Not pretty.
A couple of my plants have these but as the plant didn’t seem bothered by I decided there was no reason I should be.
However I thought I should find out what they are. Turns out they’re roots. Potential roots. They appear above the soil. If they were below the soil they would turn into normal roots. Tomato roots develop along the length of the stem and are known as adventitious roots and when I look back at the photo I took at the time of a young plant I can see the resemblance.
I have also seen references to them being root primordia .
So they may look like warts but no need to worry.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you for the first decent picture and analysis of how it has affected your plant
Note: I see these growths half way up some of my plants.
I’m glad you found the photos clear and useful. They’re certainly not pretty ! But adventitious roots are a useful adaptation in a plant and once I had got my head round the fact that ‘roots’ can grow on ‘stems’ – it just seemed like another amazing twist of how adaptable nature is !
Thanks! this is a great photo and the best info I’ve found on the web regarding this. It’s always so hard to identify things that are happening on your plants. I have cucumber bugs attacking my cucumbers and when I saw this on my tomatoes, was very worried.
But I’m glad it’s nothing bad – thanks again!
Hello
Thanks for stopping by and getting in touch. and glad to have put your mind at rest !
They’re very unattractive and so look much more menacing than they turn out to be. Hope your tomatoes continue to thrive with no more false alarms !
No, I’ve seen those before. These are just little white things on the leaves, about the size of an eye of a needle, you can brush them off. Almost like they are eggs of an insect . Thanks, Joe
I have half a dozen tomato plants growing. This is the first time I have grown them outside and for some reason the whole middle section of the plants stem is totally covered in these brown wart looking things, you cant see the stem for them, also the leaves on my plants are brown and mottley, am I looking at it just being roots also, or is it something that I need to be worrying about as the plants dont look good at all.
Hello Lorraine,
Sorry to hear you’re having problems.
It’s difficult to do a diagnosis as so many things with plants look like another and aren’t related.
If the brown wart looking things look like those in my photo then they are probably just the adventitious root and although they look horrible and evil – they are completely harmless and just a natural part of the plant.
If that’s the case – then I would think your leaves looking brown and mottley are something completely different. We have been having conversations about the fact blight is back in the past week or so – and that shows up on the leaves.
On the other hand – sometimes older leaves do get darker and mottley and it’s just nothing… when you say the plants don’t look good – are there any other things you can see that don’t look quite right? That might help to point you in the direction of what it could be…..?