Knowledgebase
Spots on tomato leaves #878010
Asked July 20, 2024, 11:12 AM EDT
Tomato leaves showing spots and withering on the bottom 1/3 of leaves. There are only two Burpee Big Boy" plants and both are impacted. The spots, however, look different on one plant to another. The plants are 5.5' tall, planted 58 days ago in self watering pots with premium potting mix. Following are photos of the plants and the problems on the leaves. Any help appreciated.
Oakland County Michigan
Expert Response
Hello,
Tomatoes are super prone to many problems unfortunately, and when I looked at your close-up photos, they indicated interveinal chlorosis, where the veins generally retain their green color, while the remaining areas lose green color.
There are a variety of potential causes for interveinal chlorosis, including the bottom leaves simply being shaded by the upper portions of the plant, nutrient deficiencies (iron, magnesium or nitrogen), and even other diseases.
Mississippi State University Extension says that if you suspect a magnesium deficiency, an easy thing to try is to spray spray 2 tablespoons per gallon of magnesium sulfate (Epsom
salt) on the plants. See if they “green up” in a few days. If that doesn't help, then other causes should be investigated.
Check out page three of the bulletin linked here which talks about interveinal chlorosis in more detail:
https://extension.msstate.edu/sites/default/files/publications/publications/P2975_web.pdf
I have also included another publication on interveinal chlorosis here:
https://publications.extension.uconn.edu/2019/11/04/interveinal-chlorosis/
Good luck and submit again if you need more assistance. Thanks for using Ask Extension!
