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Growing Tomatoes

Tomato plant leaves curling, wilting, and turning yellow

11 years ago

I'm growing a "Better Boy" tomato plant indoors. I used Miracle-Gro Potting Soil. The plant is beginning to fruit, but in the last few weeks, almost all the leaves have started drying up, curling inwards, and turning yellow.

I'm watering the plant via a pair of irrigation spikes: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002558KJQ/ref=oh_details_o00_s01_i00. So the plant should be getting enough water. I've also tried watering the plant more, in the hopes that it just wasn't getting enough water, but that doesn't seem to be working either.

Any idea what might be going on?

Thanks so much!

Featured Answer

nycbos
Original Author

11 years ago

And here are pictures of my tomato plant.

Thanks again!

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Plant Pictures

Comments (6)

jean001a
11 years ago
Sorry about your tomatoes. They look grim.

Need considerable info to even attempt to resolve your challenges.

How big a container are they in? Length by width by depth?
And how many in each container?

Are you fertilizing?
If so, with what? what strength? and how often?

As for watering, I trust looking at the potting mix (or soil, when in the garden) and feeling.
How deep is it moist?
Does water run out the bottom when you water?
How often do you water?
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please post a picture of the entire plant. Partial leaves aren't much help.
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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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Dx916
11 years ago
Seems like whats happening is they were are low on nutrients, started showing the signs(mainly yellow leaves from not having enough nitrogen) especially now that its blooming it uses more. You noticed and were hoping it was just lacking water and added even more which if anything probably made matters worse by keeping the roots from absorbing what little if any nutrients are left if any from the miracle grow soil.

Of course this just speculation and my theory of whats going on, considering Im assuming that they have not been feed besides what nutrients were in the potting soil. If there were the case I would let the soil get back to how you had it and FEED it!!
Denise Barnett
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Mine are looking the same way. Growing some tomatoes but looking wilted and turning yellow. My plant is in a very large pot outside. In direct sun. I water daily as the temp gets in the high 90's. I fertilize about once per week with liquid Miracle Grow. Are mine getting too much water or sun. It has good drainage and I'm treating it like I have all others in the past 15-20 years.
fungus
5 years ago
That mostly looks like an advanced deficiency/toxicity. The symptoms are really not that easy to distinguish from one another (like Zn, Mn look basically the same, etc).

If you are not feeding, start feeding. If you are, then stop. Measure water pH and if possible the hardness. Measure runoff pH.
edweather USDA 9a, HZ 9, Sunset 28
5 years ago
Denise, probably best to post photos, or start your own thread with pics.

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