should I worry about this?

jazzycat 4/26/2013, 5:43 pm

OK. So I know I shouldn't freak out about every little thing I see in the garden. My plants are growing like crazy and seem to be extremely healthy. I did notice something when I was in the garden earlier though. A few leaves had a dark spot or two. One leaf had a sticky feeling when I touched it on one of those spots. I figure it's some kind of insect?

should I worry about this? Img_7144

Also, my tomatoes are getting so huge the leaves are going into the front squares where I have greens planted, and an okra and pepper plants (haven't come up yet). Should I be trimming those branches or something? I kinda thought the tomatoes would shield the greens from the intense heat in the middle of the day, but I wonder if they're shading those squares TOO much?

should I worry about this? Img_7147

Some of the bottom leaves are touching the mulch. Should I trim those off? Or take off the whole stem? I really want to succeed at this!

Thanks bunches for any input!

**camprn** 4/26/2013, 5:50 pm

Ideally you should not be pruning your tomato plants until they start setting fruit. The reason for this is that the plants need their foliage to grow. No photosynthesis, no growy. Now, you can clip off half that leaf stem that is shadowing any smaller plants or is touching the ground. Once the plant sets fruit you may prune off any leaf branches BELOW THE FRUITING STEM.

I have no idea about what's on the leaf, the photo is terrible, I cannot see what is going on. I can see a sucker in the background.
Is this the leaf that is touching the ground? Have you tried IDing the problem by searching the internet?

All the other foliage i see looks terrific!

jazzycat 4/26/2013, 6:28 pm

camprn wrote:Ideally you should not be pruning your tomato plants until they start setting fruit. The reason for this is that the plants need their foliage to grow. No photosynthesis, no growy. Now, you can clip off half that leaf stem that is shadowing any smaller plants or is touching the ground. Once the plant sets fruit you may prune off any leaf branches BELOW THE FRUITING STEM.

I have no idea about what's on the leaf, the photo is terrible, I cannot see what is going on. I can see a sucker in the background.
Is this the leaf that is touching the ground? Have you tried IDing the problem by searching the internet?

All the other foliage i see looks terrific!

Oh crap. I pruned some suckers earlier (well below the buds). silly me

I wish I had known that. Here I was trying to be good mom and did something wrong. Sad

The first photo has two small holes in the leaf with some black around the holes. The other one has some darkening around the edge of the leaf on the tip and near the tip. I know they aren't the best photos, but I thought they would be good enough to get an idea. Guess I was wrong.

Soooo, this one probably isn't going to be any better, but I saw this funky beetle looking thing hanging out on one of the hoops, under the tulle. He appears to be upside down. Not upside down, but on his back? Don't know if you can tell, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. He's about 1/4 or 1/5" big.

should I worry about this? Img_7211

jazzycat 4/26/2013, 6:30 pm

Oh, and there are a few leaves touching the mulch. I'm trying to train them up over the string, but the branches keep growing and they're getting HUGE. Very long. And big. What a Face

I suppose I could have worse problems, eh?

**camprn** 4/26/2013, 6:51 pm

http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740

plantoid 4/26/2013, 7:09 pm

You are usually advised in all gardening books to cut off any leaves that touch the ground to help prevent tomato blight developing becoming a problem & to dispose of the leaves away from the tomatoes and compost bin . Never leave any detached tomato leaves lying around for the same reason .

If you smoke be aware that when playing with your tomato plants tobacco residues on your fingers can damage your tomato plants with the tobacco mossaic disease.

littlejo 4/26/2013, 8:05 pm

Don't know about the toms. Mine are all skinny leafed type, no big leaves yet.

I would say the bug is a June bug. I know it's a little early, but I see yours and expect them here in a couple weeks. I've never had a problem with them in the garden.
Jo

jazzycat 4/26/2013, 8:23 pm

littlejo wrote:Don't know about the toms. Mine are all skinny leafed type, no big leaves yet.

I would say the bug is a June bug. I know it's a little early, but I see yours and expect them here in a couple weeks. I've never had a problem with them in the garden.
Jo

Cool. I won't worry about it then. Thanks Jo!

jazzycat 4/26/2013, 8:28 pm

plantoid wrote:You are usually advised in all gardening books to cut off any leaves that touch the ground to help prevent tomato blight developing becoming a problem & to dispose of the leaves away from the tomatoes and compost bin . Never leave any detached tomato leaves lying around for the same reason .

If you smoke be aware that when playing with your tomato plants tobacco residues on your fingers can damage your tomato plants with the tobacco mossaic disease.

I don't smoke, but my sister does, and I've been trying to ram it into her head not to go near the plants when she's smoking, and to wash her hands if she has to touch one for some reason. Does that also affect fruit trees?

