Why the yellow and brown leaves?

[BarrettSteele]

Hi All
This happens every year, no matter where I plant my maters. They grow like crazy at first, but by the time the fruit is growing, the lower leaves start turning yellow and brown. I just noticed it happening again today. Ive figured for a long time that its fusarium wilt, but I tried this year to get resistant plants. Is it something else? What can I do?

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[habitat-gardener]

I always remove leaves from the bottom 6-12 inches as soon as the top growth is vigorous. They are usually yellowing or holey by then.

[Shule]

@BarrettSteele
What resistant varieties are they? Additionally, what non-resistant varieties have you tried? Do they resist all three kinds of Fusarium, or just one or two?

It's possible they actually are resisting whatever it is, but are just still getting foliar symptoms. Some plants might only resist the wilt. You can see that in species that are supposed to resist Verticillium, for instance (many species will still get yellowing on their leaves, but they don't wilt).

[TerraCayda]

Need a lot more airflow to reduce bacteria/fungi. Definitely cut off all yellowing leaves, bag & get out of the yard. Back when I was in San Diego, wilt diseases were a yearly battle. Now even in ultra dry S. AZ, I spend more time cutting leaves (even healthy ones) than watering. As soon as you spot yellow/brown, it needs to be cut off the plant.

[edweather]

Leaf disease is so common as the season progress, especially in my hot and humid climate. I almost make a religion of fungicide spraying alternately with copper and Daconil, and removing yellow leaves. Always seems to be a fight. The plants look pretty good

[MissS]

My plants looked like that before coming down with fusarium wilt. Resistant plants are just that resistant but not immune to.

I did do a heavy bleach spray of my soil in the fall and that seemed to cure the problem for me. Please do not share seeds from these plants. This disease can be passed on to other gardens through the seed.