Help Identifying Tomato and Pepper Issues

Sudbury, Canada

Hey All,

This is my first time posting here. I have used this site for various resources over the years but this year I need some help from all you knowledgeable folks :)

As a little back story, my wife and moved to our house a year ago and this spring, we built a 30x40' garden. In order to build up this garden, we needed a butt load of soil. We decided to go the route of cardboard over grass and compost over top. We were very low on funds so we got out compost from the local waste disposal facility. This looked like decent compost (not amazing but decent) and it was 75% less then other prices we saw. What I didn't think of was that this compost was most likely made from household organic waste (including meats and fats) and yard waste (other potential diseased plants, weeds etc).

Fast forward to today and I have two issues. One, there is not enough nitrogen in the soil (which is a whole other problem I am dealing with). The second is that my San Marzano tomatos that are planted in the new compost, seem to be developing a fungal issue but I am having problems really locking down what the disease is. I have attached some pictures for you to see. I know I need to mulch and I am working on that but I would like to make sure I spray with the correct fungicide to make sure I don't lose this entire crop (~30 plants).

There is also another tomato (Blau Zimmertomate) that is a rare German dwarf. I have them in pots and it has developed leaf coloring that I have never seen before and cannot identify either.

Finally, I have some peppers (I apologize, I am unsure which ones as I planted them without labbeling!) that have very thin leaves and they are curling quite a bit. I wasn't sure what might be causing this as I am fairly new to growing peppers.

I would appreciate any help you find folks can offer :) Thank you so much in advance!

***Edit*** Photo on the far left is the Blau Zimmertomate, the other tomato pics are the San Marzanos.

This message was edited Jul 1, 2022 9:35 AM

Thumbnail by arvanlaar Thumbnail by arvanlaar Thumbnail by arvanlaar Thumbnail by arvanlaar Thumbnail by arvanlaar
Sudbury, Canada

Maybe a separate question, but is there a way to 1) label photos so people know which is which and 2) put your photos midway in the post or do they need to go to the bottom?

Cleveland,GA/Atlanta, GA(Zone 7b)

Have you had your soil tested? Was your compost guaranteed hot composted for a certain period of time? It takes time and the development of organic material to create a viable growing medium. This is not an overnight fix. Your plants are disease prone because of poor soil conditions. Fungicides such as Dipel which can be used on vegetables do not cure disease, they only slow it. San Marzano and Blau Z are both determinate tomatoes with a short life production span. It doesn't look good.

The pepper looks like it is having the same problems as the tomato growing in raw compost. It's all about the soil.

Post a Reply to this Thread

Please or sign up to post.
BACK TO TOP