Tomato leaves curling up (pic)

bigack

15 years ago

Been very wet here, much rain. Is this the reason for the curling, or something else? any remedy? thanks!!

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Comments (5)

sinfonian
15 years ago
Ooh, I can answer this one. It just happened to me the other day. They need more water. As tomato plants grow they need exponentially more water it seems. What worked with a gallon a week now needs a gallon every two days. It's amazing, but logical. More plant more water.

In theory the leaves should uncurl a few days after increasing the water. Mine didn't but the new leaves aren't curling. /shrug.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure
digdirt2
15 years ago
I regret to disagree with Sinfonian but tomato leaf curl can just as easily be caused by too much water as too little. ;)

Tomato leaf curl is a common problem. It is physiological response of the plant to stress - any stress. Too much fertilizer, inconsistent soil moisture levels such as the excessive rain you have been experiencing, pest problems, or excess pruning.

The important thing is it is not harmful to the plant, usually cures itself with time as the plant matures and the weather stabilizes, and it doesn't interfere with production.

You will find many discussions about Tomato Leaf Curl over on the Growing Tomatoes forum and I have linked some of them for you below.

Once your weather stabilizes, mulching those plants well will benefit them greatly. ;)

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Leaf Curl discussions...
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Comments (11)
If they are actually curling (the leaf tip rolls in toward the stem then it can either be exposure to herbicides from drift or contaminated mulch OR a disease. Would have to see a photo of them to know which. However, if the leaves are really rolling rater than curling - the leaf sides cup/roll/fold up so they look like a taco shell - then it is stress. ID and eliminate the stress cause and the plants recover quickly. Tomato leaf roll is common and often discussed here on the Tomato forum (lots of posts if you want to read them). The name of the condition is "Tomato Leaf Roll" and is defined at a physiological response of the plant to one of the stress factors such as excess water/rain, inconsistent soil moisture levels, pests such as aphids, whiteflies or thrips, over-fertilization, over-crowding, high winds, etc. etc. Tomato Leaf Roll does not kill plants. It may reduce production because of the stress but the plants will survive and recover IF you eliminate the problem. So to know which your friend has and how to correct it we'd need much more information about his growing conditions and a picture of the plant. Of you can Google 'tomato leaf roll' for pics to compare it to. Hope this helps. Dave
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Tomato leaves curling up
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Comments (1)
Tranger, Tomato leaves turning yellow with no other apparent symptoms merely indicate some sort of stress, and yes, that includes excessively wet soil. If any brownish/blackish/purplish splotches, blotches or circular lesions appear along with the yellow leaves, then it would indicate a disease issue, and at this time of year, normally a bacterial or fungal one. The leaves curling upward is known as physiological leaf roll or leaf curl and it is caused by several things, including moisture stress, temperatures that are too cool, herbicide damage or there's another one called nonparasitic leaf roll, but then the regular leaf roll is nonparisitic too so that's a silly name, isn't it? Leaf roll also can be caused by the sudden onset of very hot temperatures after a period of much milder temperatures. Based on the kind of weather we've been having, without seeing your plants, my best guess would be physiological leaf roll caused by all the rain. There is a disease called Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl and there's another 'curly leaf disease' called Beet Curly Top Virus but most of the time they aren't what you're seeing with leaf curl, especially since your yellow leaves are on one plant and the curl is on another. The rolling or curling usually resolves itself 2 or 3 weeks after the heavy moisture fell, but I've seen it go 6 to 8 weeks if the rain keeps falling and falling and falling. With the warm, dry weather currently in our forecast, your soil should dry out fairly quickly and then you'll see the plants unroll or uncurl. Dawn
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Comments (4)
Agree that you have some sort of caterpillars and leafrollers are a very real possibility as Taz said given some of those tightly rolled leaves. Bt dust or liquid spray (Dipel or Thuricide) is an effective control for them as well as any other caterpillar pest. Some of your leaf roll - the ones without holes - could also just be what is called 'physiological tomato leaf roll' and it is caused by stress. But it doesn't make the holes you have. ID and eliminate the source of the stress and it goes away but your growing method itself could easily be the source of the stress - rootbound, over-crowded, inconsistent soil moisture levels, etc. - so you may be stuck with it. Dave
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Pics of wilting/curling tomato leaves - please help!
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Comments (15)
Hi cha cha, To me the top picture looks like leaf roll, but the others look more like wilt. If your plants are stressed, yes they will roll. Wilting can be (late afternoon) heat or lack of water. Before you cut down on the amount of water, check the soil moisture about 4" below the surface. Are your plants in containers or in the ground? How often do you water and how much? As a general rule, tomatoes need an inch of water every week. An inch of rain is exactly that, water that is one inch deep. One inch of rainfall equals 4.7 gallons of water per square yard. Cool weather will be less, hot weather more. Dig down with your finger about 4", is the soil wet, dry, or just right? If it is wet, don't water, if dry then water. If it is just right, check again the next day. Water deeply once or twice a week. Watering daily encourages shallow roots which means the plant is affected more by variations in soil moisture. In my garden during the heat of the summer, I water deeply every 4-5 days, early spring I may only water every 8-9 days and when the weather is moderatly warm (70-80Â°), about once a week. Mulching heavily helps mediate the moisture level. Hope that helps. Betsy
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city_tomato
15 years ago
Your soil looks pretty bad.
Time to do some weeding and rototilling, no?
aulani
15 years ago
Digdirt is right. My leaves were curling with all the rain we were having in mid-June. Now they're okay.

How about some cultivating with a little hand tool? That will aerate your soil and help the general health of your garden. Also, mulch will help. Old leaves, or straw, or grass clippings.
wvtomatoman
15 years ago
"Been very wet here, much rain. Is this the reason for the curling, or something else? any remedy?"
Most probably the reason for the curling is too much rain. Many stresses can cause leaf curl. I'm not seeing any other issues so I suspect when it dries up a little and gets a little warmer the plants will take off and do just fine. I've included a link that might help.

Good luck.

Randy

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato leaf roll/leaf curl thread with pics

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Tomato leaves curling up (pic)

Comments (5)

sinfonian

digdirt2

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city_tomato

aulani

wvtomatoman

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