A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems Tomato Leaves Dying

So yesterday morning I noticed some leaves on one of my tomato plants were turning this weird purply greyish color. I did some research, but I couldn't figure out wha it meant...it's kind of the same color as a phosphorous deficiency but that should start in the veins, right? On my plant it started at the edge of the leaf. Today, the very tips of the leaves have turned almost white and are curling in. Worst part is both my other tomato plants have some purple now as well. It's only a few of the leaves towards the bottom of the plant; if I took those off, would it save the rest of the plant?

The plants are outside. I've been watering almost every day except when it rains. Maybe it's too much, but whenever I go check the soil is dry the next day, and it's been pretty hot around here recently, so I water alot. It could be some kind of fungal problem since I didn't know until yesterday that getting water on the leaves was a problem...oops. They all have flowers but the one that got "sick" first has the least flowers, and the one farthest from it is the only one with a fruit growing. I still don't know what this disease is so any help would be appreciated. I'll try to get some pics up later.

Edit: Here's a pic from today
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/neomania123/IM002165.jpg
Also these are cherry tomato plants, I don't know how much of a difference that makes.

Hi and welcome.

I've had that happen to me a few times. It was because we got a cold dip in temperature overnight and my seedlings weren't hardened off enough when I planted. What's the temps where you are?

The cold temps are the 1st thing that came to my mind as well. However I think you may have 2 problems. If the tips are turning white, that could be from watering and getting the leaves wet during the bright sunlit hours. Try watering directly to the base of the plant or early morning waterings

Some varieties of tomato need the soil temperature to be above 70 (or more) to even process phosphorous. So depending on variety, it wouldn't even have to be super cold to cause this. I have had plenty of troubles with trying to get plants going too early and causing this problem, but your picture didn't look bad at all.