Early Season Tomato Leaf Symptoms
Amy Ivy, Vegetable Specialist
Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture
Once tomatoes are over their initial transplant shock and begin to push out new growth, growers often breathe a sigh of relief. Most growers got their plants in later than they would have liked but finally, whether inside a tunnel or out in the field, the plants are really taking off.
Tunnel grown tomatoes get more attention from growers than field grown but it’s always a good idea to pay close attention to all your crops in an effort to catch problems early on. Here are a few leaf symptoms that may catch your eye this month. Remember you can call on any of us in the Eastern NY program to help you diagnose what’s going on.
Leaf Roll (photo A) has a dramatic look and comes on suddenly, causing quite a shock to many growers. Luckily it’s a physiological response to stress and the plants should grow out of it. It occurs most commonly the day after a heavy pruning in tunnels. If the soil is dry when you do the pruning, the stress will be even greater. Try to get into the habit of pruning a little bit every week, rather than one big pruning job less often. Sometimes it can’t be helped so make sure your plants have a good soaking and let them grow out of it.
Virus-like symptoms (photo B) are more subtle but very distinctive. Where leaf roll is usually a lengthwise curling of full-sized leaves, the various virus diseases cause cupping, oddly scalloped and cut, and odd color patterns on the leaves. This photo shows one example of what a virus can do to leaves, there are other variations but there is a similar oddity to them that makes them distinctively viral.
Magnesium deficiency (photo C) can be startling but this is not an issue. It starts on the lowest leaves and works up the plant very gradually. It first appears when the first fruit clusters begin sizing up and as long as basic nutrient needs are being met, it is not a concern. Tunnel grown tomatoes push out vigorous growth and can become deficient more quickly than field grown. A foliar sample will give you much more accurate information. Epsom salts and sul-po-mag are some sources of supplemental magnesium.
Leaf Roll (pdf; 442KB)
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Upcoming Events
Champlain Valley Tree Fruit Grower Input Meeting
November 30, 2022
Plattsburgh, NY
We need your input! Mike will be holding a Champlain Valley tree fruit grower input session on November 30 in Plattsburgh at the Clinton County CCE office. Mike will review his 2022 research and extension activities. We would then like to hear from you to set priorities for future tree fruit research and education needs, and to get your input for speakers for our 2023 winter meetings.
How Profitable Will My New Orchard Investment Be? Zoom Series
December 5, 2022 : Looking at the Big Financial Picture for Your Farm
Your farm's big-3 financial records (balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flow) and how to use them to assess your overall financial situation. This information will help you assess what types of investments are likely to be viable for your farm business and whether or not you are likely to be able to use credit to finance that investment. We will specifically cover Farm Profitability, Cash Flow, and Key Financial Ratios.
December 6, 2022 : Business Strategy and the Farm Value Chain
How do you create value? How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors? In other words - what is your farm's business strategy? Your investments should be in line with your strategy. Different business strategies will result in investments in different parts of the Farm Business Value Chain. Farm Business Value Chain - full range of activities needed to create a product or service.
December 7, 2022 : Using Your Farm's Financial Data to Make Management Decisions
Identifying the Enterprises in Your Value Chain. Your Profit Centers and Cost Centers. We will cover: Direct vs Indirect Costs and Cost Allocation and Variable vs Fixed Costs and Relevant Range (when does a fixed cost become a variable cost?)
December 8, 2022 : Operating Budgets and Strategic Planning
Operating budgets are the overall financial plan for the business. You can use a budget based on your current situation as the base to model new scenarios.
December 12, 2022 : Enterprise Budgets
It is more time-consuming to develop detailed budgets for your enterprises, but it is worthwhile to do this for area where you are considering making major investments. We will demonstrate how to move from an operating budget to an enterprise budget to model specific scenarios within that enterprise.
December 13, 2022 : 5 Step Decision-making Process for Capital Projects and Long-term Investments
Introduces a structured process for a manager to go through to decide among options for long-term investments, projects or changes to the farm business.
December 14, 2022 : Cost Volume Profit Analysis and Sensitivity Analysis
As you change your prices, volume of sales or costs of production how does your profit change? What is your break-even point and what output level do you need to achieve a target income? We will also cover sensitivity analysis that will help you see how your results will vary over a range of likely scenarios from best case to worst case. This will help you assess the riskiness of your plan.
December 15, 2022 : Capital Budgeting Tools - Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return, and Payback Period
Capital budgeting is defined as the process used to determine whether capital assets are worth investing in. it's the process of asking: is an asset worth the resources it requires? Capital assets are usually long-term investments like new equipment, facilities, and other infrastructure upgrades. By incorporating strategically planned capital budgeting into their financial processes, companies can more effectively determine and prioritize which projects, programs and other investment assets could be most financially beneficial in the long-term.
SAVE THE DATES
December 13 - December 15, 2022February 2 - February 8, 2023February 21 - February 23, 2023
Save the Dates for the following Winter Meetings:
- The New England Vegetable & Fruit Conference, DoubleTree Hotel and Conference Center, Manchester, New Hampshire, December 13-15 https://newenglandvfc.org/registration/
- NOFA NY Virtual Winter Conference, February 2-5, 2023 https://nofany.org/2023conference/
- Empire State Expo, Oncenter Syracuse, February 6-7 2023 https://nysvga.org/expo/information/
- Becker Forum, Oncenter Syracuse, February 8, 2023 https://nysvga.org/expo/information/
- Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program Regional Winter Meeting, The Desmond Hotel, Albany, February 21-23, 2023