Tomato leaves curling downward
Comments (9)
bionicman
14 years agoI don't think it could be a caterpillar as there is no soil in my basement, and I am growing with aeroponics. Here are some more details and pictures.
I am growing using aeroponics (low pressure). The plants are wilting from the bottom branches upwards. As each branch wilts and dies the next one up does the same. The leaves are also curling downards and curling in on themselves. The bottom most leaves are tough and leathery and have purple and yellow color. The main stem is purple near the bottom. The person at the hydroponics shop said that he believes my nutrient tank is getting too cold. I checked the temperature and its 70F during the day. I know the air temperature under the 400W HPS lamp remains around 74F during the day, but goes to about 64F at night. Lowest nightime air temperature in the last 30 days was 61F. I am uncertain what the temperature of the water (nutrients) goes down to at night time. I am growing these in my basement and the nutrient tank is sitting on the cold concrete floor of my basement. I have tried two different fertilizers and have grown the same tomatoes in deep water culture without issue using the same fertilizer. I have tried adding hydrogen perioxide to the nutrient water but it did not help. The roots are white and look healthly although the number of roots seems to be stunted as I would expect more roots after 30 days of growing than I am seeing. I have tried regrowing the same tomato plants several times and each time I have cleaned my system out completely, yet I still end up with the same issue. The only thing I can think of us that the water is getting too cold at night. I have my aeroponic sprayers running 1 minute on and 5 minutes off, 24/7. My 400W HPS lamp runs 16 hours on, 8 hours off each day. Running about 700PPM right now, ph is around 6.3. I have tried higher and lower nutrient levels and higher and lower ph levels which did not appear to help.
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Help for leaves curling downward
Comments (9)I can totally relate to what you were describing about the repot. Big plants are awkward!! Yes, I would repot a struggling plant in attempt to improve its' health too. (If this is done regularly, it's not as traumatic, for future reference.) I think you would have noticed if the roots were mushy, so that's good. From this additional info, I think your plant is having a hard time adjusting to the new conditions and disturbance. It sounds like... there was very little soil before, from the roots having filled the pot. If so, the roots around the outside of the root ball were adjusted to being dry most of the time. When this happens, the soil inside the root ball can get so hard and dry that it can't get wet anymore. It's possible your plant was getting so dry that it was suffering from lack of water, from being unable to have moisture available - just running right across roots, but not being able to soak into what little soil there was. Like a very dry sponge that doesn't get fully wet if you just pour water across the top. If still on the track of what was going on, now that the roots are surrounded with moist soil, there may be some rotting. Letting the soil dry will help combat that. If you packed the soil tightly around the roots, loosening that by gently pulling the plant up a bit, and/or fluffing around it with a fork, can help increase the amount of air in the soil. This would also help the portion of new soil without roots to dry more quickly, so you don't end up with a very dry ball of roots surrounded by soil that's always moist, can also cause rotting. Roots need oxygen & moisture at the same time to function. Just moisture = rotting. Just air = drying/shriveling. Hopefully the roots will take off into the new soil. Sending good vibes! It's also possible to use potting mixes that naturally have more air throughout them because they are made of larger particles (and don't contain much stuff like peat that takes a long time to dry out.) If you have an ongoing problem with rotting roots of plants, that would be something to investigate. Sounds like things were going well. Regardless of its' potential to help people overwater their plants, millions of plants are growing well in MG potting soil as we speak, so that can't automatically be blamed every time a plant gets ill. In the case of this particular plant, it may have been better to repot sooner, regardless of soil type, before the health declined. Not a chide, saying for future reference, and as possible explanation of why your plant declined at all. If that's a spot where this plant lived happily before, that's probably not part of the problem. IDK anything about insecticidal soap, so I'm not ignoring that question, just don't have any info to share....See MoreTomato leaves curling and twisting and Branches downward curl
Comments (3)My tomato plants were harden off in the sun and were about 6 inches tall when I planted them in the ground. They were fine and were watered very well but after a few days we received a couple of days of rain. The main stem is getting larger but the plants are curling up as if the were rolling into a ball. They are south facing and are receiving full sunlight about 8 hours a day. Are they getting too much sun...See Moretomato leaves curled downward almost overningt
Comments (2)Almost impossible to say without at least a photo and much more info. Is this a container plant? How large a container? What variety is it? How old is it? Determinate or indeterminate? Is Edna's Best Potting Soil actual soil/dirt or is it a soil-less mix such as normally used in containers? If it is soil then that alone could be your problem. Fed it once? Container plants require regular weekly feedings. Water only when the soil is very dry but container plants require consistent soil moisture levels, not alternate wet and dry. Leaf activity such as you describe is often a response to stress of some kind. What is causing the stress could be any of the above. More info please. Dave...See MoreWhy are my leaves curling downward?
Comments (8)Surprise surprise - This is my Tango this morning. Tango is an irradiated seed version of Murcott. This was a FW tree bought last summer that is coming back from severe twig tie-back over the winter. When I got it last year, there was at least one branch that appeared stressed with yellow-splotched leaves, and that branch eventually died back. The new shoots that came from the bottom (above the graft line) in late winter, matured to be the dark green curled leaves in the above pic. It has been doing a new growth spurt with blooms the past month and the new leaves appear "normal". As a note, this is planted in 5:1:1. I recall asking about this before and I think Brian had chimed in about the tendency for this to happen with some mandarins but it usually corrects with new growth. I am thinking (and this had been mentioned in some threads last summer) that for my purchase of FW trees last summer - they may have suffered from the excessive rains that California experienced and some trees they shipped last year were severely stressed - notably with respect to whatever rootstock this was on and how the graft had to handle that. Yours may not be FW but may have had a similar issue of a stressor that is finally expressing via the older leaves....See Morebmahon
14 years agojooeee
14 years agobionicman
14 years agoPl4nB
12 years ago
freemangreens