Dear Alex, it looks like something wrong with nutrients. May be results of acid rain? May be you can watering some plants with Hoagland medium to see what happens. I expect that high Ca in hoagland may recover plants.

Hi Alex, what about latent virus infection?

Hi Alex,

I agree with Taras about nutrients. This seems the symptom of an iron deficiency, that starts out as a chlorosis of the youngest leaves, due to the low mobility of iron, and then evolves into an overall chlorosis, up to a totally bleached leaves. It is very often associated with calcareous or alkaline soils, where iron, even if present, becomes inactive and unavailable for plants.

Very hard to diagnose, anyway... Ex-juvantibus diagnosis is the only solution: iron chelates can be a first, quite expensive, solution. Soil acidification is another option that will lower the pH and allow for the soil iron to become more readily available.

Try to find aphyds above or below the ground, white fly if it exists in the region. I suggest a yellow trap for insects. This lead to the Dr. Frank response. What crop is cultuivated close to you plantation? Why in the second photo, the plants growth is non-uniform, see the plants at the top of the second photo. During the transplanting, did you eliminate some part of the roots (root apex!?), or the bedding plants were etiolated.  How about the spacing within the line; may be the plants are competing by nutrients or even for space and thereafter been affect by light reflectance. In my plantation, such symptoms were yellow virus because of the whithe fly and soybean crops around the field. I have photos similar to these, but completely different when the plants were growing apart in the middle of weed grasses without fertilizer. Check the percentage of base saturation from the soil analysis. As you are applying water by microirrigation, pay attention on the calcium. How about the fruit from the last year, do you had problem with the quality of the fruit? These symptoms are not new for me.

My best regards,

Walter

Dear All, 

Thank you for your ideas - I agree to Taras opinion about Fe deficiency, and found similar case in controlled conditions. https://www.researchgate.net/post/Does_anyone_know_what_is_wrong_with_this_tomato#559d14a75cd9e3203e8b463b

good picture can be found at the site http://6e.plantphys.net/topic05.01.html

We will try to fix the problem by hoagland application.

Alex

nutritional problem or water quality (pH ) ......

At first look, plants looking normal. Definitly does not look like any disease. Root knot nematodes is a possibility but that should be on some plants only. It will be worth to dig a plant and look at the roots. I was amazed one time to see a 6 foot tall tomato plant showing nutrition deficiency and then I found that it was loaded with root knot nematode. How is pH of soil? If pH is not in range (6.5-7.5) then micro nutrients could become deficient

 Definitely its not herbicide toxicity

I would also agree that the symptoms are similar to Fe chlorosis. What is the pH value of the soil ? You should immediately use an iron chelate (Fe-EDDHA like Crescal Fe or Sequestrene) in the fertigation (?) system or spray an iron foliar fertilizer. Foliar fertilization will not work efficiently as soon as the symptoms will become too strong.

Symptoms are visually similar to Fe deficiency.

Thank you All!

We still cannot understand the reason of Fe-deficiency: it must be present in irrigation water in recommended doses together with other nutrients added as commercial fertilizer. So far, we have 4 possible variants:

1) farmers use fake fertilizer without microelements;

2) pH of water/soil is too high (expected value is around 7.5, but can be really higher);

3) some microbes "hijack" iron from soil near plant roots by their siderophores;

4) tomato hybrid (Japanese cultivar) has some genetic problems in this particular climate/soil conditions.

Please, what are you all concluding as per this symptom. Because there are some tomatoes lines here in south-west Nigeria showing the same sympton

I note that there is a lot of speculation about the symptoms even if they really resemble Fe-deficiency, but this has still to be proved. I know nearly identical samples from industrial tomato production in Sicily growing under fertigation on carbonate soils. But as we know similar symptoms may really have different origins. Alex, did you already think about taking plant tissue samples for chemical analysis ? Maybe this could provide more clarification.

I have got samples of plants, soil, water and fertilizer, and will do chemical analysis, but so far, everything looks normal, except the plants...

I've got tomato plants from different location with similar yellowing leaves but they have some deformation, and I think it can be a mild virus...

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Are_you_familiar_with_such_symptoms_on_tomato_plants

Spray some with a micronutrient chelate blend (or just iron chelate) and others with a weak Epsom salts solution and see how they respond.  Appears to be a calcareous soil with a high pH.  I'm guessing it's an Fe deficiency also, but could be Zn as well.

