What's wrong with my tomatoes?

[Pennies]

My plants have got small but closely formed patches of brown on the leaves and whilst they are showing signs of bearing fruit they aren't really thriving.

Can anyone tell me what's up and if I can do anything about it?

have they been thirsty? then scorched by watering when it has been really sunny?

yogabird - you must be joking! Sunny? Not a chance!! They are in the sunniest spot in the garden but we simply haven't had any days that would cause that kind of damage. If anything I thought they might have been waterlogged!

Where are you, Pennies? I'm in the south-east (UK) and my tomatoes suffered very badly in the cold spell last week. The tops are looking OK and green, though - have you got healthy new growth at all?

I'm in Herts. It's possible that the cold spell did them no favours but as I was away the week before I don't know when the problem started.

So it doesn't seem to be any kind of fly / fungus that anyone is aware of?

Bit of a gardening virgin and not very good at it. I could kill off entire fields of bamboo with just a look.

Probably just suffering from the cold - tomatoes hate it if the temp drops below 12 degrees C.

Otherwise - if they're orange/brown patches it could be rust, which is a fungal complaint so you can get a spray as long as you pick off the existing baby fruit.

More than likely your plants will be fine after a couple of weeks of better weather. Don't ever let them dry out completely - unlike most plants they would rather stand in water the whole time than get bone dry.

Ok will keep an eye on the problem and get them some spray.

Thanks.

My toms have had some sort of bug infestation. The bugs were on the underside of the leaf and munched the underside of the leaf. The patches looked a light green to start with but have now turned to brown patches in the leaves. I've sprayed them with an organic soapy spray. Tiny bugs seem to have gone and the new growth looks unaffected.