Need Help With Tomato Leaf Problem

[GoDawgs]

One by one I've had to clip the lower branches off the Lahta dwarf as something is going on with the leaves. They started discoloring and withering. At first I thought it might be some kind of funk until I looked at the under side of the leaves yesterday and saw a lot of bumps. Some kind of edema? This one's new to me. Do any of you have an idea of what's going on? So far the Sophie's Choice and Premus are fine. All three were started the same time with the same soil mix.

[MissS]

Yes it does look like edema to me. I myself have never had it but hopefully @bower will chime in. She knows much more about edema than I do.

[bower]

Yep that's it alright.
Some issue with watering? I've seen it on some plants when they were let dry out then generously watered.
Usually this only happens indoors under lights. If light isn't full spectrum, it predisposes this kind of issue for tomato plants.
Some tomato varieties are more sensitive than others.

[GoDawgs]

Thanks for that input, @bower and @MissS . I usually run my tomatoes under the lights just a tad on the dry side, watering lightly when the pot feels lighter but this one could have gotten too much. I'm using something new to me which is a 50/50 mix of Miracle grow potting mix and Kelloggs potting mix. The Kelloggs has a lot higher ratio of organic material in it that could be retaining water longer.

[bower]

Peaty mixes can be a real challenge @GoDawgs especially if they are dry when you get them. I find if any dry bits remain they are deadly for water management. IDK if the dry stuff sucks the moisture out of the root that reaches out to it or what. But definitely the worst edema issues I had, it was a year with some dry potting materials in the mix. I also switched the plants under a LED shop light just after I'd watered them, and they suddenly got it bad.
Edema on tomatoes is the kind of thing, only takes a bad moment to cause it.

[worth1]

Smallpox.

[AKgardener]

Glad you got it figured out I was wondering the same thing.. guess we both got our answers

[GoDawgs]

@bower, someone sent me this site from Univ. of Maryland and the photos match perfectly.

https://extension.umd.edu/resource/edem ... l-tomatoes

Now, at the bottom of the article it says that increasing light "...will also decrease the occurrence of edema." My question is about edema currently on the plant. The current foliage is probably a bust by now but will new foliage be OK if the plant dries out enough?

[MissS]

@GoDawgs I'm not bower but to answer your question, yes the plant will grow out of it just fine and you would never know that it had it once it's growing conditions are met.

[bower]

IDKY but I didn't get that notification @GoDawgs and only now saw your post.
Yes indeed, daylight is the best remedy for this condition. More light is better.
The leaves with edema won't recover, but as long as there's enough leaf still working, for the plant to grow new ones, it should be fine. It can be a lot worse in small seedlings, sometimes the stem is affected and then they have a hard time to recover. But if it's just a few bumps on a few leaves, they should get over it.
I've done this to peppers as well, and the affected leaves stayed the same for a long time, certainly more than a month before even the bumps crapped out and became holes. So the parts around it are still fine if they look fine.
OTOH if the plant is super susceptible and you're planning to keep it indoors under lights, I'd guess that it could end up repeatedly affected and then stunted or fruitless - you know the drill. So if you see more edema on that particular plant going forward, it's probably as well to yank it and try another variety instead. JMO.