I know the leaf miner. I live in the Southeast Texas, so. I do not think leaf roll would be a major concern. It depends on what you want. I do not believe a leaf miner could take away your harvest. If harvest is what you want, do not worry too much.

Your plants look quite good to me. At least as far as one can tell from photos. I wouldn't be concerned about them unless the situation changes drastically.

Leaf curl (aka leaf roll) is common with many varieties and minimal, if any, is in your photos. It is a physiological response of the plant to stress and can be caused by several factors like transplanting, heat, humidity, plant age, feeding, etc.

Unfortunately it can also be caused by over-watering, the most common cause, so make sure you aren't stressing them by too much/too frequent watering.

You can learn more by Googling 'tomato leaf roll'.

Can't tell from your photos but the containers look relatively small.

Dave

Ameera,

As Dave said your plants don't look like they have severe leaf rolling and overall they look pretty healthy.

GardenWebber sprouts_honor (Jennifer from Cleveland) had a wonderful suggestion on how to tell whether or not you need to water your tomatoes, and I quote here: "Get a wooden dowel rod (or two) and sink it in the ground near a plant or two and leave it. Pull it out when you think you need to water. If the top is dry and the bottom is a little damp, it's time to water. If it looks dark and feels saturated, wait to water. I use this technique with potted plants that don't like being over watered and it's helpful with in ground plants too."

If you are concerned about water levels, I suggest you try it. It won't take you long to be able to "read" the dowel.

Just out of curiosity, what size of pot did you wind up using?

Betsy

The curling under very well could be from excessive moisture. What potting mix did you use and are these pots their final home??

From my experience - I think you will find that the leaf curl or roll, is temperature related, and it is the cold acting on the nitrogen in the leaves which they got from the fertilizer you are using,

If the curl gets much worse and turns into a complete roll, plants suffer tremendously because the surface of the leaf is not exposed to direct light so that they can photosynthesize properly and the plants get horribly stunted if the plants were given more heat somehow to bring the temp up to at least 65 F, they would recover rapidly, if plants are left in that condition they stay like that or worsen-until around the end of may, and then as soon as the warmer weather appears they un-roll their leaves to almost normal again, watering too much may contribute to it, so plants are best kept a bit on the dry side until May, but whatever you do-cut down on the Nitrogen as this is the main cause, plants grown with very little feed at all until planting out time or later -perhaps June always do best and remain compact with little or no leaf curl.

So-in the main, it boils down to no feed containing nitrogen until after the first flowers have set on the bottom truss, increased temp to around 65 F, as much light as is possible onto the leaves.

After the first flowers have set on bottom truss, you can then give them as much feed as you wish.

After the first flowers have set on bottom truss, you can then give them as much feed as you wish.

That is as false as you can get. Too much will kill the plants.

thank you for the replies :)

I am growing 2 determinate varieties (Fargo and Homestead 24- growing 2 of each variety) in 8 gallon pots.

ohhhh no... I just went to double check the weather (I haven't been paying attention as it hasn't really felt like it has changed but... when I first potted the plants into these final pots the weather was in the mid to upper 70s for highs and upper 60s for lows...

just checking the forecast for today and the next week the weather is in the upper 70s to low 80s (so far very low humidity)for highs and upper 70's for the lows.

I may have started my seedlings too late for the season here... I am just going to try and hope that it produces tomatoes before it goes into the 90s and the humidity goes up like crazy.

maybe this is the reason for the leaf curl? Maybe I should find a way to set up a shade cloth on each plant?

Also... this fertilizer that I purchased... it says not to use it once the temperatures reach 30C (85F)... its going to reach that probably in the next few weeks --I'm screwed!

what should I do for fertilizer now that I won't be able to use this one? Will it be ok to use a fish fertilizer? I was informed I can get some from the local fish market..

oops typo on the temps... the lows are currently in the upper 60s low 70s at night.. although right now its 4:27am and its 79 outside... so maybe we just had a few days of hotter than normal weather and its going back down for the rest of this week?

also... for those first set of photos... the plants with water droplets on the leaves... do tomato plants push out excess moisture that end up as water droplets on leaves?

because the weather has warmed I am going to keep the plants in a spot that only gives them morning to early afternoon sun and the rest of the day is in the shade... I have been keeping them in an area where they get late-morning to just before dusk sunlight... so that is the hottest times of the day.

Ameera,

You might also just as well leave them in the direct sunlight and keep the roots watered, daily if needed. It seems you care about them, so if you could focus solely on these two points, I bet you may be okay.

Ameera,

You really don't need to worry about the temperatures until they get into the range above 90ð in the daytime and over 70-75ð for the lows at night when the temperatures can interfere with pollination. As long as they aren't drying out from the heat and size of pot and you don't have poor drainage, you should be OK.

Betsy

I think the problem may be related to not too much water, but in fact that the water level is not consistant. I know that mature tomato plants can use up to 5 gallons of water a day. You appear to have very small pots and even though they are getting water ever few days they in fact may be stressed because not getting enough water. I have Earth Boxes on my porch and also plant in garden. I put in an Early Girl first week of February with a Water Wall around it and am watering it every other day and I keep a water tray under the pot with water constantly keeping the soil moist. I use Garrett Juice Plus,Thrive, and Plant Wash (all Organic). Been using for several years and the Plant Wash will do away with you pest problems. I mix all of it up in a gallon of water and water all plants with it and rarely have any problems. Even moisture in soil is key to releaving stress to any plant. (If you want a good organic program go to (TheDirtDoctor.com) Has a link to his programs on weekend that gives great Organic Gardening Advise).

5 gallons a day is excessive for any single plant I've ever grown and even moisture shouldn't be a problem unless you're using a soil mix that shouldn't be used in containers or the mix wasn't mixed thoroughly in the first place.

ameera I still don't see where you've mentioned the soil used. Roots need oxygen too.

do tomato plants push out excess moisture that end up as water droplets on leaves?

Yes it is called guttation. It hapens when root osmotic pressure is strong enough to force water out the leaves. What your seeing may be that or just condensation.

Hard to tell.

Let them dry out between watering but not to the point of wilting.

sorry for the late reply.. the soil I got says it is composed of:

Black peat, White peat, Lime, trace-elements.

The day after I put them in the spot where they will have some shade in the late afternoon, the leaves all uncurled and look good now!

The only problem is the leaf miner flies... they are definitely chilling on the leaves... I know I can't do anything about the larvae inside the leaves but would like to find a solution so the leaf miner flies are no longer attracted to the plants!

thank you everything for all the info you are giving :)

Your mix sounds like it retains too much water and could be too rich for seedlings.

Your plants look good to me. I think you are worrying too much.

for the soil being too rich...aaaahhh I wish I had asked about the soil before potting... I won't be able to do anything about it now so am going to have to hope for the best! I will mix desert sand with the same soil next season I try growing them again.

so far the plants are doing good, one of them just got 4 blossoms yesterday and I can see more about ready to blossom :)

I have to hope I am consistently watering correctly now.

thank you all :)