Tomato Leaf Curling

Hi! I'm new to the forum. I am in need of assistance with my tomato plants. Most of which are thriving, but a few of which (grown from seed) - Black Sea & Chocolate Cherry are having a leaf curling issue. They have no bugs or disease, and otherwise look to be healthy plants. We have been having weird wet & colder than normal temps in Northeast PA. I haven't been watering them because they are getting so much from natural rain. When I checked my plants today, I did like Mel said, be one with your garden, let the soil tell you what it needs. The soil felt neither wet nor dry (we had a storm last night). I alternate weeks using fish emulsion & spraying with epsom salt mix. Any suggestions on what to do - if anything? More rain this week. Should I try to cover them? Again, rest of garden plants look great, including tomato plants that were store bought. And soil doesnt feel overwatered. Thanks in advance.

kimkrupsha wrote:Hi! I'm new to the forum. I am in need of assistance with my tomato plants. Most of which are thriving, but a few of which (grown from seed) - Black Sea & Chocolate Cherry are having a leaf curling issue. They have no bugs or disease, and otherwise look to be healthy plants. We have been having weird wet & colder than normal temps in Northeast PA. I haven't been watering them because they are getting so much from natural rain. When I checked my plants today, I did like Mel said, be one with your garden, let the soil tell you what it needs. The soil felt neither wet nor dry (we had a storm last night). I alternate weeks using fish emulsion & spraying with epsom salt mix. Any suggestions on what to do - if anything? More rain this week. Should I try to cover them? Again, rest of garden plants look great, including tomato plants that were store bought. And soil doesnt feel overwatered. Thanks in advance.

I grow a variety of tomato that has naturally curling leaves. I do not know if yours have the same quality. There are some other reasons for leaf curl and I know that there is at least one other thread that addresses that problem. You may find an answer there. Do you have the ability to post a photo?

Thank you for responding. The tomatoes that are having the most significant curling are my Black Sea tomatoes and Chocolate Cherry Tomatoes. Grown from seed, planted horizontally according to Mel's method and into Mel's mix. Here is an image from the Black Sea. Look closely in the middle of the image.

Hmmm... could be the weather...well since it does not seem to be problem with the whole plant, maybe it is a small infestation of thrips... this is my guess, but I don't know for sure... I suggest that you contact your County Coop Extension Service Ag Agent for a diagnosis / look around on the internet for treatment options.

I have 2 tomato plants that are doing the same thing as yours. Last week we had almost 2 1/2 inches of rain in about 1/2 an hour. The next day I noticed that my tomatoes were not happy. My mother- in- law said that they were curled because of all the rain. Yesterday I noticed that they were finally uncurling.

Guess what!! Today we are in a flash flood watch! My poor gardens.

When I was putting together my gardening journal, I researched lots of things about plants and growing, including tomatoes, and have found that this is natural on some plants and not to worry. I even wrote it in my new gardening journal but can't give you the quote or gardening book from which it came. I was working from several authoratative books by reknowned authors.
I had the same thing on my Moskvich and Stupice tomatoes.

This was a Moskvich taken June 15th and since they they are still all growing well except for the curling, so I'm not worrying.

Yours looks like mine so don't worry about it. Water or not water makes no difference.

Thank you so much for your comments and replies! I appreciate the advice and reassurances.

I can tell you from experience that if you pruned or suckered your tomatoes, you may have taken the growing tip and freaked the plant out. I have checked most everything I've read from pH to potassium/potash to calcium, etc. Nothing seemed to be the cause. I stopped pruning or even messing with that plant entirely and another shoot has appeared. I'm still not touching my plant in hopes of recovery.

I have a yellow pear tomato plant that's doing the same thing - leaves are curling up. We've been having rain lately and hot temperatures after having chilly temps a couple of weeks ago and all this rain is coming after no rain - grass was turning brown and getting brittle. I haven't noticed it on my other tomato plants so I'm learning from you all that it just might be natural for this type of tomato plant. Thanks. I'll keep watching it but not worry about it. I did plant every tomato plant with crushed egg shells in the hole before placing the plant in, then sprinkling blood meal on top of the soil. I had blossom end rot last year so hopefully the egg shells will prevent that this year. Time will tell. I'll be picking my first tomatoes in a day or 2 from my Sun Gold tomatoes, which are a cherry type. I put bird netting over those because birds started to find them and peck at them. Excited for some harvest soon though.