Tomato problem

[CFM]

We moved to a town house last year and I built a 40" square raised bed for my "garden". I filled it with what I thought to be a good, homemade soil mixture: compost, peat garden soil, & some vermiculite. Three plantings of good tomato transplants withered and died. Leaves curled up. Other plantings, cucumber, zucchini, basil, chives did well. no obvious problems. This year, I dug out a huge planting hole, on the opposite side of the bed, for my two tomatoes ,and replaced it with good looking, heavy potting soil. They did well the first week or ten days and now are curling up, what am I doing wrong? Cucumber, zucchini, et. al. are growing nicely. I an 86 years young, have gardened all my life with very few problems. Any ideas?

 

[Chuck]

We moved to a town house last year and I built a 40" square raised bed for my "garden". I filled it with what I thought to be a good, homemade soil mixture: compost, peat garden soil, & some vermiculite. Three plantings of good tomato transplants withered and died. Leaves curled up. Other plantings, cucumber, zucchini, basil, chives did well. no obvious problems. This year, I dug out a huge planting hole, on the opposite side of the bed, for my two tomatoes ,and replaced it with good looking, heavy potting soil. They did well the first week or ten days and now are curling up, what am I doing wrong? Cucumber, zucchini, et. al. are growing nicely. I an 86 years young, have gardened all my life with very few problems. Any ideas?

Without seeing the plants and where they are not growing it is difficult to determine just what is going on. If possible send picture.

 

[DirtMechanic]

I used composted manure from Black Kow this year and got hit with the long lived herbicide from Dow chemical. I have to dig out my rows. Maybe you have it too. Here are some search terms.


"The chemicals of greatest concern are picloram, clopyralid, and aminopyralid because they can remain active in hay, grass clippings, piles of manure and compost for an unusually long time. These herbicides eventually break down through exposure to sunlight, soil microbes, heat and moisture."

That last one is active on tomato at 1-2 parts per billion. No escape.

 

[CFM]

We moved to a town house last year and I built a 40" square raised bed for my "garden". I filled it with what I thought to be a good, homemade soil mixture: compost, peat garden soil, & some vermiculite. Three plantings of good tomato transplants withered and died. Leaves curled up. Other plantings, cucumber, zucchini, basil, chives did well. no obvious problems. This year, I dug out a huge planting hole, on the opposite side of the bed, for my two tomatoes ,and replaced it with good looking, heavy potting soil. They did well the first week or ten days and now are curling up, what am I doing wrong? Cucumber, zucchini, et. al. are growing nicely. I an 86 years young, have gardened all my life with very few problems. Any ideas?

Without seeing the plants and where they are not growing it is difficult to determine just what is going on. If possible send picture.

 

[CFM]

I used composted manure from Black Kow this year and got hit with the long lived herbicide from Dow chemical. I have to dig out my rows. Maybe you have it too. Here are some search terms.


"The chemicals of greatest concern are picloram, clopyralid, and aminopyralid because they can remain active in hay, grass clippings, piles of manure and compost for an unusually long time. These herbicides eventually break down through exposure to sunlight, soil microbes, heat and moisture."

That last one is active on tomato at 1-2 parts per billion. No escape.

 

[CFM]

Compost was primarily chopped leaves and grass clippings gathered in the Fall of 2016 or 2017. Lush clippings were mowed some time after applying and watering in "weed & feed winterizer". Do you think the residue still persists in that soil? I did dig out a sizable amount of soil and replace it prior to planting the two tomatoes this Spring.If it is still present, would it not affect cucumbers and zucchini, which did well last year and have a good start now?

