Tomato leaves curling down

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Tried googling, but most of the results talk about tomato leaves curling upward/inward. Mine are curling downward. Can you make out what the cause may be by looking at the below photos and how to remedy? The plant appears healthy otherwise.

My main problem is that the plants are sitting on north-facing balcony, so they're only getting limited direct sun exposure, but I've grown tomatoes in this space before with decent results. It's been fairly hot here in MI lately - high 80s, low 90s. I spray the plants with aspirin every 2 weeks, and I also applied some Burpee Organic Tomato and Vegetable Granular Plant Food (3-6-4) about 2 weeks ago, but the curl was there even before that.

Thanks!

 

[Peace perfect peace]

Change in temature, try turning the plant daily so not just one side is getting all the sun more that the other side,
Also a light mist spray first thing in the morning will help.
But this tempature change wont effect the tom's.

 

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Thanks.

Now this plant is starting to get blossom end rot. I applied some garden lime early in the season to make sure soil was calcium rich, so it must be inability of the plant to uptake that calcium for some reason. This is my second year trying to grow Roma, and second year losing it to BER. Ugh.

 

[Chuck]

Thanks.

Now this plant is starting to get blossom end rot. I applied some garden lime early in the season to make sure soil was calcium rich, so it must be inability of the plant to uptake that calcium for some reason. This is my second year trying to grow Roma, and second year losing it to BER. Ugh.

Roma varieties are the most susceptible to BER of all the tomato varieties. If you will sprinkle a couple of handfuls of Epsom Salt around the base of the plant it will cure the problem. The problem isn't having enough calcium in the soil, it is the plants inability to uptake what calcium there is in the soil.

 

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If you will sprinkle a couple of handfuls of Epsom Salt around the base of the plant it will cure the problem.

Thanks. The topic of Epsom Salt and BER is quite controversial. A lot of info out there suggests that it actually contributes to more BER:

Dakota Gardener

www.ag.ndsu.edu

However, if the underlying problem is lack of magnesium, then I suppose Epsom Salt could help.

I've read others suggest watering the plant with powdered evaporated milk for a quick boost of calcium. But again, just because you've read it on the internet doesn't make it true. And like you said, the calcium may already be there - just need to help the plant uptake it somehow. Are you saying Epsom Salt will help with the uptake?

 

[Chuck]

Thanks. The topic of Epsom Salt and BER is quite controversial. A lot of info out there suggests that it actually contributes to more BER:

Dakota Gardener

www.ag.ndsu.edu

However, if the underlying problem is lack of magnesium, then I suppose Epsom Salt could help.

I've read others suggest watering the plant with powdered evaporated milk for a quick boost of calcium. But again, just because you've read it on the internet doesn't make it true. And like you said, the calcium may already be there - just need to help the plant uptake it somehow. Are you saying Epsom Salt will help with the uptake?

I find nothing at all controversial about ES. My father had a truck garden when I was a kid. He used it. I am almost 73 and I have used it my entire life. It works in Florida, it works in Colorado and it sure works here in Texas. To this date, I have read multitudes of research papers about ES and BER. Some say yes and some say no. No one has explained scientifically why it works. All I know is that it does work and has worked since I started working in a garden, about 65 years ago. And no. The problem isn't a lack of magnesium. Adding magnesium (via Chelated Iron, liquid seaweed, kelp) has zero influence on BER. Irregular watering habits may contribute to BER but is not the cause. I have grown and deliberately mis-watered tomatoes trying to enhance BER. In my soil watering inappropriately has not been related to BER. I cannot grow tomatoes in my soil without Epsom Salts. One caveat to that is cherry tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes in my soil do not get BER either with or without ES. Another thing about ES is the amount used. On Roma varieties it takes at least twice as much ES. On every variety of tomato except Romas I use 1 cup per plant at planting. This year I ran out of ES and planted 2 tomatoes without it. They both had extreme BER, starting at the white stage of the tomato. As soon as I saw this I applied ES. All future fruit set was BER free. I am harvesting tomatoes from those two plants daily. My soil is very alkaline and so is my well water. Another member of this forum @Meadowlark has acidic soil. He also has no BER and he also uses ES and states that he also has BER when not using ES. My soil and water has way too much calcium already in it. The bedrock here is limestone so adding more calcium to already high concentrations is, to say the least, not beneficial. So, to answer your question, yes. ES does enable the plant to uptake calcium. There is no other explanation. It also works on peppers, squash, melons and cucumbers.

