RE: What's wrong with my tomato plant?
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.
Another cause of tomato plant leaf curling, also known as leaf roll, is attributed to physiologic conditions. While its exact cause may be unknown, it’s believed to be a sort of self-defense mechanism. During excessively cool, moist conditions, leaves may roll upward and become leathery in an effort to repel this excessive moisture. This specific condition occurs around fruit setting time and is most commonly seen on staked and pruned plants.
Curling tomato leaves may also be triggered by just the opposite—uneven watering, high temperatures, and dry spells. Leaves will curl upward to conserve water but they do not take on the leathery-like appearance. Plum and paste varieties are most commonly affected.
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!