Tomato and squash disease

[LipanParticipant]

Hi,
First of all i am in Argentina so we are in the peak of summer! (and my english is not so good…)

3 of my green zebra tomato plants are wilting and the fruit has brown spots. I thought it was mildew but the spots are really dry, nothing molted, some of them like round shaped spots, and no powder neither. I already took of one plant and don’t know what to do with the others. My concern is if it is some kind of virus.
The red “platense” tomatoes (a local variety) are just fine!

Some of the squashes Cucurbita maxima / pepo (Marina di Chioggia / Sibley / Delicata) have blight/mildew i think: some of the plants are drying and the fruits are rotted when little. The leaves do have some white powder under. At first they were just fine and grew a lot. The courgettes and the cucurbits moschata are ok.

The weather for the past month has been really really hot and dry, and i do not over water (i do it myself with a hose, and not everyday -lack of time- so…) and never wet the leaves… It may be that some day my son left the hose for several hours but with lille water. Could it be that? That is so strange.

You can find pictures at
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23802755/2014-01-12%2018.34.24.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23802755/2014-01-17%2015.34.37.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23802755/2014-01-17%2015.34.51.jpg

Thank you for your help,
Laura

[charlesModerator]

 Welcome to the forum Laura.

Hot and dry sounds nice but may be your problem. The mildew you describe on the cucurbits is, I think, caused by dry-weather stress when roots have too little moisture to maintain healthy growth. Water less often but thoroughly and mulch with some well rotted organic matter if you have some, although ideally you will have done that in winter or spring preceding.

As for the tomatoes, hard to say without seeing soil condition but it could again be some kind of moisture stress from lack of organic matter or uneven/insufficient watering, in view of the weather you describe. Watering takes time to learn and having soil rich in organic matter, as a moisture-store, helps even out any irregularities when we water.

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