I agree with Dr. Ignatov. It has the chemical analyzes of all samples and the results were negative. Thus we can think of pathogens, particularly viruses, it is important in this case to seek a vector, for example a fungus Olpidium may, under certain ambient conditions of temperature and humidity can transmit viruses difficult to detect.

@Ruvini, climate is dry. I had once idea that plant roots are concentrated in small volume of soil moistured from drop irrigation, so they consume all Fe and Zn, but all nutrients in theory should be in commercial fertilizer added into water...

Yes, confirm after applying Fe to a few selected plants by aerial spray or fertigation. Recovery and disappearance of symptoms will confirm it. You can also do young leave tissue analysis.

first of all you should analyse the soil for all the macro and micronutrients required for plant development. since each and every element plays a important and vital role in plant growth. if there is any deficiency of particular nutrient then you can full fill it by giving a proper treatment by spraying/ through drip.   

From pictures it looks like deficiency of Fe or Mg. Spraying the crop with Epsom salt will take care of yellowing and will help in producing more of cholorophyll.

Often identifying such problem exclusively on the basis of morphological symptoms  , may lead to erroneous diagnosis , unless supported  by some supplementary analysis including  soil analysis data , potential  pathogens etc for conclusive diagnisis . Such symptoms have appeared just within few days after transplant ( If I am not wrong ) , which I feel is too early for any micronutrient deficiency symptoms  to be so distinctly  visible. From the photograph , I don't see such distinct Fe/Mg/Zn deficiency symptoms  at all .

Yes, that is why I suggested diagnostic tests before reaching any conclusion.

It is more interesting to note that such symptoms developed within few days after transplanting in the field . Within that period , how much Fe otherwise these tomato seedlings would have absorbed that in such a short time , deficiency symptoms started  appearing so distinctly. There has to be some cause-effect relationship and  time taken in some process to express in plants language.  

Dear All, thank you for sharing your ideas and knowledge. I am waiting for results of soil, fertilize, and water chemical analysis to see that actually they have in field.

Hi Alex, only spotted this question today. Turns out solanaceae and likely particularly tomato are susceptible to low level soil residues of herbicides in the  pyridine caboxylic group (picolinic acid group). Herbicides in this group include picloram, triclopyr, fluoroxypyr, and clopyralid. Transplanted tomato seedlings show toxicity symptoms attributed to these herbicides at levels not detectable by typical soil  herbicide residue detection limits of 50ppb. Under certain field conditions these herbicides may remain residual in soil at ultra trace levels for successive seasons. Also several of the chlorinated phenoxyacid herbicide group  eg 2,4-D, dicamba, show residual activity. I am thinking the local climate in high northern latitudes with a short growing season with severe winter frosting may be conducive to herbicide residue carryover in soils. What is the origin of your irrigation water? Recycled water can carry residual herbicides resistant to recycling water treatments.  The relatively rapid symptom expression is consistent with carryover soil herbicide residues or  water soluble herbicides(irrigation) and less likely to be associated with less mobile soil mineral nutrients such as calcium, phosphorus and magnesium.  Because the seedlings would be expected to have reserves of these nutrients in the plant tissues particularly for the seedling size shown. The symptoms last season should have been more severe if soil herbicide residues were implicated but expression can vary with season and growth stage.

Gavin, thank you! I have considered  this hypothesis as the first one. Pity, but if it is true,  this farmers have to change production to more tolerant and less profitable crop.  

Yes Alex, tomatoes are extremely sensitive to phenoxyacid herbicides at soil levels even below 10ppb and the limits of detection of the most sensitive residue tests. Incorporation of a heavy application of organic matter once the spring thaw has occurred can assist the soil microbes to reduce the carryover residues more rapidly. A green manure crop of a suitable legume ploughed in can  do this job. A summer season of fallow with this organic matter incorporation might allow a more rapid return to the tomato crop. And of course tomatoes and corn, sweet potatoes for example don't like repeat year after year planting due to soil disease build up, but once again the organic matter incorporation assists with combating these fungal diseases and even nematodes.

Frenching Disease

Isoleucine overproduction by either a Bacillus or a fluorescent Pseudomonad

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