Sorry, I wasn't thinking beyond moving my fingers. I would expect to see that kind of damage from heat in plants that didn't tolerate heat the way lilys do. (Sometimes I am so stupid) are the lilys that show the damage from the same source? If they are, pull one up and check to see if it has soft spots or smells bad. If they were held too long before shipping they could have had damage to the tuber that would show up as rot or mildew. If they were shipped during a cold spell they could have been damaged by cold. It doesn't look like cold damage. Were all four put in the pond at the same time? Over-spray from the neighbor's yard, rainfall after a storm that moved in from over farmland. What type of fertilizer? Overdoing fertilizer can mimic heat damage, i.e. yellows, fried edges. Does one source fertilize and the other not? Are the ones that show damage the same variety? Lowe's sometimes gets plants from different sources. I have been disappointed in the ones I have seen there the past couple of years, but that is Indiana, not Florida. I don't think they would be selling the same variety there as here and the timing would be totally off. Florida, yes heat could damage a tuber that was closely wrapped and was left in the heat. Sorry I am not awake at the moment but I think you will find your answer somewhere above. Sandy

I was looking for the same info and found this on yahoo - Hope it is helpful Yellowing leaves on tomato plants can indicate many things. Here's the list to run through: 1) Plants are too dry. 2) Plants are too wet. 3) Foliar leaf damage from a bacteria or virus, especially if the yellowing of the leaves is accompanied by small dark spots (probably bacterial speck) or larger brown spots with concentric circles (probably early blight). 4) A more serious disease like verticillium wilt or fusarium wilt. 5) Nutritional deficiency, with the likely culprit being a lack of one of the following: nitrogen, iron, zinc, potassium, or calcium. 6) Aphids or spider mites. 7) Root-knot nematodes. Only a issue if you are growing them in sandy soil though. 8) Tobacco mosaic virus. 9) Being too close to--and especially if grown directly underneath--a black walnut tree or trees. So, let's take them one by one. For (1) and (2) above, check the soil moisture. Tomato plants like to be watered consistently, but don't like having wild swings between being "too wet" and "too dry". For (5) above, if you have fed them a couple of times this season, it is hard to imagine they have a nutritional deficiency. And, if you want to feed them the Sam's Miracle Grow, I doubt it would hurt them. I think it is a complete and balanced plant food, so plants that have been fed with it shouldn't be showing a defiency. That said, I don't feed my plants at all--I feed the soil with compost, Texas greensand, blood meal, bone meal, etc. etc. and let the soil feed the plants. For item (6) insect damage can leave the plants yellowing. Look at your leaves. Do you see any small oval bugs that might be aphids? Turn over the leaves and look at the underside of them, especially the leaves down near the bottom of the plant. Red spider mites are tiny and barely visable to the human eye. You can tap the leaves with your finger over a sheet of paper. If tiny specks fall off the leaves and onto the paper and start crawling around, you have spider mites. For aphids, release lady bugs and they will gobble them up within a few weeks. For spider mites, spray the entire plant, and esp. the leaf undersides, with a liquid seaweed solution. The spider mite damage is likely to show up as mottled discoloration of the leaf. Some tiny webbing similar to spider webs may be visable on individual leaves. For (7) above, root knot nematodes are a horrible problem in sandy soils. The nematodes infest the roots of the plants causing a swelling, or "knot", to appear sporadically within the root system. If you have them, there is nothing you can do now. Eradicating them is almost impossible, although there are a couple of organic solutions that help control them--like crop rotation, planting nematode-resistant varieties and planting a winter crop of cereal rye (not rye grass) and then tilling it into the soil. I hope that nematodes are not the problem. For item (9) above, black walnut trees release a chemical called juglone. It can make it impossible to grow many plants beneath the tree. If this is the problem, the only solution is to plant the tomato plants somewhere else next time. You'll notice I left items (3), (4) and (8) for last. These are 3 very likely culprits and can be hard to diagnose without seeing the plants. If (8) tobacco mosaic virus is the culprit, you'll see a mosaic type pattern on the leaves, and maybe also on the fruit. If the problem is item (4) above, one of the wilts, like fusarium wilt (more likely in our climate) or verticillium wilt (usually found in cooler climates than ours), then I don't know of a good "fix". However, if you feed the plants and water them consistently, sometimes a plant can grow enough to "outrun" these 2 diseases and continue producing fruit, although the plants will not look good at all. The most likely culprit, I think, is going to be item (3) above. At least, that is what the problem is in my large tomato garden 95% of the time when leaves begin yellowing and/or curling. If you have bacterical speck, you will notice tiny specks of brown to black to almost purple on the leave surfaces. If it is early blight, and I think it very well might be, you will notice the yellowing begins at the base of the plant and works its way up, day after day after day. You should see brown spots, usually with concentric rings, on the yellowed areas of the leaves. To fight early blight: a) Keep water off the leaves as much as possible. Use a soaker hose or drip irrigation. b) Mulch under your plants to keep water from hitting the dirt and splashing back up onto the plants thereby spreading disease. c) Remove all the damaged foliage from the plants. Usually new leaves will sprout to replace the damaged foliage. You may not be able to remove ALL the damaged foliage at once if doing so will leave your green tomatoes exposed to too much sun which can cause sunscald and ruin the fruit. d) Spray your plants with a solution of baking soda, oil and water. To one gallon of water, add 1 tablespoon of baking soda, 1 tablespoon of a lightweight horticultural oil and 1 or 2 drops of dishwashing liquid. If you don't have horticultural oil, you can substitute vegetable oil, but I don't think it works as well. Shake this mixture well to blend it. Apply it to the plants thoroughly with a pump-up sprayer. It is best to apply it early in the morning or in the late evening. Do not apply during the heat of the day or further leaf damage can occur, especially in our hot climate. You can also try spraying with compost tea or Garret Juice (recipe can be found at the free side of the Dirt Doctor website (www.dirtdoctor.com). Another organic solution is Serenade, a bacteria product that combats the diseases. It is new this year (as far as being labeled for use in the vegetable garden) and I am trying it for the first time. It seems to have some effectiveness. A 20-oz. bottle will cost under $10.00 at Wal-Mart. Just follow the label directions. With regard to the leaf curl, leaf curl is like yellowing leaves and can indicate many different types of problems. I don't generally even worry about leaf curl if it shows up by itself. But, leaf curl accompanied by yellowing leaves almost always indicates that a tomato disease is present and is bacterial/viral/fungal related. In my garden, early blight can show up anywhere between the 3rd week of May and the 3rd week of June. It is one of the most common tomato problems. If you want a heavy-duty treatement, you can try the more organic approach of spraying with a copper-based fungicide like Kocide. If you want a non-organic approach, Daconil is the solution. I don't use either of them in my garden as I believe both are more toxic than I care to be exposed to.

