Beat the Black Spot Quiz Quiz

Explore key tomato diseases in horticulture, symptoms, prevention, and management strategies with these scenario-based questions.

1. Identifying Early Blight

   A gardener notices concentric rings on yellowing tomato leaves in mid-season; which disease is likely responsible?

   1. Tomato mosaic virus
   2. Fusarium wilt
   3. Early blight
   4. Bacterial canker

   Explanation: Early blight typically presents as brown leaf spots with concentric rings. Bacterial canker causes wilting and stem cankers but not concentric spots. Tomato mosaic virus leads to mottled, distorted foliage. Fusarium wilt causes yellowing and wilting but doesn't have ringed lesions.

2. Recognizing Symptoms of Late Blight

   Which tomato disease is characterized by rapidly spreading dark, water-soaked lesions on leaves during cool, wet weather?

   1. Verticillium wilt
   2. Powdery mildew
   3. Septoria leaf spot
   4. Late blight

   Explanation: Late blight causes fast-spreading, dark, greasy spots in wet conditions. Septoria presents with smaller, circular spots. Powdery mildew shows white fungal growth, not dark lesions. Verticillium wilt causes yellowing and wilting without water-soaked spots.

3. Understanding Disease Spread

   If overhead irrigation is used regularly, which tomato disease is most likely to spread more rapidly?

   1. Sunscald
   2. Septoria leaf spot
   3. Root knot nematode
   4. Tomato yellow leaf curl virus

   Explanation: Overhead irrigation splashes spores of Septoria leaf spot from soil to foliage, facilitating spread. Root knot nematode is soil-borne and unaffected by watering method. Yellow leaf curl is transmitted by insects, not water. Sunscald results from excessive sunlight, not pathogens.

4. Preventing Soil-Borne Diseases

   A farmer wants to minimize Fusarium wilt in their tomato crop; which cultural practice should be prioritized?

   1. Crop rotation
   2. Using plastic mulch
   3. Increasing fertilizer frequency
   4. Hand pollination

   Explanation: Crop rotation interrupts the lifecycle of Fusarium wilt in soil. Increased fertilizer won't prevent infection. Plastic mulch helps with some issues but not specifically Fusarium wilt. Hand pollination does not affect disease incidence.

5. Diagnosing Leaf Curling

   A tomato plant with stunted growth, upward curling leaves, and whiteflies present is most likely suffering from which disease?

   1. Tomato yellow leaf curl virus
   2. Early blight
   3. Bacterial speck
   4. Blossom end rot

   Explanation: Tomato yellow leaf curl virus is spread by whiteflies and causes leaf curl and stunting. Blossom end rot is a nutritional disorder affecting fruit ends. Bacterial speck causes dark spots but not curling. Early blight primarily causes spotted leaves.