When did you plant them? What are your temps now?

Also, where are you located?

Agree with need to know location. In much of the country the soil is still too cool for mulching. Also did you have your soil tested at all? Any idea what the nutrient levels are? What and how much have you fed them if anything?

The leaf roll usually indicates stress of some kind and in this case the discoloration would seem to indicate some lack of nutrient issues. But if the soil is still quite cool that can interfere with nutrient uptake even if they are present.

Dave

in south dakota, so zone 4. i planted them 2nd week of may, temps right now are highs in the 80s and lows in the mid 50s. have not done any soil testing and i sprinkled a little 10-10-10 around them but thats it.

When you say "it froze", how cold did it get? Last year I had a Black Krim tomato plant that was subjected to temps at or near freezing and it stunted the plant. Didn't grow more than a foot tall.

think it got down to 28...dont you think putting the buckets over them saved them from freezing?

It's possible they could be off to a slow start. Like Dave said, the soil temps could be too cool. Have you had consistent warm temps the last 2 weeks?

Based on what I read, the purple stem means your plants had cold stress. But it had survived and you should have no problem. I would think the yellowish leaves mean some nutrient issue. It is possible that the nutrient was depleted from the soil mix therefore you have the issue. The symptom should disappear after transplanting into soil. However, if it persists, I would try fertilize a bit.

With the fertilizer, you said sprinkled, so that might be a slow release. I use fish emulsion for a quicker solution. If you're comfortable with using Miracle Grow, I think that could be fast-acting as well.

okay ill try that, the people we bought the house from left some miracle grow in the shed so i might as well use it for something...

Looks like classic transplant shock into cold soil to me.

And given your location you should also consider pulling that mulch back so the soil can warm. Granted it isn't much but it still slows down soil warming when applied this early.

Dave

okay ill do that thank you