Common Tomato Problems

Tomatoes are susceptible to many diseases. In order to collect good harvests of this vegetable crop, you need to understand tomato diseases and know how to treat each disease. Let’s consider what problems with tomatoes are most often encountered and how to deal with them.

Content
  1. The leaves
  2. Lack of moisture
  3. Malicious insects
  4. Diseases
  5. Lack of trace elements
  6. Leaves
  7. curl or lack of moisture
  8. Air temperature
  9. Oversupply of nitrogen
  10. Lack of trace elements
  11. Desertification <
  12. Pests <
  13. Poorly formed ovary
  14. Violation of temperature
  15. Violation of humidity
  16. No pollination
  17. Lack of some light
  18. Pests
  19. Fruits crack
  20. Improper care
  21. Feeding <
  22. Holes in the fruits
  23. The leaves and fruits turn blue
  24. Prevention of tomato diseases

Наиболее распространенные проблемы с помидорами

The most common tomato problems

The leaves are drying out

One of the most common problems is the premature drying of the leaves. This can be triggered by several factors. Consider each reason for the drying of the leaves of the plant separately and talk about how to cope with the emerging problem.

Lack of moisture

Far from always the cause of leaf drying out is disease. Sometimes leaves dry due to dishonest care of a vegetable crop.

Often a vegetable crop begins to dry out leaves with insufficient moisture. How many times you need to water the bushes, no one will say: it depends on the climate of the region and weather conditions. After the plants have sprouted, they are watered daily. After 1.5-2 weeks, the grown plants do not need so much moisture – they are watered as necessary.

If water is irregular in the area, it is advisable to mulch the beds with tomatoes so that the moisture lasts as long as possible. It is also worthwhile to make water supplies. Today on sale it is easy to find plastic barrels of different sizes, designed for installation on personal plots. They are equipped with faucets below, so after their installation you can even irrigate the site.

This is also the problem for greenhouse owners who irrigate plants daily. If overheating of greenhouses occurs, fungal diseases develop 2 times faster. In addition, overheating negatively affects not only the condition of the leaves, but also the development of the plant.

Some farmers grow tomatoes upside down in greenhouses. With this method of growing, you should water the tomatoes more often than with traditional cultivation upside down.

Tatyana Orlova (candidate of agricultural sciences):

Tomatoes are grown on tall shelves (not in the ground) with artificial soil. Tall tomatoes are not tied to the trellis, but hang down freely. There is no need to garter plants and use stairs or ladders to remove the fruits from the tops.

Malicious insects

If the leaves not only dry, but also turn brown, the plant is struck by a harmful thrips insect, which is tiny in size and hides under the leaves lobes or in the middle of flowers. Bushes damaged by thrips do not grow well, and drying leaves leads to withering of branches. If no measures are taken, the bush will die. Methods of combating thrips involve the use of insecticides or folk remedies prepared at home based on a soap solution Specialists recommend giving preference to purchased drugs, since folk remedies are not always effective. In addition, if the preparation is breached during preparation, it can be harmful to the plant.

To prevent thrips, which also carry the viruses of certain diseases, you need to remove weeds in a timely manner, clean agricultural equipment and bring them to the site beetles for which thrips and other small parasites are food.

Tatyana Orlova (candidate of agricultural sciences):

The use of chemical insecticides with a long waiting period (up to 20 days) is allowed if the tomato fruits are still green and they will not mature before 3 weeks.

Diseases

Tomato diseases can cause leaf drying. The following diseases are associated with this symptom:

  • late blight;
  • fusarium wilt;
  • brown spotting.

late blight

With late blight, the leaves first turn yellow, and then dry and fall off. The most common cause of this disease is high humidity. If the humidity level can be controlled when growing in greenhouses, then when growing plants in the open field, this is not possible.

Tatyana Orlova (candidate of agricultural sciences):

The cause of this disease is a spore infection of the pathogen fungus. And it is promoted not so much by high air humidity as by sharp fluctuations in day and night temperatures, causing condensation and moisture loss in the form of dew on the leaves.Such weather conditions are high during the day and cool nights usually happen in August. This time is the most dangerous for the development of late blight. This disease begins with the appearance of brown spots on the lower leaves. Within a few days, the affected leaves dry out and fall off and the disease covers the entire plant.

To avoid late blight, preventive treatment of tomatoes with appropriate drugs should be carried out. If the summer is rainy, the number of preventative treatments should be increased. Of the folk remedies for treating plants, you can use a solution of copper sulfate and wood ash.

The best preparation of copper-containing is Bordeaux mixture (1% solution). It contains lime, which lies well on the leaves and is not washed off by rains.

Fusarious wilting

Растение без лечения может погибнуть

A plant without treatment can die

Fusarium wilt affects the grown bushes. This is a fungal disease that, if untreated, leads to the death of plants. If with late blight, both the upper and lower leaves of tomatoes simultaneously dry, then with fusarium wilting, the leaves at the bottom of the plants first dry. In this case, before drying, the leaf plates turn yellow. You can get rid of this ailment with the help of special drugs.Preventive treatment is performed to prevent the disease.

