Can someone help me with my tomato leaf curl issue?

15 years ago

Per Dave's request, I'm starting a new thread on the leaf curl / roll (don't know which) that I am seeing on one of my plants.

I bought this celebrity seedling and planted it outdoors early to mid April. Our weather was upper 70s and 80s during the month of April, with lows around 55.

It is planted in a large (I am guessing 5 to 7 gal) pot since I cannot plant in my ground. The soil is a vegetable potting soil with slow release fertilizer. I added fish emulsion when I transplanted and periodically add it every couple of weeks.

It started flowering just after transplant, I pulled those blooms off (I now think that was a mistake but like I said it was within a day or two of transplant and I am pretty new to this stuff).

It put out a ton of blooms in may, nothing fruited. The temps were high here in may, 90s and 100s with one 'cold' snap in the 70s over the memorial day holiday. All the blossoms have turned brown and shriveled up. I have yet to get any fruit set. Now the leaves are starting to curl into tube like shapes. I don't see any sign of disease, discoloration, or insect.

This plant is not on my drip irrigation, so I water it daily, enough to wet the soil, but it doesn't seem like there's excess collecting in the bottom of the pot.

Here is a link that might be useful:

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Comments (5)

mickyfinn6777
15 years ago
This is a typical common problem with some varieties of tomato plants,
Usually caused by slightly too much nitrogen in the feed (too early), and a largish difference between day and night temps, when the day and night temps become more even the problem will mostly vanish, and also the flower setting too.
katib_gardener
Original Author
15 years ago
I have moved it to the east side of my house under a covered patio. It should get some morning sun and mostly shade in the afternoon. The fluctuation in temps here is pretty severe, we're still getting 100+ temps in the day and 60s at night. It might start sticking in the 70s at night right before monsoons start in late June. Thanks for your help!
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Britt, I agree with everything Jay said. Most of the time physiological leaf roll is merely a stress reaction, and the extreme heat is likely the cause. The last thing I'd do is repot them unless they're in small containers. Repotting would be stressful and the plants don't need more stress. Tomato plants generally do best if we leave them alone and let them grow and take care not to 'love them to death' with too much water and too much fertilizer. Having mentioned fertilizer, I'll add that it is much harder for plants to remain well-fed in this heat if they are in containers because the necessary watering leaches the fertilizers out of the soil. So if, by chance, your plants are in smalish containers that require a lot of watering, I'd take great care to ensure they are well-fed. I'd probably feed at least weekly in this heat, or maybe twice a week depending on the container size, but I'd cut the fertilizer strength in half so it is weaker to make up for the fact I was fertilizing more often. When you feed container plants with a water soluable fertilizer, their roots take up what they can and then the rest of the fertilizer often is washed out of the soil the next time you water. Shade may or may not help. If the temps are going over 105 or so, the shade doesn't help as much as you'd like because the poor plants are still so hot in the shade. If the plants are getting reflected sunlight and heat from pavement or building walls or a wooden fence, moving the containers so they are placed in a cooler area away from heat-reflecting surfaces can help. If your plants are in the ground, making sure they are well-mulched will help keep the soil cooler and that might help with the curling a little. I looked at the bare soil temperature map yesterday and it was showing a temperature of 111 degrees in my county at the time I looked at it. That is why mulching is so important--because the soil is so very hot right now and the roots are just baking in that hot soil. Honestly, though, in a summer like this, there's going to be a lot of leaf curl in the heat and that's nothing much you and the plants can do except tough it out. Sometimes leaf curl is a symptom of a disease or pest issue, but 99% of the time it is just stress. I'm so used to seeing leaf curl in hot summers that I rarely even notice the leaves are curled unless someone else notices it and mentions it to me. Then I shrug my shoulders and say something like "Oh, that's heat stress. It happens every year." Dawn
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kawaii_fruit
15 years ago
Thanks for posting this question...I was wondering about the same thing happening to my Celebrities. The temps are pretty even around here right now though--80s to 90s. It just seems to happen to the top third of the plant.
::big sigh of relief::
digdirt2
15 years ago
The crucial point in your other post was that this plant was supposedly "several months old" (so it is really approx. 1 1/2 to 2 months old, correct?) and only "18 inches tall". That is the real problem I fear. A Celebrity, even tho it is a semi-determinate variety, that is even 2 months old should be much bigger plant - at least 3 feet tall.

This is especially true with all the feeding you have given it.

Now I see the problem. (1) Compacted soil - it sounds like you didn't use a soil-less potting mix but maybe used Miracle Grow Garden Soil for Vegetables. Correct? It is not intended for use in containers. And (2) no holes for drainage in the container so the water "collects in the bottom", correct?

Size of the container - if it is a 5-7 gallon should be fairly ok but the combination of poorly draining soil and water collecting in the bottom of the pot which causes root rot may explain the small size. And the very stressed plant with the high temps explains the blossom drop.

My suggestion would be to find a bigger container that has room for you to add some good quality soil-less mix to and still have room for this plant and then transplant this plant into it. Make sure it has drain holes in it. I'd pinch off all or most of the current blooms - they aren't going to amount to anything anyway so no loss - and keep it in the shade for 3-4 days. I think you should see a marked improvement in the plant within that time. Keep the plant alive and healthy until the air temps cool and you'll get some fruit set.

I hope this helps get you some tomatoes.

Dave
katib_gardener
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks Dave, a couple more questions if you or anyone else have time. I just looked at the bag from my "soil". It says vegetable planting mix. I'm not sure if that means it's the same as potting mix or not. Actually, I'm not sure what the difference between potting soil and potting mix.

The pot does have drainage holes, but they are pretty small and there's a pop off tray underneath. That pop off tray can hold excess water, but like I said, I've tipped the pot and it doesn't seem to be collecting any water there. I'll transplant it to a bigger pot with better drainage this weekend.

Finally, this is probably a dumb question, but when you say how old the plant is, are you counting from the time you plant the seed or time you transplant it in the ground. I ask because I planted my other seedlings on Feb. 29 but didn't move them outside until early to mid-April. Does that mean they are 3 months old or 1 and 1/2? Since this one was a decent size when I bought it, I estimated it to be several months old. Maybe I'm just confused on terminology.

Again, many thanks for your help!

Can someone help me with my tomato leaf curl issue?

Comments (5)

mickyfinn6777

katib_gardener
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Can someone help me with my tomato leaf curl issue?

Comments (5)

mickyfinn6777

katib_gardenerOriginal Author

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kawaii_fruit

digdirt2

katib_gardenerOriginal Author

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katib_gardener
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katib_gardener
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