Hi everyone! I have a gardener's delight tomato plant that is about a quarter the size that it should be at this point, and its leaves are curled under from the tips (not rolled from the sides). The leaves are green with no mosaic or any other discoloration and seem to have a normal texture, and they're not dropping. The plant is flowering a little and setting a few fruits, but that's about it. I've searched the web for endless hours looking for info on these symptoms and I've found nothing. The leaf curl doesn't change with water or temperature conditions. I have very limited space for my plants and they're all in containers, so all my soil and compost I have to bring in and it's not that easy to get here, so at the very least I'd like to know if the soil in the 5 gallon bucket of this plant is contaminated and with what, so I can figure out how I can re-use it, or not. When I first transplanted the seedling to the bucket we were having a lot of cool wet weather, so at first I thought the slow growth had to do with that, but now it's been warm and dry for a few weeks and there's been no change. I've attached a few photos in case they might help. Any info you can provide will be most appreciated! ( photo / image / picture from zafra's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from zafra's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from zafra's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from zafra's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from zafra's Garden )
Don`t worry about the leaf curl,, its not a disease,, the cool wet weather is the problem. It will slow the growth and cause the curling. Good thing is it only affects the look of the plant not the production. Tomatoes like it pretty hot,,80 degrees and above to set fruit properly. Just give your plant a little more time to catch up. I usually have about 75 tomato plants and at least 1/3 of them get that leaf curl but still make a bunch of tomatoes.
I planted some a bit too early last year and they just sat there. Didn`t grow,didn`t do anything till the weather stabilized and stayed warm to hot. Then they took off and grew like crazy, We had the same kind of cool wet weather and they didn`t like it. Heat makes a dramatic difference.
Hi again. As I knew would happen, this plant died. It stopped growing completely, all new flowers dried up and dropped, and leaves started dying from the bottom up. I was thinking a wilt disease, but when I cut the stem it's green all the way through and no icky slime of any color comes out when I put it in water or squeeze it. I really want to know what killed this plant so I can figure out what I can/can't do with the soil it was in - every bit of soil is precious to me! Does anyone recognize these symptoms? The fruit that had developed have no visible issues it's just the leaves and the plant itself. So frustrating!! Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure: ( photo / image / picture from zafra's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from zafra's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from zafra's Garden )
I have never had a tomato do that, but really it looks like a bacterial type disease, but please don't think I am saying it is, because I really don't know for sure. Is or was the stem slippery/slimy at all? Does it scrape off with your thumb nail in sheets? Is the whole plant dead or can you trim off what had died and see if it can grow through the issue. Cut off the tomatoes, too. it is too much work to support them and heal at the same time.
No the stem looks and feels perfectly normal. I had another much larger Robeson tomato plant die of what I thought was bacterial wilt -all of the symptoms were there, green leaves wilt and die, weird root overgrowth at the soil level, halt in production, death. But when I cut it down it also did not have discolored or slime-producing stems. So now I'm not completely sure. This one is wilting a bit differently, the leaves as you can see are brown. But it was definitely on its way to dead so I already pulled it out. The thing is I just want to know what I can do with this soil - I now have 10 gallons of good soil and I don't know what I can use it for if I can't identify what killed this damn tomato! Thanks a lot for your input, btw.
Sorry, Zafra, I don't feel like being able to help you much, but you can sterilize the soil by either baking it, microwaving it or solarizing it. For any of the methods make sure the soil is moist before you start. If there is actual soil it will smell to high heaven, if it is all potting mix it will be sweet/cloying smell, but I have never noticed it being disgusting. OR Try pouring boiling water over the soil and lay a thick layer of newspaper over it to keep the heat in as long as possible. Then try it again. you can find other methods of sanitizing it by googling it, too.
That's a good idea, just try to disinfect it and get on with my life . I'll start looking for the best method now. Thanks again! Of course, if anyone else wants to chime in with a possible diagnosis I'm still totally interested...
Did you check the back of the leaves for aphids and other tiny bugs ? They can suck the leaves completely dry without harming the stem or fruit. If it were me, I would cut all the affected leaves off and burn them. Then spray an insecticide over the whole plant and just wait. If you see green sprigs later then it may continue to grow once leaf damage is removed.
No bugs anywhere. I'd been cutting off the bad leaves it just kept moving up the plant. I don't use poisons ever, but this was definitely a disease of some kind - the plant wasn't coming back. Sigh.
Most soil born diseases would have attacked the roots first then traveled up the plant. There are insecticides for organic use.