Tatyana Orlova (Candidate of Agricultural Sciences):

The causative agent of this disease is a pathogenic soil fungus. After harvesting the bed in the autumn before digging, pour it with a solution of Fitosporin, Glyokladin or simply potassium permanganate.

Brown spotting

Brown spotting is also fungal in nature, but in this case before drying the leaf blades brown spots appear. Damaged leaf blades should be destroyed and the bush treated with fungicide.

To minimize the risk of any disease, you should use high-quality planting material. The preference is best given to varieties of hybrid origin, which are immune to many tomato diseases.

Lack of trace elements

Tomato leaves also dry when there is a lack of trace elements. To determine which particular trace element is not enough for the plant, you need to look at the bushes. If the leaf plates not only turn yellow, but also curl, the plant lacks copper. Even with a lack of copper, the leaves become brittle. With a lack of boron, dark spots appear on the fruits in parallel with the drying of the leaves.With a lack of calcium at the edges of the leaf plates, a yellow edging first appears, then the leaves dry out. Also, a lack of calcium is accompanied by a slowdown in the growth of bushes.

This problem is solved by applying appropriate fertilizers, but when feeding tomato bushes, it is important not to overdo it. An excess of nutrients affects the development of tomatoes no less negatively than their lack.

Tatyana Orlova (Candidate of Agricultural Sciences):

In acute micronutrient deficiency it is better to resort to foliar top dressing (on the leaves). The fact is that this deficit often arises not because of the real absence of any elements in the soil, but in the inability of the plant to absorb them by the roots. For example, calcium deficiency occurs if the heat is above 30 degrees. Tomato roots cannot absorb calcium at high temperatures. On acidic soils, some trace elements turn into insoluble complexes and cannot be assimilated either.

Leaves curl

You need to act very quickly when curling leaves. Any delay will cost a significant portion of the crop.

Lack or excess of moisture

Leaf curl occurs with a slight lack of moisture. If no action is taken, the sheet plates will begin to dry out.Excess moisture also leads to the fact that the sheet plates curl. Every gardener should know that with an excess of moisture, the leaf plates are twisted outward, and with a deficiency, they are turned inward.

When there is an excess of moisture, a roof should be built for beds with tomatoes. It is best to make it from a dense film. If you use material that does not let in sunlight, the growth of the plants will slow down, which will negatively affect their productivity.

Air temperature

Sometimes the cause of leaf curl is excessively high air temperature (more than 35 ° C). After sunset, the leaf plates straighten. In a well-equipped greenhouse, adjusting the air temperature is not difficult. If we are talking about growing tomatoes in open ground or in a greenhouse where there is no way to adjust the temperature, you can save the plants by mulching. Organics are used as mulch.

You can protect plants from heat by obscuring plantings. At home, the bushes are obscured by improvised means. If the summer is too hot, it is advisable to plant the culture in the shade of the trees.

Высокая температура губительна для растений

High temperature is destructive for plants

After the sun sets, the leaf plates of the plant are treated with a weak solution of potassium permanganate or urea. When preparing a solution with urea, 8 tbsp of water should account for 1.5 tbsp. l urea.

An excess of nitrogen

Curly leaves appear with an excess of nitrogen. In this case, only the top leaf plates of tomatoes are curled. In addition to twisting the leaves, the stem thickens. The leaf plates themselves become thick and easily break.

Nitrogen is obtained not only from nitrogen fertilizers. In large quantities, this trace element is found in manure, chicken droppings and herbal infusions, so you need to fertilize tomatoes carefully.

When the above symptoms appear, it is advisable to refuse to fertilize with any fertilizer containing nitrogen. It is necessary to exclude even formulations containing this trace element in small quantities. After the appearance of fruits, only fertilizers containing potassium and phosphorus are used as top dressing.

Lack of trace elements

Curliness is also characteristic of plants that lack potassium or phosphorus. If tomatoes lack phosphorus, leaf plates are wrapped down. There is also a change in the color of the leaves. They turn dark green or purple. With a lack of potassium, the leaf plates are twisted upward. Light spots appear on the fruits.

The problem is solved by applying appropriate fertilizers. From organics, you can use wood ash.

Pasynkovka

Sometimes the cause of curling leaves is improperly pruned bushes.You can not remove a large number of stepsons in one approach: this will provoke stress in the plant. To help restore, the plant is fed with a growth stimulant or a complex fertilizer is applied to the soil.

Pests

Leaf plates often coagulate due to the activity of harmful insects. This symptom may indicate that a red spider mite, aphid or whitefly appeared on the beds. These miniature insects live on the inside of the leaf and feed on the sap of the plant. In addition to the fact that the leaves are curly, dark spots appear on them, the leaf plate turns yellow.

To control pests, we use pesticides. Folk remedies in this case are ineffective, and each day of procrastination leads to the death of the bush. As a prophylaxis, leaf plates should be inspected daily from the inside, even if they look healthy. Inspection is important after the leaf plates have curled up too late.

For some varieties, leaves are lowered and slightly bent inward.

