Diagnosing disease/pest in tomatoes and chillis
 

Hi all. I'm new here and totally new to growing plants and vegetables. I'm trying my hand at growing some tomatoes and chillis but my poor plants are being plagued with what I suspect is two problems. I've tried to google and check out images, but still not sure of the correct diagnosis so I can treat them. If anyone can help I would greatly appreciate it.

Here are photos of the two issues, one involves white spots forming which gradually get bigger with brown circles in them, the other is more like brown spots (which also get bigger and have tiny black spots on them). I can't see any bugs underleaf...

http://s15.postimage.org/bg16f5rjb/IMG_1070.jpg

http://s15.postimage.org/d9433hcpz/IMG_1071.jpg


Thanks in advance for any advice!!

FirstTimeGrower

EDIT:

The picture links I posted came out way too small, these are better (click on the picture to go to a much larger version):

ImageShack Album - 2 images


Thanks again!

More images if that helps anyone to help me...

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

Thanks for your effort!

Diagnosing disease/pest in tomatoes and chillis
 

FirstTimeGrower wrote:
More images if that helps anyone to help me...

'ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting'
(http://tinyurl.com/cggyars)
'ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting'
(http://tinyurl.com/d7g8w2x)
'ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting'
(http://tinyurl.com/clkqhom)
'ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting'
(http://tinyurl.com/cmu82w4)
'ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting'
(http://tinyurl.com/cqbdtjx)

Thanks for your effort!

The white specks on the heart-shaped leaves could be mealy bug. A close-up
would help but only if you and your camera are up to get it in focus.

This all seems to be indoors. How much sun do the tomatoes get? They are
not indoor plants. Particularly the second one looks very spindly like it
hasn't got enough light.

David

Diagnosing disease/pest in tomatoes and chillis
 

FirstTimeGrower said:



More images if that helps anyone to help me...

'ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting'
(http://tinyurl.com/cggyars)
'ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting'
(http://tinyurl.com/d7g8w2x)
'ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting'
(http://tinyurl.com/clkqhom)
'ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting'
(http://tinyurl.com/cmu82w4)
'ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting'
(http://tinyurl.com/cqbdtjx)

Thanks for your effort!

Some of the damage looks like sunburn (especially the final picture).

Picture #2 pepper plant also looks like it might have spider mites (the
pattern of stippling on the leaves is what suggests that to me).

Picture#3 of the tomato leaf might be mealy bugs.

The yellowing of the lower leaves might be more a symptom of nutrient
or some other physiological trouble rather than disease.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"Yes, swooping is bad."

email valid but not regularly monitored

Thanks very much to both of you! Sorry for the late reply. My phone was stolen and I've been a bit preoccupied as a result!

I'll search the plants closely to see if I can mind spider mites or mealy bug - I think I definitely had the latter on my parsley, which I ended up throwing away, at least the leaves got a film of fuzz and lots of white spots... And that was growing in the same place. But I haven't seen any fuzz on the leaves of the tomatoes/peppers, just white spots that grow larger and have black spots in them, but look similar to what the parsley had.

The plants are indeed inside but I thought they'd be ok as it's a conservatory and probably about as sunny as my garden... but could the glass be causing them to burn? I try to water them everyday and feed tomato food weekly, but haven't been religious about the latter.

They are almost all very skinny and not the best raised plants - it's my first time and I let them grow too tall in too small pots. I'm still trying to stem their growth by snipping the top off and removing new shoots that appear, but I guess this year will be more of a lesson on what not to do.

I just noticed that the plant you point to as probably sunburnt, Pat (pic #5), has bugs on it that look like small beetles - they're fairly big, about 3-4 mm across with a green body and black head with the black running out onto the back like a small cape, another two black spots down the middle of the back and black legs. I'm looking for pictures to match online but haven't had any luck yet. I haven't noticed these before on any of the plants, but just now I found a few of them.

Thanks again for your advice!

Olof

Diagnosing disease/pest in tomatoes and chillis
 

FirstTimeGrower wrote:
Thanks very much to both of you! Sorry for the late reply. My phone
was stolen and I've been a bit preoccupied as a result!

I'll search the plants closely to see if I can mind spider mites or
mealy bug - I think I definitely had the latter on my parsley, which I
ended up throwing away, at least the leaves got a film of fuzz and
lots of white spots... And that was growing in the same place. But I
haven't seen any fuzz on the leaves of the tomatoes/peppers, just
white spots that grow larger and have black spots in them, but look
similar to what the parsley had.

The plants are indeed inside but I thought they'd be ok as it's a
conservatory and probably about as sunny as my garden... but could the
glass be causing them to burn?

No, small pots, lack of light, dry air inside the house and bugs account for
your problems.

I try to water them everyday and feed
tomato food weekly, but haven't been religious about the latter.

They are almost all very skinny and not the best raised plants - it's
my first time and I let them grow too tall in too small pots. I'm
still trying to stem their growth by snipping the top off and
removing new shoots that appear, but I guess this year will be more
of a lesson on what not to do.


Tall and spindly means lack of sun, the small pot will stunt the whole plant
due to drying out and inadequate root development.

Vegetables are not indoor plants, most need room to grow and full sun.
Anything you expect to produce fruit needs lots of sun, the bigger the fruit
the more sun needed. You will always have problems trying to grow them
indoors unless you have a sunny greenhouse and know how to manage it. Even
then at high latitudes the sun may be too weak and the growing season may
be too short. If your climate is too cold for tomatoes and chillis outside
then grow more cold hardy veges (brassicas for example) outdoors or less
demanding ones (salad greens, lettuce, etc) indoors.


David

Diagnosing disease/pest in tomatoes and chillis
 

David Hare-Scott said:


FirstTimeGrower wrote:
Thanks very much to both of you! Sorry for the late reply. My phone
was stolen and I've been a bit preoccupied as a result!

I'll search the plants closely to see if I can mind spider mites or
mealy bug - I think I definitely had the latter on my parsley, which I
ended up throwing away, at least the leaves got a film of fuzz and
lots of white spots... And that was growing in the same place. But I
haven't seen any fuzz on the leaves of the tomatoes/peppers, just
white spots that grow larger and have black spots in them, but look
similar to what the parsley had.

The plants are indeed inside but I thought they'd be ok as it's a
conservatory and probably about as sunny as my garden... but could the
glass be causing them to burn?

No, small pots, lack of light, dry air inside the house and bugs account for
your problems.

I pretty much concur with David.

I always start my tomato plants indoors, under lights and they always
look a bit shabby despite my best care, mainly because of the dry indoor
air and limited pot size.

Once they get outside and planted into the garden (or very large containers)
it only takes a few days for them to really get growing. The transformation
is always quite amazing.
--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"Yes, swooping is bad."

email valid but not regularly monitored