okay, these are more accurate (and current).

I use chlorothalonil (Ortho GDC) weekly. I also alternate with Azamax and Spinosad (Cap'n Jacks Dead Bug Brew) to help with thrips and aphids.

[clkeiper]

Honestly, the pepper just looks like it is sunburned to me. The pictures are such a small part of the plant that it is hard to get a look-see the overall health of it.

[creister]

I agree with Bill, I don't see anything that looks like disease. It looks more like leaf burn. Did you happen to spray at a time when it was already too hot?

[rainyseasonblues]

The cherry tomato and eggplant seem to be very vigorous other than the (mostly) lower leaves. I've been really nervous since that problem with tswv. I hope that's just sunburn. I don't ever recall having issues with sunburn before, but that makes sense. The beige papery spots are a shared symptom.

I did have an aphid problem on a few plants, but that was easy to take care of. For the most part, they appear to be gone. I mostly worry about the thrips.

I spray at dusk.

[rainyseasonblues]

I just realized I need to change my location on the site. I no longer live in South Korea. This is only my second season gardening in this part of the country. Previously, I had container gardens in South Korea. I notice that there is a whole different world of problems that needs to be dealt with once you start sticking plants in the ground.

I didn't have to worry too much about pests and viruses over there. ...just birds, torrential rains that went on for weeks and strong winds. Otherwise, nothing that panty hose, Daconil or tribasic copper sulfate couldn't fix.

[Heritage]

RainySB,

The cherry tomato looks like fertilizer burn - but possibly mite damage or powdery mildew. If you check under the leaves (at the parts that have yellowing on top) you should be able to see the mites if they are the culprit. You will need at least 15X if they are russet mites. But, I'm leaning towards fert burn from what I can see. With what/ and how often, are you fertilizing?

Good luck!
Steve

[rainyseasonblues]

I've been using MG for tomatoes at 3/4 strength every 2-3 weeks with one aspirin dissolved in the 2 gallon watering container for the salicylic acid. I have treated all of the other plants similarly, but not all are showing these symptoms. I look at the leaves with a loupe occasionally due to my paranoia about thrips. They are the only vectors of the tswv I had last year.

The Azamax and Spinosad I alternate with seem to help (aphids are gone -- they seemed to like the peppers more than the tomatoes), but I know buggers can develop immunities. Would powdery mildew cause the papery spots? Fert burn is possible, but I have 4 rutgers that are treated in the same manner and they don't appear to have any problems. 1/2 of the blossoms are dropping, but I blame the heat for that (but the eggplant is doing okay in terms of fruitset -- it seems to love the heat).

The dew seem to be heavy here as well (if that makes a difference).

[Heritage]

Originally Posted by rainyseasonblues

I've been using MG for tomatoes at 3/4 strength every 2-3 weeks with one aspirin dissolved in the 2 gallon watering container for the salicylic acid. I have treated all of the other plants similarly, but not all are showing these symptoms. I look at the leaves with a loupe occasionally due to my paranoia about thrips. They are the only vectors of the tswv I had last year.

The Azamax and Spinosad I alternate with seem to help (aphids are gone -- they seemed to like the peppers more than the tomatoes), but I know buggers can develop immunities. Would powdery mildew cause the papery spots? Fert burn is possible, but I have 4 rutgers that are treated in the same manner and they don't appear to have any problems. 1/2 of the blossoms are dropping, but I blame the heat for that (but the eggplant is doing okay in terms of fruitset -- it seems to love the heat).

The dew seem to be heavy here as well (if that makes a difference).

It doesn't sound like you are over-fertilizing. There was no additional fert added pre-plant?. Manure? The top photo (cherry tomato above) really looks like fert/salt burn so I am stumped on that one. The rugose, bluish, deformed necrotic leaves are very symptomatic of fert/salt burn.

The eggplant photo shows what looks like two possible different things happening. The top lesion (surrounded by the yellow) looks like either mite or mildew, i.e. something feeding from underneath the leaf and and eventually causing the brown necrotic spot on top.
The papery spots on the lower part of the leaf look more like chemical (salt, fert) burn. but I suppose could be sunburn if the plants had moisture pooled on the leaves when the hot sun hit them. But the cherry tomato leaves don't look like that to me.

So, I really can't comfortably fit one solution into what I'm seeing.

Steve