Paul,

I suggest you harvest the tomatoes you can, pull up the affected plant &
dispose of it -- don't compost it (a basic rule for diseased plants, as
the diseases can overwinter in compost, then get re-introduced to the garden
when you use the compost).

One reason for not letting "nature take its course" is that some diseases
can affect more than one vegetable.

In general, you should try not to plant tomatoes, eggplant and (peppers?)
where you planted any of those the previous year -- that's the theory,
anyway, it's easier said than done if you have a small garden!

Good luck! and welcome to the world of vegetable gardening!

Anne Lurie
NE Raleigh


"Paul Greene" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Our small vegetable garden (first year trying it) - with tomatos
doing fairly well up until now - has also been affected the
past 2 weeks by some kind of funk it seems.

Not sure if it is 'wilt' that we have, or some other
condition (was actually checking pictures on the web,
and the best match I can find is Septoria Leaf Spot).

Anyway it's not pretty... :-( , and seems to be moving fast.
(especially on a (once very nice with 100 tomatos)
Roma plant). [~ 30-35% of leaves affected and
increasing...]

Question: Is it worth trying to 'fight the funk' in the
current year - or is it pretty much a lost cause? (ie
clipping affected leaves off, letting the plant do the
'best it can', etc).

Are there any advantages to pulling the plant once
the condition has progressed beyond a certain state
(Our other non-roma tomato plants probably 10-15% affected).

Am thinking of things like: Will pulling it minimize amount that can
get into next year's soil if you get the plant 'outta there'
now? Will pulling it minimize the chance the condition spread to
other plants? (can it spread to non-tomatos if you don't pull it?)

Of course, if there is no real advantage to pulling it, maybe
just letting 'nature take it's course' is the way to go - reaping
what produce it will yield in the meantime as best it can. [ I read
that generally affected tomatos can still continue to develop fruit, and
that 'generally' the plants can still maintain themselves - depending
at what stage they are at when first contracting the funk...]

Don't know if others on this forum have experiences or thoughts they
can share, but would sure appreciate guidance basically on the
decision point of :
- Keep the funky plants - hope for the best - it won't do much
harm to anything else anyway or overly affect next year's crop...
- Get it outta there asap...taking what fruit you can now, and cut
your loses.

[ of course, if the condition progresses REAL fast, it may be a
non-issue in a couple of weeks, as the whole plant may go anyway -
am assumming it might not be that dire - but who knows ]

The other great tips in this thread on next year's preventative methods
(using layer of leave mulch (can you use leaf mulch from your own yard
btw?),
and trench planting) etc of course still stand, and are good to know!

Thanks in advance for any assistance,

-Paul