Ack! My brandywines have dragon scales?!

ACK! My brandywine tomatoes have weird patterns on the leaves, weren't there the other day, moving up from the bottom by the looks of it...
I left the pics large so they can be looked at closely with view image...

They look like they are getting dragon scales!!
Brandywines are my favorite, and the plant I took pics of is about to be my first ripe full sized tomato of the year

close up of the first picture

I'm so sorry Pearl. I know what it's like to know something is wrong, and not know what.  I haven't dealt with this.  From searching the net I came up with a phosphorus deficiency.  Either because it's lacking in the soil, or if it's Purple tomato leaf disorder it's caused by competition from weeds, or planting to close.  It said severity depends on variety of tomato.  I couldn't find if brandywine is suspectable to this or not.  
I wish I could be more helpful.  This is only a guess, but it might be worth looking into.  Sorry again. Good luck.

Could be a variety of issues. Potassium deficiencies can manifest in a number of different ways, but I haven't seen something exactly like this. Usually the undersides of leaves (or veins) will turn purple--or the periphery of leaf tips will. Adding a bit of potassium (e.g. as a thin dusting of wood ash) won't hurt anything. Check your soil pH, though, as being too acidic or too basic can cause troubles with nutrient uptake.

If your soil pH is good (6-7), and the plants don't respond to wood ash, you may have other issues. Has it been quite hot/dry? This can slow nutrient uptake, even with adequate watering. Adding some temporary shade (even a bedsheet thrown over the tomato cage) during the hottest part of the day can help plants perk back up.

Nitrogen and calcium deficiencies can also, in some instances, cause purpling. Waterlogging and cold can also do this. Try amending the soil in each way--give it a week.  If none of those works, then consider pulling them out and burning them, in the event that they do have a unitentified disease. There is next to nothing published recently on purple leaf disorder--this is unusual for emerging plant diseases (the initial University of Florida publication was in 2008). It's possible it's what you have--a probable virus transmitted by whiteflies (and possibly aphids), in which case you should destroy the affected plants to prevent the spread of the condition to your remaining tomatoes. Also consider applying a pyrethnum or soap spray or other method to remove any whiteflies that may be present, as they will be potentially infectious.

I realized yesterday I have had serious water issues in the garden all over. The soil lacks much organic matter, I  have added all I can get, but when dry, it turns to brick, and I found it it's been drier than I think. So all of that is a factor. Haven't had time to read up on potassium, IIRC, it's remedied by adding organic matter, which makes sense with what I learned yesterday. Haven't checked the pH, I know it for my property, (which has MUCH better soil) but this is the rental we are living in, where the yard is a mess of compaction, abuse, and excessive mowing and leaf removal for many years. Sections were brought in as fill dirt, and that adds more complexity to the mess.  Not a place I ever planned to have a garden.  Life doesn't always agree with our plans....

It'll probably be a few days before I can get back out there, chaos and overactivity due to a death in the family.  I'll see what kind of organic material I can add. It all got watered properly yesterday, and apparently hasn't been. One small area I ran a hose for about 15 mins (I forgot it) and less than an hour later the soil 6 inches away was bone dry. That is what made me realize there's a serious problem. We had heavy rains and flooding for several months too.

Mess. I don't want to lose my brandywines.... :(

I can't find the exact date of this thread, was it in mid summer that year? What happened to the tomatoes later on? I found similar look on several of my tomato leaves too. As far as I can tell, it is due to phenolics building up where the surface has more sun exposure and UV damage. It's been in 90F with no rain for three weeks. Grasses are parched and crispy. I am giving the plants a good soak and see if that will help.

May Lotito: First post was  posted Aug 06, 2021 · 07:08 PM  
And I don't remember what happened.  I'm sorry  :D