Tomato Growing Problems

Tomato Pest and Disease.

What are tomato growing problems?

Tomatoes are very commonly used vegetables. Almost half of the population, the world over uses tomatoes in their daily diet.

Tomatoes are easily available in the market and are also very easy to grow. However, there are many tomato growing problems. The reason for the tomato disease could be because of insufficient nutrients, bad soil, fungi or even insects. If you are able to detect these problems at an early stage you can cure the plant. Let us have a look at the various tomato growing problems that can occur while growing tomatoes.

Deficiency such as that of phosphorous can affect the tomato plant in the initial stages. Try and avoid planting the tomatoes seeds at the very beginning of the season. As the soil is cold, it may deprive the seeds of the phosphorous that is required by the plant to grow. You can use plastic mulch to plant the seeds if you want to plant them early. It is advisable that you plant the seeds a little late of the season so that the temperatures that rises will prevent this problem.

Beet leafhoppers are responsible for spreading the curly top virus among the tomato leaves. Once the plant is affected by the virus, the leaves will start turning yellow and roll up wards and eventually fall down. You will find some kind of stiffness in the stems and the leaves of the plant and tomatoes get ripe prematurely.

Another one of tomato growing problems is hot dry springs that come in from the southwest winds are responsible for the leafhoppers and eventually the virus. As it is difficult to stop the leafhoppers, one can cover the tomato plant with row covers. Chemicals do not help in getting rid of the leafhoppers.

Psyllids are the insects that feed on the tomato plant. They are mostly found in the eastern Colorado. They give out toxic saliva, which turns the leaves of the plant yellow or purple color. The stem gets weak and this gives a distorted look to the plant.

If you see a small insect jumping all over the plant, just be careful as it may disrupt the growth. Flea beetles as they are known are usually black and brown in color. They chew the leaves of the tomato plant and form holes in the leaves. Using effective insecticides will help you get rid of the beetle problem.

Hornworms are green caterpillars that separate the leaves of the plant from the stem and also feed on the raw tomato. Early blight is a fungus that may affect the tomato plant in the hot season. It mostly targets the older leaves of the plant but can affect stems and the fruit as well. Septoria fungus is another fungus that can leave gray and white spots on the leaves.

During the warm and rainy months, the tomatoes may start cracking. In these seasons the tomatoes expand fast and crack due to the expansion. You can avoid this problem by keeping the soil moisture.

Too much of exposure to the sun can cause sunscald to the plant. Excessive sun exposure to ripening or green tomatoes can damage the fruit. Tomato may turn grayish-white.

Return to gardening-tips-idea from Tomato growing problems