Do you know what to do when growing tomato problems happen? How do you know how to identify the problem and once you have identified the problem what is the best treatment?
Is there a way to prevent your tomato garden and all your growing efforts from being ruined? If you have come across any of these questions keep reading!
Growing tomatoes at home is a really popular pastime however, there is nothing worst then putting your heart into learning how to grow your own tomatoes then to have your homegrown crop of tomatoes ruined by some nasty tomato disease, or tomato pests that have completely destroyed your tomatoes.
Tomato plants are susceptible to plenty of diseases and pests.
However, when it comes down to being a gardener you need to understand, that for the most part we are in a cooperative relationship with mother nature herself.
As gardeners we have an ongoing relationship with our surroundings and it’s our job to learn how best to manage the conditions that we are confronted with, whether they are favorable or unfavorable.
No matter how hard we try to do all the right things when we are growing our tomatoes or other garden vegetables, things can and do go wrong and you can guarantee that it will happen if you are gardening.
The whole idea is to accept the fact that we are just one part of the whole lifecycle process.
There have been years that I’ve planted tomatoes and had no growing tomato problems what so ever, on the other hand there have been times that I’ve been hit with tomato diseases and tomato pests and no matter what I tried my crop was ruined.
I grew up in a farming community and my husband and I farmed for years. We grew almost everything that we ate and our house garden took up about an acre of land.
When I would start my seeds in the house and then move them to the green house. I would always plant way more then I needed and my kids would say “why are you planting so many seedlings?” and my answer would be some for the critters, some for the pests and some for the bugs and viruses and some for mother nature.
Then I would tell them that what is left over is for us to eat. When they were little they seemed to think it was ok to share our tomato plants with all of nature.
Our family believes in sustainable farming practices so we stay clear of any insecticides or pesticides and our personal choice is not to poison anything.
Best Strategy For Your Growing Tomato Problems
Here are a few basic tips for preventing chaos in your tomato patch:
- For the most part the best strategy when it comes to growing tomatoes is preventing the problems by first of all keeping your garden patch free of weeds that might harbor diseases and pests.
- If you’re wanting to exclude early seasonal pests try using floating row covers.
- Train and prune your tomato plants early so that you can provide your plants with good air circulation.
- Visit your tomato patch regularly and pick off any tomato plant leaves that show signs of insect attack or disease.
- Always keep an eye on your tomato plants when they start blossoming and setting fruit as well as getting into the habit of watering regularly and evenly and don’t forget to mulch to conserve soil moisture.
- At the end of the tomato growing season be sure to rid your garden of debris and crop residue and make sure you cultivate the soil to expose any insect larvae that may be present.
Now if you can stick to some of these basic tomato growing practices and you still find that you’ve come across some growing tomato problems in your tomato patch, you’ll find a troubleshooting list below with links to a full description of diseases and pests that and some problem solving techniques.
What To Do With Growing Tomato Problems
Can You Identify Any One of These Tomato Growing Problems?
OH MY! What’s wrong with my tomatoes?
Learn How To Recognize and Treat Common Growing Tomato Problems
When it comes to growing tomato problems there are 3 steps you must keep in mind.
- Identification: find out what bacterial, fungal or pest that is affecting your tomato plants
- Treatment: get advice on treatment and learn how best to apply the treatment effectively.
- Prevention: Learn proven methods for tomato gardening to avoid future outbreaks and how to grow healthier tomato plants.
Sitting down to a plate of fresh vine ripened tomatoes one of the simple joys of gardening. However, sometimes pests, diseases, or stresses that are caused by our environment seem to manage to get in the way of our tomato harvests.
The absolute best way to avoid growing tomato problems is to start with healthy tomato plants. If you are new to growing tomatoes i would suggest you start with growing tomatoes from started tomato plants you have purchased from a reputable nursery.
This way your tomato plants have a much better chance of fending off diseases and pests. If you start with stressed or weak tomato plants they can easily fall prey to a number of diseases that a healthy plant would be able to fend off.
Choosing a planting site is really important as your tomato plants will need sun and the soil that you have chosen should be evenly moist throughout the tomato growing season.
Even the Best cared for tomato plants can be afflicted by problems.
Diagnosing the offender is the first step:
- Is it an insect?
- Maybe it’s some sort of disease?
- Or is it an environmental condition?
Just keep in mind that common problems growing tomatoes have will depend on several factors, which may include your climate and soil, as well as insect pest outbreaks or localized diseases. If you are not sure you can consult your cooperative extension system office for more information for your growing area.
After all this talk about tomato problem you might be thinking why bother. Actually tomatoes are really fun to grow and the reward comes when you get to pick your first home grown tomato of the year.
However, you now know that tomatoes do get diseases and these diseases are causes by viruses, fungi and bacteria. They can be spread through the soil, air, water supplies, infected tools, animals and even ourselves.
Fortunately most tomato diseases are usually not fatal if the disease is treated early.
The best thing to do is to anticipate.
- find out what tomato diseases are common for your area.
- consult with your garden nursery staff
- find information from your regional extension service.
Doing this will keep you informed well in advance.
List Of Common Tomato Growing Problems
The following are some of the common problem when growing tomatoes that you may come across.
- Blossom End Rot
- Septoria Leaf Spot
- Hornworms
- Sunscald
- Blossom-Drop
- Catfacing
- Fruit Cracking
- Leaf Roll
- Early Blight
- Late Blight
- Verticillium Wilt
- Fusarium Wilt
- WhitefliesFor more detailed information any of these common problems please CLICK through to our Common Problems Growing Tomatoes page where you advice on best ways of treating the problems.
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