What's wrong with my tomato plant?
Hey everyone, I need some help -- one of our tomato plants is looking a little unhealthy. The leaves are curled up some, especially those on the top.
Below are some pictures I took. Do you know what might be causing this, and how I could address it?
Thanks!
Edit: new images from today, 2017-08-07 Monday.
Leaves appear and feel leathery:
Some browning and yellowing on the tips:
Some flowers starting!
It even has one tomato growing on it!
Going solely by your photos @libertyteeth, I compared the plant in question with those surrounding it. The plant in question appears to possibly have Leaf Roll. Notice the deep green leaves in the 1st image - the plant next to the bucket. I notice the plant in question is much lighter, meaning less nitrogen uptake (which is water dependent to be intake by the plant), or that the plant could have a disease or virus. If the flowers bloom and drop the blossoms, it could very well be Leaf Roll.
There are things that mimic this, making it hard to identify via images. Pruning branches one node below a flower set can cause leaves to fold up and mimic leaf roll in some varieties.
Do you fertilize? What do you use if so? Pests and disease prefer weaker plants so healthy vigorous plants will be less prone to attack.
Thanks for your detailed response!
The plant in the back, beside the bucket (that's orgonite, by the way) is the "oldest" one we bought; the others were starters and short, like a foot or so. That one was three plants together in a bucket, about three feet tall. That's the only plant that's been producing for us, so far; I think we have taken 7 tomatoes from it already. It has always been much lusher green than the others, even before planting.
Just went out to check, the leaves now look like this: well, actually, rather than putting the images here which makes them smaller, I'll do an update to this post. It'll take around 10 minutes or so to load all the pictures, hang on tight! :)
My pleasure @libertyteeth! It's challenging to identify plant problems, but I love a challenge. I would prune off any spotted leaves, cut back to healthiest leaf set. Be sure to use sterile cutting tool to ensure you are not spreading any possible disease - clean before and after cutting.
You might also try some Epsom salt - a great household plant supplement. I have a small tomato farm and I use all organic OMRI listed amendments for my soil. One I can vouch for is Jobe's - they make tomato plant food that works like a charm. Epsoma makes some pretty good stuff as well. A good tomato food has a good NPK balance (Nitrogen, phosphorous, potash) and micronutrients the plants need. I would recommend picking some up at your local nursery or box store. I think cleaning off some questionable growth, some careful attention, and some plant food will do wonders for you! I also use seaweed and kelp concentrate that I've seen revive plants that looked absolutely doomed! It's not over until you give up 😉.
If you ever have any questions, feel free to message me in steemchat @grow-pro anytime. I'll keep ya growin', no worries! I'm working on sharing some tomato growing advice after my season slows down a bit. I'm on track to produce about 2,000+ pounds of tomatoes this year on a little more than 100 plants, so if you are interested in growing 40-50lbs per plant - I can absolutely show you how I do that.
Awesome! Followed and looking forward to your harvest! :)
Likewise @libertyeeth! Happy harvest to you!
Thanks! I just posted some pictures of my cucumber plant, it has a nice cucumber on it but the leaves are looking ragged. Any ideas? Thanks!
https://steemit.com/life/@libertyteeth/what-s-wrong-with-our-cucumber-plant
Okay, updated!
It is very difficult and risky to make a diagnosis only by the images. However, the appearance is wilted by Fusarium, a fungus that clogs the plant's nutrient circulation channels and water. To make sure this is it, tear off a branch of the affected plant and place in a glass of clean water. If a viscous liquid begins to flow from the branch, the diagnosis will be confirmed. There is no cure and it would be best to pluck the plant before it contaminates the neighbors.
I agree with you @br-real. Great advice for @libertyteeth tomato plant.
Excellent, thanks, heading out to do this test right now.
Actually just looked that up, and fortunately there isn't any yellowing -- so it doesn't seem like that's the issue. Whew! Just saved a branch. :) But still, need to address it.
And you're right, it's right next to a grape tomato plant which currently has a cluster of 14 tomatoes! I have a picture ready for an upcoming post. So if it's contagious, I'd uproot it.
From others' responses, I'll try some extra water first.
May be a lack of water. Try to mist on leaves when there is no sun
Thanks, will try that tonight!
This tomato plant have no food to eat :) I mean water. So give her more water.
The reason must be lacking of water! I used to see such problem with my money tree too.
I don't see any thing wrong. Perhaps some more water. I don't know exactly I am not a perfect on this :)
Maybe some sort of stem burrowing bug? Possible over fertilize?
Haven't seen any insects but you may be right -- if they're inside the stem I wouldn't see them. Not over-fertilization; if anything, under... @grow-pro suggested epsom salts, which I have some of; it's raining this morning so I'll wait for clearer weather.
a few years ago we also had our own tomatoplants, the tomatoes where the best we had ever eaten. I what do I miss that time.
Yeah last year we grew in containers, and the salads we made were so much better than from the grocery store. We bought one large tomato plant this year (3 actually in the same container, it's the one to the right to the orgonite bucket in the first picture), and they've produced several which tasted great! The rest were shorter when we got them, so they're still working on it.
Great Farming , i don't understand a lot in farming , sorry i can't help , but i will ask a friend expert to get the solution to this problem
Cool thanks! I love the power of communication. :)
There are lots of diseases for the tomato plant. When mine do this, I throw them out and replace with a new one from the Home Depot. It's tough to chop 'em down, but they usually don't improve.
Some have advised me to not even put the bad ones into the composter because it will replicate the disease. Evil stuff!
Yes, I've read similar suggestions about getting rid of the plant, and not even composting. Thanks!