Wilting tomatoes may be hindered by disease, leafhoppers

Q. I read your article about planting tomatoes in a shady area and still have trouble with my tomatoes. Each year they get hit with tomato wilt. This year I covered my plants with cheese cloth in hopes of preventing the wilt but it hasn’t worked. — A.M.

Albuquerque

A. It’s tough when you plant tomatoes and all of a sudden they become ill. Bacterial and viral diseases of tomatoes are most difficult to cure and those “cures” are far and few between.

There are no chemical cures that I know of once the plants have any one of the many diseases that effect tomatoes. My first suggestion is to determine if they are too far gone to recoup and come to fruit for you. If so, cut your losses, pull the plants out and go on.

Since the plants are diseased do not compost them. They must be disposed of. Consider planting another vegetable so you will get a harvest of something else for all your hard work.

It sounds like you’re planting tomatoes in the same spot annually and that might be part of the problem. It’s time to think about crop rotation. If you have another spot in the garden and can find new, healthy looking plants maybe try again. Be sure you aren’t planting anywhere near where you’ve been growing tomatoes in the past. Give that spot a break for this season and don’t plant tomatoes there again next year either.

Then, check for any small bugs called leafhoppers that might be hanging around your garden. You can recognize a leafhopper if you move about the garden and small greyish-colored bugs hop off any disturbed plant. The leafhopper spreads disease like nobody’s business! As they suck juices out of the plant, they “inject” saliva (if you will) into the plant and once that happens the disease is now in the plant. The key to eliminating the leafhopper is to become the most diligent weed picker you possibly can!

Leafhoppers love weeds so if the weeds are gone, in theory you’ll have fewer leafhoppers hanging around. The recommended pesticide to combat leafhoppers would be a pyrethrin or neem based spray. By spraying you will run the risk of maiming beneficial insects, so any spraying should be applied as a last resort.

Next, I’m not sure how I misled you about planting tomatoes in a shady spot. Tomatoes thrive in bright sun. What I meant to convey is that a shade structure be created to offer the plants a bit of relief from the high 90 to 100 degree heat we’ve suffered with. The plants should still get morning sun and afternoon sun for sure, but a bit of respite from the blazing midday sun.

Once we come out of those wicked hot temperature days, the shade structure can be removed and the plants will continue as you’d hoped. Just maybe don’t be a tomato grower this year — or next — and see if the soil can be purged of any viruses or bacteria that tend to infect tomato plants.

Happy Diggin’ In!