Poor formation ovary

Tomatoes bloom poorly for many reasons. But most often, the reason for this phenomenon is inadequate care of plantings.

Violation of the temperature regime

Tomato is a thermophilic culture. Accordingly, at low temperatures, you should not expect that the bushes will please a large number of ovaries.Do not expect an abundance of ovary at high temperatures. If the temperature drops below 15 ° C, pollen is not able to ripen. Accordingly, the flowers do not give an ovary. At temperatures above 35 ° C, tomato pollen turns into sterile. It is not possible to protect tomatoes on open ground from lowering or increasing air temperature. You can always adjust the air temperature in the greenhouse.

Air humidity violation

При высокой влажности развиваются грибковые заболевания

With high humidity, fungal diseases develop

The second reason why tomatoes that bloom give little ovary is because the air is excessively high or low. At low humidity, tomatoes lack moisture. The bushes wither, and the flowers fall. With increased humidity, not only diseases provoked by the fungus develop, but pollen remains in the anthers, sticking together into lumps. Accordingly, pollination does not occur.

Lack of pollination

Insects must pollinate the plants, but if it gets colder outside, the insects may not fly into the garden. Accordingly, pollination of tomatoes will not occur. You can independently pollinate plants at home using an ordinary brush. Also, it will not be amiss to attract insects that pollinate vegetable and fruit crops to the personal plot. To do this, plant more flowers.

Tatyana Orlova (candidate of agricultural sciences):

The vast majority of tomatoes are self-pollinated crops. They do not require pollination by insects. Moreover, the pollination process often occurs inside the flower bud, i.e. the flower opens already pollinated.

Lack of sunlight

Insufficiency of sunlight leads to falling flowers. When planting seedlings, the rules regarding planting density should be observed. Tall bushes are planted at a distance of 50-70 cm from each other. Low-growing varieties can be planted a little thicker. With a lack of light, plants stretch excessively upward.

Pests

Another reason why the tomatoes grow slowly and bloom a little, and the flowers that appear fall off, are nematodes. These worms damage the root system. It is not possible to save the affected plants. Plant protection involves disinsection of the soil and its timely digging. Another preventive measure is the proper planting of seedlings. Before planting, the soil is treated with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Not only leaves, but also the root system are subject to processing.

Tatyana Orlova (Candidate of Agricultural Sciences):

Repels the nematode with the well-known flower marigold plants. You can use them as a casing of garden plants and in the form of green manure, i.e. at the end of the season, remove them from the flower bed, chop and dig them in the beds where nematodes were noticed.

Fruits crack

Sometimes fruits ripen during tomato ripening. Cracked tomatoes quickly disappear and are not as juicy as specimens that do not burst during ripening.

Nep equal care

Tomatoes do not tolerate a sharp change in air temperature or humidity. When growing a vegetable crop in open ground, summer residents rarely encounter this problem, although in this case we are talking not only about air humidity, but also about soil moisture It is important not to overfill the soil during the ripening period of the tomatoes.To control the level of humidity, you should occasionally dig a hole 8-10 cm deep and look at the condition of the soil. If it does not stick together, the soil moisture is normal.

Top dressing

In general, tomatoes whose fruits are already turning red do not need frequent watering or top dressing. If nevertheless it was decided to make fertilizers, concentrates not diluted in water should not be used. Vegetable culture should be fed with drugs of low concentration.

Holes on the fruits

Sometimes holes can be seen on the fruits of the plant. At first glance, it may seem that the fruits are broken by hail. If there was no hail, the plant beat something else: the caterpillars of the cotton scoop. Methods of combating this pest involve not only the use of pesticides, but also the planting of flowers with a strong odor that repels harmful insects. It is best to plant nearby marigold tomatoes. You can also use the infusion, the preparation of which uses the arrows of garlic.

The leaves and fruits turn blue

Gardeners rarely encounter this problem. If the leaves or stems turn blue, it means that when growing seedlings, the temperature was too low or the plants lack phosphorus. Do not rush to feed the bushes with fertilizers containing phosphorus. If the room is cold, the root system will not absorb this trace element. First of all, you need to take care that the growing tomatoes get the heat they need.

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Prevention of tomato disease vans

All diseases of tomatoes, regardless of whether they are bacterial or fungal, lead to the death of bushes, therefore it is very important to observe several rules when growing tomatoes. First of all, you need to change the place of planting of a vegetable crop at least once every 2-3 years. Also, fertilizing plants and fertilizing the beds should be done in a timely manner.

Of course, you need to treat the plants with drugs from the most common tomato diseases, including powdery mildew, bacterial cancer, streak, scab, bacteriosis, mosaic, macrosporiosis. Specialists do not recommend making drugs for diseases on their own.After harvesting, the tops that accumulate spores of fungi and bacteria should be burned or taken out of the garden.

Tatyana Orlova (candidate of agricultural sciences):

For viral diseases of a tomato, mosaic, strick, bronze, viral jaundice currently have no means of protection. The carriers of these diseases are aphids and circadian plants. Therefore, all measures to combat viral diseases are aimed at combating their carriers.

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Anna Evans

Author ✓ Farmer

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