Curled leaves (severe) - tomatoes and tomatillos

Oh wow, I didn't know they were so tiny! Plus, if there is a chance they lay eggs (if that is what they do) in the soil, they would already be under there when they hatch out. I bet you all felt so helpless, I sure would have!

audrey.jeanne.roberts wrote:One problem with the leaf hoppers (at least the type we've seen up here) is that they're so small they can go through window screen and fine mesh tulle so there's nothing we can do to keep them away that I'm aware of.  

Oh, great.  I have some tomatoes covered with tulle!  So it's not worth the effort?  

Here I go again!  7 with curled leaves and 12 without.  planted around in backyard here and there, in 6" MM, in 7" MM and buckets or pots with MM. Only, this time, the leaves are curling up wards.    

Oh no Sanderson.  You have worked so hard for this to happen.  I hope it does not wipe them out like last year.

It is probably ok.  Do not panic.  Rolling upwards is usually Physiological Leaf roll and is caused by environmental stress.  Usually working out watering will do it.  Often it is in reaction to too much water or too uneven watering.  I find some varieties are much more prone than others.  It is a reason to not severely prune your plants.  They need the vegetation to deal with fluctuations in conditions.

http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/PNW616/PNW616.pdf

Thanks, guys. And, yes I read that publication.

Oh no!!!  Not again!  Hopefully this isn't the same issue you had last year and you'll sail right past it. 

Last week we were gone for 4 days to Lake Tahoe and in that time, aphids and white fly moved in to my greenhouse tomatoes.  Forget thieves watching to see if you're gone, my pests a lined up at the fence observing our actions for an opportunity to attack, LOL!

I sprayed two days ago and will spray again in a day or so.  It appears to have worked well.  I made a mix of Dr. Bronner's soap with a touch of original blue Dawn and it worked on contact without damaging the leaves.

The war has begun...

I will try it.  What are the portions of ingredient.  I will either apply with a spray bottle or a hand pump.  This is a great photo of my finger and so-so of the garden in the morning from east to west.  I'm standing on a little step.


The white and pink roses are in bloom, otherwise everything would be green.  The 2 purple cages at the bottom are the 2 Iraqi tomatoes with curled up leaves.  One has 3 small tomatoes.  The tall fern-like plant just to the right of center is coriander cilantro from Baker Creek.  It went to flower right away.  I also have regular cilantro.

We rehabbed the exterior of the fence on the public side. Did you know that sunflowers and morning glories do not like bleach? The bleach spray came through the gaps between the boards. Also hit the beans but not so bad as to hurt the overall health.

Sanderson - that is a great view of your whole back growing area.  You sure have come a long way in just a few short years.  good luck with the tomatoes.

Thanks, 26 months, starting the 3rd summer. The other end (west) is also garden but not as far along.

Sanderson, I'm sorry I haven't been on the forum much lately.  I wish I had seen this thread when you first posted it. I had the same issue with my tomatoes last August.  I didn't find any clear answers on the net, so I assumed it was some disease so I discarded the plants and soil. These were potted beefsteak toms.  Soon after I started a couple other varieties and started seeing some of the same leaf curl, but the plants were able to push through and be very productive.  The new growth is normal but as the leaves aged they would give into the curl.  I believe that they became productive in spite of infection either because they weren't dealing with the August heat, or the fact that it was a more resilient variety. I'm not sure. I have one pole tomato that I've managed to keep alive since last summer. It never produced tomatoes until February. It started growing normally, although I'm not sure if it eve had a bad case of the leaf curl. It produced some of the larges and best tomatoes I've ever grown. It's still sprouting new vigorous growth!  

I'm sorry that you've been through this.  I feel bad for the tomato growers too.

Pretty garden! Can you post a pic of the curling leaves?

Thanks, Camp, the 4 photos are on page 2.

Dstack, last year the leaves curled under, this year they are curling or rolling upwards. All I want is a bumper tomato crop so I can can! Is that too much to ask?

sanderson wrote:Thanks, Camp, the 4 photos are on page 2.

Dstack, last year the leaves curled under, this year they are curling or rolling upwards.  All I want is a bumper tomato crop so I can can!  Is that too much to ask?

And you're trying different varieties?  I bet you are!  Like me, you're trying everything under the sun!  You may have a worse case of this leaf curl malady than I do. I hope someone finds a way to combat this.

Dstack, can you discern the difference between virus damage and physiological leaf roll?  The second can look bad but be minor for the plant.  My understanding is that you can tell by which way the leaf rolls, up being physiological.  But that might be an over simplification.

If I'm under-watering, Mother Nature is taking care of it today. It's raining. Blessed rain.

Turan wrote:Dstack, can you discern the difference between virus damage and physiological leaf roll?  The second can look bad but be minor for the plant.  My understanding is that you can tell by which way the leaf rolls, up being physiological.  But that might be an over simplification.

Mine roll up...

sanderson wrote:

WOW!  

Sorry 'bout the toms.

If the leaves are curling up and the veins are prominent, you probably have Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus. - TYLCV

This virus is vectored back to the White Fly. We had an episode of infections around here last January. The infected plants were pulled and bagged for garbage pickup - not recycled or burned and certainly not for the compost bin.

Control the White Fly and you can control the virus spread.

Thanks, I hope to spray come Monday or Tuesday.