http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/...26-What-Makes-Tomato-Leaves-Twist-or-Curl.pdf My neighbor and vet planted two tomato plants in cattle syrup tubs that hold approx. 15 gallons or more of potting soil. When the plants started growing all looked normal then from about 8 to 10 inches from the surface of the soil the entire plant started to curl, twist, and what should have been leaves looked more like buds. Look at figure 2 in the link above. A&M stated that it was possible 2-4-D exposure or a virus. We are not sure which it was. 2-4-D would be a simple fix because it only hurts what it hits, The virus problem is a different ballgame. Would it be a soil born virus? The plants were planted in nothing but the better quality Miracle Gro potting soil. The plants had two or three normal tomatoes before the deformity occured. Any one have experience with something like this ? I have never seen anything like this.
Mart, Tomatoes are very sensitive to 2,4-d. Even exposure to drift from the neighbors yard can cause damage... if you can smell it the tomatoes can react to it. I have even found the rabbit manure from my own rabbits to be contaminated with something... I don't know what, but an herbicide of somekind, because they look just like that. Eventually they grew through it though. I quit using my own rabbit manure for my plants. I can't have my plants looking like that nor do I want to eat that, but all I can say is let it continue growing to see what happens or pull it out and start over. I have no experience with virus' in the soil, only herbicide damage. I just had another thought, too... Has anyone sprayed the tomatoes with neem oil? I saw tomatoes look just like that when I sprayed them last year in the greenhouse. They had a photosensitivity thingy occur. It was like an allergic reaction when the sun hit them. phytotoxicity... thats the word I was too tired to think of.
They have been sprayed with nothing as far as I know and no one except us has used spray near him . We have a pasture across the road and we do spray for pasture weeds. But my tomato plants are fine and if it was overspray,, mine have no barrier between what was sprayed and the garden. Actually Jim has sprayed within a few feet of my garden with no damage to anything. The tomatoes in question have a berm at the road and trees for a barrier . Nothing in between was touched. We both bought our plants at the same place. Its down right puzzling ! Leaf stems look like corkscrews. And where the leaf would be looks like a tiny flattened hard ball.
I have no definite answer... sorry. I wish I could help better than that. The soil could be contaminated from the manufacturer causing this to occur, is another possibility.
http://www.the-compost-gardener.com/picloram.html This is my best guess after looking at the pictures.
At this point nothing that we can find seems to be the reason for the deformity. The two tomato plants were the only things affected yet a jalapeno pepper within inches of them is perfectly normal. Our county does not spray road ditches and no one even remotely close has treated the pasture except as stated above. Plants were in nothing but Miracle-gro. No extra fertilizer was used and I asked if any of his pastures had been sprayed for weeds and he has not sprayed since last year. So those would not be the cause if the contamination would be in the soil. No soil was used, the plants are a good three feet above ground level. Still totally puzzled ! Odd thing is that the plants started out normally,, then became deformed yet continued to grow upward.
