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It is commendable that everyone wants to provide their family with fresh, healthy vegetables from their garden and winter preparations. The future harvest, without a doubt, is laid at the seedling stage. Most gardeners grow seedlings themselves or have at least tried to do so.
Healthy seedlings not only please the eye, but also provide hope for a decent future harvest. And the greater the bitterness of disappointment when you invest your strength and soul, but the result is not pleasing. Hands up.
Possible mistakes should be analyzed in order to prevent them in the future and eliminate them in the present. It happens that spots appear on tomato seedlings. Spots are different, as are the reasons for their occurrence.
Sunburn
The presence of white spots indicates sunburn. It may even happen that the plant turns completely white, and only the stem remains green. Tomato seedlings received a sunburn, resulting in tissue necrosis or death. Unprepared plants were immediately exposed to the sun; another reason was improper watering during the daytime, which left drops on the leaves and did not focus the sun’s rays like lenses. As a result, the plants suffer tissue burns. How to avoid burns?
Water the plants at the roots in the early morning or late afternoon, when the sun's rays are indirect and cannot cause harm;
From the moment the sprouts appear, the seedlings should be on a sunny windowsill;
Before planting in open ground or a greenhouse, gradually accustom tomato seedlings to the sun. Place in the sun, starting from an hour, gradually increase the time;
The first time, after planting tomato seedlings in the ground, cover it with some material. For example, lutrasil, or just burdock leaves.
If the tomato seedlings have already been burned, then experienced gardeners advise spraying the leaves with Epin. It not only stimulates plant growth, but is also an anti-stress drug and improves immunity. It will no longer be possible to revive the burn sites, but the plant will gain strength to overcome stress and will not receive additional burns. Dilute 40 drops of the drug in 5 liters of water and spray the plants.
Dry spotting (Alternaria blight)
The disease first appears on the lower leaves in the form of rounded brown spots; over time, the spots enlarge and acquire a gray tint, their surface becomes velvety. With severe damage, the leaves die.
In warm, humid weather, with significant daily differences, the disease progresses. To prevent tomato seedlings from being affected by white spotting, follow the following preventive measures:
- Ventilate the room, avoid high humidity and elevated temperatures;
- In greenhouses, remove all plant debris that provides food for pathogens illnesses;
- Choose tomato seeds that are resistant to the disease;
- Maintain crop rotation;
- Treat the seeds before sowing.
Chemicals to combat the disease: Kuproxat, Thanos, Quadris, Metaxil.
Watch the video for tips from an experienced gardener:
White spot (septoria)
Dirty - white spots with a brown border on tomato seedlings indicate that your plants are sick with septoria. The lower leaves are damaged first. Dark dots can be seen on the surface of the spots. The spots merge over time, forming necrotic lesions on the leaf blade. In resistant varieties, the spots are small, 1–2 mm. The leaves turn brown and fall off, then the entire bush dies if the disease is not dealt with. Septoria blight develops if the agrotechnical conditions for growing tomato seedlings are not met: high humidity and high temperature.
Control measures:
- Choose disease-resistant varieties and hybrids;
- Maintain crop rotation;
- Avoid high humidity and temperature, ventilate the room, water moderately;
- Disinfect greenhouses or completely replace all soil;
- At the first stage of the disease, spray with a fungicide: “Thanos”, “Title”, “Revus”.
The sooner you start treatment, the greater the likelihood of saving the plants and getting a harvest.
Brown spot (cladosporiosis)
This is a fungal disease that develops gradually. The symptoms are as follows: light green spots appear on the upper side of the tomato seedlings; on the back side of the leaf they are covered with a grayish coating. Over time, the disease affects more and more leaves, and the color of the spots changes to dark brown. And on the inside, the coating becomes brown; the fungal spores have matured and are ready to infect new plants.Despite the fact that clasporidosis does not affect the stem, tomato seedlings die because the process of photosynthesis stops in the damaged leaves. The leaves are curling and fall off.
Causes of the disease: high air humidity and high temperatures of more than +25 degrees. And also the presence of rotting plant residues in the soil, which are a home for fungi in winter. Preventive control measures:
- To prevent the development of the disease, monitor humidity; greenhouses must be regularly ventilated;
- Affected bushes should be removed and burned;
- Maintain crop rotation, do not plant tomatoes in the same place for several years in a row;
- Avoid thickening the plantings, which leads to high humidity;
- At the initial stage, you can tear off the affected leaves and burn them;
- Watering should be moderate. There is no need to water tomato seedlings frequently and abundantly;
- Choose tomato varieties that are resistant to brown spot.
Traditional methods:
- Dilute whey (1 liter) in 10 liters of water, spray the tomato seedlings;
- Watering tomato seedlings with a weak solution of potassium permanganate weekly prevents the appearance of brown spot;
- Garlic tincture (500 g of grated garlic per bucket of water), spray the plants;
- 1 liter of milk, 30 drops of iodine per 10 liters of water. Make a solution from the indicated ingredients, spray the tomato seedlings;
If traditional methods do not help, and the disease is gaining momentum, then you should turn to chemicals. They will help you: “Hom”, “Poliram”, “Abiga - Peak”, “Bravo”. Or prepare a solution from the following mixture: take 1 tbsp. l. polycarbacine and copper sulfate, 3 tbsp. l. colloidal sulfur per bucket of water (10 l).Biological control agents include the drug: “Fitosporin - M”.
Black bacterial spot
On the leaves of tomato seedlings, the symptoms of black bacterial spot look like small spots of light green color. But soon they enlarge and turn brown.
Bacteria penetrate into the leaves through natural openings and through any mechanical damage. The bacterium begins to actively develop at high humidity and temperatures above +25 degrees.
Control measures:
- Cleaning the soil from plant residues in which bacteria can persist;
- Treating the seed;
- Do not thicken the plantings;
- Maintain crop rotation;
- Remove affected leaves;
- Treat tomato seedlings with the following preparations: “Fitosporin - M”, “Baktofit”, “Gamair”.
In difficult cases, go to chemical means of control: “Hom”, “Oxychom”, Bordeaux mixture.
Mosaic
A viral disease that affects tomato seedlings. Dense plantings, high humidity and temperature lead to the development of the disease. At first, the mosaic appears in the form of mottling, then separate areas of light green and yellow-green appear.
The leaves become deformed, become thinner, and peculiar growths form on them, which can be used to diagnose a mosaic.
The virus can survive for quite a long time in the soil if there are plant residues in it; its carriers are insect pests: aphids and thrips.
Measures to combat the virus:
- Maintain crop rotation;
- Carefully remove and burn all plant debris;
- In the greenhouse disinfect the soil by spilling it with a solution of potassium permanganate. Or replace the soil by removing the top layer by 15 cm;
- Disinfect seed material;
- Steam the soil prepared for tomato seedlings or bake it in the oven;
- Destroy insect pests in a timely manner;
- Disinfect tomato seedling boxes and garden tools;
- Treat tomato seedlings weekly with whey (liter per bucket of water);
- Choose resistant tomato varieties and hybrids for planting;
- Avoid sudden temperature changes.
Mosaic is ubiquitous; simple agricultural techniques will protect your plants from infection.
Conclusion
To prevent disease in tomato seedlings, most often, preventive measures to protect the plants and adherence to growing conditions are sufficient. Be careful when cleaning the soil from plant debris that harbors pathogenic microorganisms.