So throwing leaves out onto the ground somewhere away from the bed, but near it, is not OK? hmmmm...

I knew the leaves were supposed to be up off the ground, and I'm trying to train them up onto the cord, but they just keep growing... I guess tomorrow I may have some cutting. Or stringing.

**camprn** 4/26/2013, 8:47 pm

jazzycat wrote:
plantoid wrote:You are usually advised in all gardening books to cut off any leaves that touch the ground to help prevent tomato blight developing becoming a problem & to dispose of the leaves away from the tomatoes and compost bin . Never leave any detached tomato leaves lying around for the same reason .

If you smoke be aware that when playing with your tomato plants tobacco residues on your fingers can damage your tomato plants with the tobacco mossaic disease.

I don't smoke, but my sister does, and I've been trying to ram it into her head not to go near the plants when she's smoking, and to wash her hands if she has to touch one for some reason. Does that also affect fruit trees?

So throwing leaves out onto the ground somewhere away from the bed, but near it, is not OK? hmmmm...

I knew the leaves were supposed to be up off the ground, and I'm trying to train them up onto the cord, but they just keep growing... I guess tomorrow I may have some cutting. Or stringing.

It is unlikely that anyone casually smoking tobacco near the tomato garden will infect your tomato plants with Tobacco Mosaic Virus, though the probability exists of cross contamination. There are much more frequent fungal and viral and bacterial diseases that will likely infect your garden. Some of them are plant specific, like blight to the tomato and potato and eggplant. Some are commonly shared, powdery mildew can affect pretty much everything. Some are transmitted by air or droplets or soil born or vector born. Some are endemic, others are trucked in on someone's shoes...... KNOWLEDGE is your friend in these matters. The internet is your friend. Here are a few to start with.
http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/DiagnosticKeys/TomWlt/TomWiltKey.html

http://usablight.org/

ALSO, see stickies in the forums titled 'Diseases' and 'Pests'. There is a lot of information available on the Forum, and so much more on the web.

jazzycat 4/26/2013, 9:24 pm

Thanks camprn! I'll bookmark those pages.

I've been doing a lot of reading/research over the past few months about this stuff, but honestly, I guess until you actually SEE IT in person (at least for me) it's hard to judge what is what. I will keep reading and learning. Like I said. My plants are healthy, and I don't want to freak out about every little thing. I imagine sometimes plants just get spots and it isn't necessarily anything wrong or bad. But what do I know? I could be completely wrong about that. Anyway. Thanks for the input. Smile

jazzycat 4/27/2013, 6:20 pm

So today in the garden one leaf stem on one plant is wilting. It looks like the seedlings looked in the middle of the day when they needed water. The rest of the plant looks fine. I checked the water level around that plant, and it was all good. I'm wondering if it is one of those wilt diseases. I looked them up but they are supposed to happen later in the year in mature plants. here is a picture.

should I worry about this? Img_7214

See how droopy that one leaf is? What do you think?

**camprn** 4/27/2013, 6:29 pm

I have no idea what the problem is... is it hot out today? You seem quite worried about this, so maybe the best solution is to take the leaf/stem right off.

jazzycat 4/28/2013, 11:35 am

I know I might seem a little (or more than a little) obsessive. I do get that way. I just have no idea what I'm doing, so I'm looking for guidance. The plant looked fine this morning when I checked on it. I'm going to wait a few days and watch it and see what happens. I've also decided to (try to) stop freaking out every time I see a spot or something on a leaf, unless it looks really bad. I just want to be a successful gardener, like you guys. Very Happy

**RoOsTeR** 4/28/2013, 11:48 am

Jazzy, many times things just fail, or it's a bad year for some crops. Weather, bugs, disease, accidents...Yesterday I was moving and watering my tomato plants and dropped one and broke several branches of another on its way down. I snipped them off and continue on. It's a bummer, but whatcha gonna do? should I worry about this? 1280598131

Your plants will change many, many times throughout the growing season. Some days they will look perfect and others, not so much. Intervention is great, but at the same time you can WAY overdo it. Like my signature says, I am my gardens worst enemy. Gardening should bring you peace, not worry sunny

**camprn** 4/28/2013, 12:06 pm

+1 Rooster!

Jazzy, go get this book! Seriously, one of the best out there for novice and veteran gardeners.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7632379-garden-wisdom-know-how

should I worry about this? 7632379

jazzycat 4/28/2013, 12:49 pm

Thanks you guys!

I will order that book today camprn.

Rooster, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who might overdo things. What a Face

**llama momma** 4/28/2013, 1:09 pm

jazzy- I am soo familiar with your style of worry, but like to think i'm getting better at it.

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