Earlier this week, I received some troubling photos from Cynthia, one of our readers.  The photos featured tomato leaves that were yellowing, wilting, and spotted.  Like researching your own health issues online, your mind tends to go to the worst possible malady.  Initially, I thought it was fusarium wilt for which there is basically no cure.  The only option is to move your tomatoes, grow in containers, or only grow resistant varieties. Yikes!  After looking at the photos some more, and considering the wet weather we have had recently, a more logical answer is Septoria Leaf Spot aka “Wet Summer” disease.

Septoria leaf spot is caused by a fungus, septoria lycopersici. It is one of the most destructive diseases of tomato foliage and is particularly severe in areas where wet, humid weather persists for extended periods. Septoria leaf spot usually appears on the lower leaves after the first fruit sets. Spots are circular, about 1/16 to 1/4 inch in diameter with dark brown margins and tan to gray centers with small black fruiting structures. Characteristically, there are many spots per leaf. This disease spreads upwards from oldest to youngest growth. If leaf lesions are numerous, the leaves turn slightly yellow, then brown, and then wither. Fruit infection is rare.

Control Strategies

1. Remove diseased leaves.

If caught early, the lower infected leaves can be removed and burned or destroyed. However, removing leaves above where fruit has formed will weaken the plant and expose fruit to sunscald. At the end of the season, collect all foliage from infected plants and dispose of or bury. Do not compost diseased plants.

2. Improve air circulation around the plants.

If the plants can still be handled without breaking them, stake or cage the plants to raise them off the ground and promote faster drying of the foliage.

3. Mulch around the base of the plants.

Mulching will reduce splashing soil, which may contain fungal spores associated with debris. Apply mulch after the soil has warmed.

4. Do not use overhead watering.

Overhead watering facilitates infection and spreads the disease. Use a soaker hose at the base of the plant to keep the foliage dry. Water early in the day.

5. Control weeds.

Weeds in the nightshade family (the same plant family as tomatoes) are frequently hosts of Septoria leaf spot and should be eradicated around the garden site.

6. Use crop rotation.

Next year do not plant tomatoes back in the same location where diseased tomatoes grew. Wait 1–2 years before replanting tomatoes again in these areas.

7. Use fungicidal sprays.

If the above measures do not control the disease, you may want to use fungicidal sprays. Fungicides will not cure infected leaves, but they will protect new leaves from becoming infected. Apply at 7 to 10 day intervals throughout the season. Apply chlorothalonil, mancozeb, or a copper-based fungicide, such as Bordeaux mixture, copper hydroxide, copper sulfate, or copper oxychloride sulfate. Follow harvest restrictions listed on the pesticide label.

End of Season

The fungus overwinters on infected tomato debris or on weeds in the nightshade family, the same family to which tomatoes belong. The fungus can also survive on equipment such as plant stakes and cages.  Be sure to sterilize them with a bleach solution at the end of the garden season. Long periods of high relative humidity, temperatures of 60–80 degrees F, and leaf wetness are ideal conditions for development and spread of the pathogen the following year.