ID this plant & tomato problem

My father sent me some pictures (attached). He wants to know what this is growing in his lawn (Central Connecticut)...


and he wants to know what is up with his tomatoes.


Any thoughts?

The first looks like False Hellebore. If so, it's poisonous.

The tomato looks sunburned like it was watered mid day/ overhead. Water early morning or evening.

Thanks Mitch and CJ. My father informs me that he waters daily...too much!

Awsome.

I'm not saying it's not sunburn, it most certainly could be, but it could also be a the result of a fungus on the Tomato leaves. Last year we had some plants which exhibited a very similar problem which didn't look like your typical early/late blight. The affected areas died back to a light brown dry, papery texture like the one in your picture.

Tell your father to water the soil, not the plant, and that Tomatoes only need a good soaking weekly even in hot weather. Keep a keen eye on some of those spots: if they grow in size nip off all the affected leaves and consider spraying the remaining good foliage with copper sulfate solution or whatever organic spray you have at your disposal; or if the whole plant is affected pull the whole thing up. You can compost the affected parts, but do so under a layer of other material.

The stippling is reminiscent of Whitefly damage, or perhaps some other homopteran..

The mystery plant looks to me like Lily of the Valley -edit- definitely looks more like the False Hellebore.

Now the question is how to eradicate the fase hellebore? There are too many dogs and grandchildren running around the yard to have such a highly toxic plant present. The CT Horticultural Society's response is to apply 2,4-D. Thanks, but no thanks. Can't really do a kill mulch since they are spread throughout the yard. Hmmm.....

Mike Gaughan wrote:Now the question is how to eradicate the fase hellebore? There are too many dogs and grandchildren running around the yard to have such a highly toxic plant present. The CT Horticultural Society's response is to apply 2,4-D. Thanks, but no thanks. Can't really do a kill mulch since they are spread throughout the yard. Hmmm.....

Depending on how many of them there are ... you could try salt solution on them. Just the leaves etc. We use either plain table salt sprinkled on the leaves of weeds or for bit ones salt solution in a small spray bottle. Failing that a good set of gloves and some elbow grease after a period of rain when the roots are a bit looser.

Mike Gaughan wrote:Now the question is how to eradicate the fase hellebore?

Cut 'em before they flower and plant something that likes similar conditions in that spot. Some kind of bulb maybe?

It is a bit difficult to diagnose the issue with your tomato without some more information... What does your soil compose of? What do you feed your tomatoes? When do you "feed" them (time of day)? How old are they? Is the damage predominantly on the lower parts of the plant, or throughout? How long has this problem persisted? Is it getting worse? How do the other plants in the area look? Is it on all your tomato plants, or just one? Is it on any other plant species but the tomato? Is it excessively humid in your neck of the woods? Don't mean to bombard you, but these are a couple questions that will assist in plant problem diagnosis... Off the bat, it looks like some serious light bleaching or soluble nutrient-type burning. Just my opinion.

About your mystery plant, what about composting the material? Depending on what it is, you could soak the chopped up material in water for a couple days/weeks, use as a "nutrient" tea.. or build a couple hugels on top of them? Or like CJ said, plant some other species around them of asthetically and/or functionally pleasing value to your gramps and make little lawn bouquets! I'm not sure how many folks in here (if any) would recommend any sort of herbicide or pesticide, "organic" or not... If he really wants them gone and is of the "I want a blank lawn" persuasion, maybe this forum could help him/you out..

https://permies.com/forums/f-3/lawn

Welcome to permies Mike!
I find boiling the kettle and pouring boiling water over the unwanted plant is very effective.
Great for things in tight spaces!
If it's a large plant, cutting it down and doing the water thing straight away works well for me.

Well, my father is definitely of the "I want a blank lawn" persuasion so the hugels probably won't fly. He's just getting into gardening with a couple 4x8 raised beds...baby steps! Which brings me to the questions regarding the cultural practices surrounding our dear injured tomato plant. He was watering daily mid-day, so I strongly suspect sunscald. Although he hasn't admitted to using soluble fertilizer, I wouldn't doubt if some MiracleGro found it's way onto the plant. It seems to be his fallback approach..."hmm, the tomato isn't looking so good, I should probably put some MiracleGro on it". Then he comes to my house and marvels how my garden looks so good without using MiracleGro. I use compost, seedmeal, and rock powders in the Albrecht method...but try explaining nutrient balancing to a Scotts afficionado! As I said, baby steps! Thanks for the great responses, all!