Most of the problems people come to the forums seeking resolution for are either directly related to a poor soil (poor root health/function) or are a close by-produce of poor root health. A weak plant means a weak defense against insects and disease, so in most cases, those maladies and a o/a shabby appearance can be traced back to poor root health. There is no such thing as a healthy plant without it having a healthy root system, and the ability to keep roots happy is a critical hump most container gardeners never get past because all they know is 'grab a bag of soil off the store shelf and plant something'. I didn't provide the name for the 5:1:1 mix; someone else did back in 2004 and it stuck. It consists of 5 parts of pine bark of appropriate size, 1 part of sphagnum peat moss or an off-the-shelf potting soil, 1 part perlite, and a little garden lime to adjust pH. If you can get the bark, it's a snap to make and much more productive than media (soils) based on fine particulates like peat, coir, compost, sand ...... The reason is, water retention is driven by particle size, and the smaller particles cause the soil to hold too much water to provide a root-friendly environment. To a large degree, the soil you use can determine how much opportunity your plant can have to realize its genetic potential, so it's to the growing puzzle what the border is to a jigsaw puzzle. I noticed you ask questions freely. Keep asking questions and why the suggestions given are offered. That will help you a little to sort things out. I'll leave you a link that should help you avoid all the common pitfalls almost all growers encounter sooner or later. It's a BASIC OVERVIEW that covers all of the basics. If you want more info on soil (there is much more) after you read over the link - just ask & I'll keep you busy as long as you want to keep reading. ;-) Al

Your plant looks very well grown. I don't think your center looks "tight" at all. And your leaves are just growing "out" not really curling down. You have done a great job! Rosie