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I had an issue with tomato hornworms. I sprayed my plants with a BT Dipel solution. A few days after I sprayed them, I noticed a change in the plants. I did some research and found that it could be early blight. I purchased a copper spray solution and sprayed the plants with it. However, it did not make a difference. I am not sure what's going on any more. Can I save these plants? Should I keep or burn them?

Click on pictures for full size.

Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3 Pic 4 Pic 5

Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL
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Josiane Ferice
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    To me it looks like this is some type of fungus. Tomato plants are very sensitive to fungus especially septoria and early blight. In the second picture at the middle of the stem, it appears that some some leaves are dried – kidra.pazzo Jan 03 '16 at 19:43
  • I've been looking around and can't identify a disease with symptoms as shown above. I am guessing N deficiency, so I am increasing the dosage. It is all that I can come up with at this point. – Josiane Ferice Jan 04 '16 at 14:49

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The first and the last pictures look like Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV). The mottling looks like it matches. The others, I'm not sure, but they could just need more of the right nutrients, and they may have a fungal infection. It may be too early to tell for sure what's wrong with those. I don't know if they also have a virus.

Alternately, it could be Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl virus (TYLCV). Although peppers can carry this virus, I don't know if they normally have symptoms.

Here are some links to pictures that led me to believe Tobacco Mosaic Virus was likely the case for the first and last pictures:

I might recommend planting resistant varieties next year. I don't know of any particular treatment for this year.

Varieties resistant to Tobacco Mosaic Virus that I recommend looking into include these:

  • Yolo Wonder pepper
  • California Wonder 300 TMV pepper
  • Capistrano pepper
  • Keystone Resistant pepper
  • Pimento pepper
  • Chef's Choice Orange F1 tomato (also resists anthracnose; AAS award)
  • Chef's Choice Pink F1 tomato (also resists anthracnose; AAS award)
  • Chef's Choice Green F1 tomato (also resists anthracnose; AAS award)
  • Big Pick tomato (probably an F1)
  • Celebrity F1 tomato
  • President tomato (probably an F1)
  • Park's Extra Early tomato F1

Reason for suspecting tomato yellow leaf curl virus:

Here are some varieties reported to be resistant to Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus:

Brōtsyorfuzthrāx
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  • Someone told me that you can get the Tobacco Mosaic Virus if you've handle tobaccos. I have not come into contact with any kind of tobacco whatsoever; as a result, it did not cross my mind. In addition, I have a citrus tree with yellow leaves. It lead me to think the plants may have a nitrogen deficiency. – Josiane Ferice Jan 05 '16 at 16:08
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    I'm not accusing you of handling tobacco. :) TMV can come from other sources. If it spreads as easily as they say, I would guess even tobacco hornworm moths (which are not exclusive to tobacco, but also love tomatoes, and look a lot like tomato hornworms) could spread it. They could maybe even fly from a far away field of tobacco over to your place and contaminate the tomatoes. As for nitrogen deficiency, try giving them some nitrogen. It should fix the problem pretty quickly if that's the issue. However, the yellowing caused by nitrogen deficiency generally isn't mottled and, [more] – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Jan 06 '16 at 23:57
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    the yellow caused by nitrogen affects the old growth first. The old growth on that first picture looks fine (the new growth is affected). That could indicate an immobile nutrient deficiency, but I would guess a virus. – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Jan 06 '16 at 23:57
  • In my last comment, I meant 'caused by nitrogen deficiency', rather than 'caused by nitrogen'. – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Jan 07 '16 at 07:36