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Brown areas tomato leaves #754972

Asked June 09, 2021, 8:21 AM EDT

A cherry tomato plant in a pot was planted on Memorial Day. On a patio and it now has brown areas on the leaves. Could u please tell me what this is from?

Franklin County Ohio

Expert Response

Several factors can contribute to browning of tomatoes - particular those in pots.  so first question is how big is your pot? Yours should be in a 3-4 gallon pot.  If its too small, consider repotting.  How are you watering - tomatoes in pots lose water faster than inground due to evaporation - do you have saucers under your pots, if not add them, if you do fill them with water when you water in the morning.  did you fill your pot with potting soil not garden soil?  if growing in pots use a high quality potting soil.  If your soil isn't great you could need to add nutrients, consider a liquid kelp emulsion or a dry/granular pellet fertilizer formulated for tomatoes. Airborne diseases can cause browning consider spraying with a bacterial species:  Serenade is a strain of beneficial bacteria (Bacillus subtilis) that is safe for people and pets.  It either consumes or outcompetes a huge number of pathogenic bacterial and fungal species. take a look at this:  https://extension.unh.edu/blog/what-best-way-grow-tomatoes-container;  https://extension.psu.edu/container-grown-tomatoes.

An Ask Extension Expert Replied June 09, 2021, 10:02 AM EDT
I planted this plant with my friend who is in supportive housing. It is in a huge pot on the patio of supportive housing. This is her first tomato plant. I used very good potting soil and a little vegan fertilizer. This is a project I thought up for her to learn and care for a plant. She loves cherry tomatoes.
I have the same type of plant in my organic garden and it is doing fine. That is why I couldn’t figure out why some of her leaves are brown. There is a saucer beneath the plant.
Maybe it is the patio in the city off of Broad Street.
I will check
On the spray. 
Do you put water in the saucer when she waters it? I thought plants should not sit in water in the saucers. Hmmm- thank for ur help!


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On Jun 9, 2021, at 10:02 AM, Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:


The Question Asker Replied June 09, 2021, 10:47 AM EDT

sounds like you did everything right in terms of growing plants in pots - so its probably bacterial or fungal - this has a good chart for diagnosing problems based on leaf characteristics - you are looking at areas of dead/dry leaf blades. https://www.towergarden.com/blog.read.html/en/2017/8/plant-problems.html

An Ask Extension Expert Replied June 09, 2021, 10:58 AM EDT

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