Strange degradation (?) Of a tomato plan on balcony
published: 22/08/20, 15:59
Hello,
I noticed a slightly strange degradation of a tomato plan in a bin on my balcony, I will try to describe it as best as possible (I would point out, however, that my tomatoes in the ground do not suffer from this problem, moreover they do not still suffer from no harm, I touch wood).
Here is the topo; some leaves dry out completely, from green they pass to yellow then to brown and at this last stage are brittle (like a dead leaf).
The plant seems to want to like to "separate" from the leaflets by drying them before the stem, I think this is a pretty classic reaction.
The top of the plant does not seem (yet) affected but "it" goes up nicely. The young leaves at the top are slightly curled up (this probably has nothing to do with it) but as they develop they take on a completely normal shape and lose their curled up side.
On the most affected parts, even the main stem takes on a slightly brownish coloration. To have observed a year the black "spots" of the mildew, nothing like it here, it is the whole of the stem which takes nicely this coloring, there is no clear demarcation, it makes a gradient of green (there where the stem is still in full shape) to "brownish-green" where the leaves are dry. Flower buds and terminal tips of some gourmets that I have left turn brown and dry out too, like the leaves, and the same as the leaves, the plant seems to want to separate itself by setting up a drying mechanism that this times is peculiar to itself, with a clear limit with the part from which it separates.
Until then I clearly thought that they did not have enough water and suffered from the full sun with the reverberation on the building, it is really severe. But ... I saw something really strange that I have never seen before; a cocoa or cinnamon-colored powder develops (?) deposited (where?) on a few petioles of affected leaflets (but by far not all), I have never seen that, I find it very strange, because I do not suspect d fungal attack and I did not see anything that looked like a fungus development.
Environmental data;
Altitude ~ 800m
Climatic zone: Swiss plateau, Central Europe, temperate oceanic climate (Cfb according to Köppen) humid continental limit (Dfb; due to the Alps & Jura)
Orientation of the balcony; south-east (good protection against the rains and prevailing winds)
Substrate; mixture of compost from a composting platform + degraded horse manure (2 years) + topsoil (molehill) with 5cm of clay balls at the bottom of the pot. Volume ~ 33x33x38cm
Regular waterings with tap water to keep the substrate moist.
Variety; no idea, the fruits are dark purple above and green below, then green turns red as they ripen.
Some pictures ;
(clickable images -> larger size)
I noticed a slightly strange degradation of a tomato plan in a bin on my balcony, I will try to describe it as best as possible (I would point out, however, that my tomatoes in the ground do not suffer from this problem, moreover they do not still suffer from no harm, I touch wood).
Here is the topo; some leaves dry out completely, from green they pass to yellow then to brown and at this last stage are brittle (like a dead leaf).
The plant seems to want to like to "separate" from the leaflets by drying them before the stem, I think this is a pretty classic reaction.
The top of the plant does not seem (yet) affected but "it" goes up nicely. The young leaves at the top are slightly curled up (this probably has nothing to do with it) but as they develop they take on a completely normal shape and lose their curled up side.
On the most affected parts, even the main stem takes on a slightly brownish coloration. To have observed a year the black "spots" of the mildew, nothing like it here, it is the whole of the stem which takes nicely this coloring, there is no clear demarcation, it makes a gradient of green (there where the stem is still in full shape) to "brownish-green" where the leaves are dry. Flower buds and terminal tips of some gourmets that I have left turn brown and dry out too, like the leaves, and the same as the leaves, the plant seems to want to separate itself by setting up a drying mechanism that this times is peculiar to itself, with a clear limit with the part from which it separates.
Until then I clearly thought that they did not have enough water and suffered from the full sun with the reverberation on the building, it is really severe. But ... I saw something really strange that I have never seen before; a cocoa or cinnamon-colored powder develops (?) deposited (where?) on a few petioles of affected leaflets (but by far not all), I have never seen that, I find it very strange, because I do not suspect d fungal attack and I did not see anything that looked like a fungus development.
Environmental data;
Altitude ~ 800m
Climatic zone: Swiss plateau, Central Europe, temperate oceanic climate (Cfb according to Köppen) humid continental limit (Dfb; due to the Alps & Jura)
Orientation of the balcony; south-east (good protection against the rains and prevailing winds)
Substrate; mixture of compost from a composting platform + degraded horse manure (2 years) + topsoil (molehill) with 5cm of clay balls at the bottom of the pot. Volume ~ 33x33x38cm
Regular waterings with tap water to keep the substrate moist.
Variety; no idea, the fruits are dark purple above and green below, then green turns red as they ripen.
Some pictures ;
(clickable images -> larger size)