 

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Thanks, Chuck.

What do you think about the strange leaf curl in the photos I posted above?

 

[Peace perfect peace]

Hi folks,
Like chuck ive been using ES, for more years than i care to remember, But also I use lime and as Chuck said you can read report after report and they'll say one thing on one report and the opposit on an other,
I do sometimes wonder if certain toms seed are treated in some different way pre packing ?
I dont have much if any E.R but i use good compost (clean and steam packed) and lime mixed into the compost .
All my toms are from seed,
When i repot from the first common leave stage i pott the plant deep (up to its top leave growth) and then water using the "Asprin mix in water), By re-potting in this way your getting a much better root system "all those hairs you can see around the plants stem are tiny roots and when you plant these tiny hairs under the compost they grow into roots, you'll soon see the stems on your toms are good and thick.

As ive said in a write up ref Asprin the natural tomatoe has in its make up"SALICYLIC" and Asprin has a greater amount of the same chemicle in each pill, this chemicle helps the plants reaction to verious infections due to greater hormone system and amount of SALICYLIC , and the plants increased resistance,
It was all tested in the USA labs and proved to produce longer life in flowering plants cut and put in a vase, larger fruit/veg growth and reduce infection in plants,
For the cost of a pkt of Asprin why not give it a go?
The mix is 2 crushed Asprin per 4 gallon of water, feed is once a week,

Google and read for yourself whats been said /tested and results found.

 

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For the cost of a pkt of Asprin why not give it a go?

FYI, as per my original post, I already use aspirin on these.

 

[Chuck]

Thanks, Chuck.

What do you think about the strange leaf curl in the photos I posted above?

All of my plants are insect and disease free and yet a few of them have this exact same thing. I contribute it to the variety and the environment. I have also noticed that plants that have these distorted leaves have also been severely stressed at some time previously. In my case very strong winds, a lack of water and unusually hot temperatures for a relatively short period of time. It doesn't affect all varieties equally nor does it affect same varieties equally. And some varieties not at all. It is also only cosmetic as far as I can tell.

 

[Peace perfect peace]

FYI, as per my original post, I already use aspirin on these.

Ive just noticed two things ref yout photo's (a) your not thining any of this plant (b) for the size of and the amount of leves on it,
Maybe just Maybe your roots dont have enough spreading area and the amount of leaves could be to much, you could be feeding a lot of the goodness to all over the plant and not enough to the fruit,
Look at any photo's of tom's and you wont see that amount of leaves,
ER must be something your doing wrong, That plant to me looks to large for the growing conditions, and the toms are not getting air /light enough,
I dont have my tom plant looking like yours,
Have you tried outside growing ? container growing never has the same natural conditions, again i have tagett's next to my toms have you tried companion growing ?

 

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Have you tried outside growing ? container growing never has the same natural conditions,

I'm currently in an apartment, so outside/garden growing is not an option, and the balcony is unfortunately north facing, as I mentioned already, so direct sun exposure is pretty limited there - nothing I can do about it. Still, I've grown other tomato varieties there in the past quite successfully. It's the roma that I always seem to struggle with.

Regarding thinning, I prune all the suckers, but it seems like it still has too much foliage. How do I tell which additional parts to prune?

 

[Peace perfect peace]

I wait until you see the stem thats going to have the flower section on it, remove any top or bottom growth thats trying to grow, so your left with the actual fruit bearing section only, it' ll still have leaves on it but nothing like you've got now,

Ive had a good read tonight to try and get the answer you'd like and one keeps coming up some varieties are more prone to E.R. than others "but they're not saying any particular ones, etc plum shaped,

If its any help ive tried and tested the darker skin toms, these come under all names and the ones ive had good results are russian toms, they have a sweeter taste to them "but no problems". And the skin is nearly black,

 

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My second tomato plant (different variety: superfantastic) has now also developed BER.

I've just added some ES to both plants. Might as well try it as I have nothing more to lose at this point.

 

[Chuck]

My second tomato plant (different variety: superfantastic) has now also developed BER.

I've just added some ES to both plants. Might as well try it as I have nothing more to lose at this point.

At least a cup all around and out to the drip line of the plant. Two cups would be better