 

[Chuck]

A BIG mistake is using "weed and feed" in a vegetable garden as vegetables are basically broad leaf weeds. The W&F you put on the grass has persistent chemicals which are systemic. This means it went into the grass clippings. However, the picture does NOT show herbicide damage. The curling of the leaves is IMO caused by up and down humidity and temperatures. It is also a varietal issue. I too have the very same thing going on. I have two plants out of 21 that are showing this exact same thing. All of my plants are in the exact same soil with the exact same fertilizer. I too am growing many different types of vegetables and only the tomatoes show this curling. I have had many days of high humidity and then it suddenly changes to very low humidity. The same thing with the temperature. It appears that the curling is caused by having cooler temperatures with low humidity and then rapidily changing to high temperatures and high humidity. Also, this curling can go away and then return. I have seen this on some but not all of my tomato plants, and some of the plants have never shown it at all, thus the varietal issue. On three other of my plants about half of the plant has the curling and the other half is fine. This curling does not seem to affect production as the curled plants have many tomatoes but no ripe ones yet. I know it looks bad. I started to pull some of them up but then I thought, no, I'll grow them as usual and see what happens. The weather here is supposed to stop this up and down movement and become what is normal here in Texas, hot and humid. So, I guess I will see what will happen.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Compost was primarily chopped leaves and grass clippings gathered in the Fall of 2016 or 2017. Lush clippings were mowed some time after applying and watering in "weed & feed winterizer". Do you think the residue still persists in that soil? I did dig out a sizable amount of soil and replace it prior to planting the two tomatoes this Spring.If it is still present, would it not affect cucumbers and zucchini, which did well last year and have a good start now?

@Chuck is correct. as to your question, no, plants like curcubits are not as affected, where beans, peppers and eggplants will be more affected. Tomato are just so sensitive they are in effect the "canary in the coal mine" as I understand this issue. The particular chemistry becomes most relevant. It is a giant pita imo.

 

[headfullofbees]

I used composted manure from Black Kow this year and got hit with the long lived herbicide from Dow chemical. I have to dig out my rows. Maybe you have it too. Here are some search terms.


"The chemicals of greatest concern are picloram, clopyralid, and aminopyralid because they can remain active in hay, grass clippings, piles of manure and compost for an unusually long time. These herbicides eventually break down through exposure to sunlight, soil microbes, heat and moisture."

That last one is active on tomato at 1-2 parts per billion. No escape.

But his first compost was homemade, ergo it's not hormonal weedkiller.
The photo looks to me like normal leaf curling due to wind, or, less likely, but possibly it is as Chuck says, temperature variation.
Tomatoes curl their leaves in wind because the wind is a dessicant, and curling lowers evaporation.
Have you had strong winds?

 

[DirtMechanic]

But his first compost was homemade, ergo it's not hormonal weedkiller.
The photo looks to me like normal leaf curling due to wind, or, less likely, but possibly it is as Chuck says, temperature variation.
Tomatoes curl their leaves in wind because the wind is a dessicant, and curling lowers evaporation.
Have you had strong winds?

Yes, and especially strong in the case of some southern supercell thunderstorms. This will not impact leaf growth in the same manner as the unique characteristics of aminopyralid. Reading has begun to reveal to me that long term storage in a bulk acts as a preservative even though the chemical has a half life. My habit of hillrow would therefore make it last longer than were I to use it thin atop the ground in a mulch style. Pictures of yellow squash, cucumber, beans, tomato, okra and eggplant.

 

[DirtMechanic]

The herbicide curl is different than the picture @CFM posted

 

[Chuck]

But his first compost was homemade, ergo it's not hormonal weedkiller.
The photo looks to me like normal leaf curling due to wind, or, less likely, but possibly it is as Chuck says, temperature variation.
Tomatoes curl their leaves in wind because the wind is a dessicant, and curling lowers evaporation.
Have you had strong winds?

I haven't had any high winds. When I do have high winds it makes the leaves droop AND curl. It sucks the water out of the plant it seems.

 

[headfullofbees]

You tend to keep your plants quite dry & this might explain why extra moisture loss could cause your plants to droop too.
I live in a windy area, and my outdoor tomato leaves curl, but don't droop.

 

[Chuck]

You tend to keep your plants quite dry & this might explain why extra moisture loss could cause your plants to droop too.
I live in a windy area, and my outdoor tomato leaves curl, but don't droop.

Quite possible. I only water tomatoes when they are droopy in the AM.