I feel like it's kind of hard to photograph, but this is the 3rd year in a row that my plants are dying like this, and this year it's more plants and much sooner than last year. I grow in raised beds. The issue is my plant leaves start to curl towards the top, and growth stops completely. In the past 2 years this happened around July, so I would at least have a few baby tomatoes and they would grow fine, but any blooms would yellow and die off and the plant no longer grew. This year I only have a few plants with blooms and I'm assuming they will yellow off and die. Last year this seemed to happen to my big tomatoes and not my cherry tomatoes, and more in one bed than the other. This year it's all tomato types and both beds. Wtf is happening! I'm getting fed up. So much work and nothing to show, and I just want to find out the cause. Thought it was pests, but this year no pests yet. I've been told it's herbicide damage, but we don't use any and I don't think my neighbors do either, not sure but I'm on a corner lot and my garden is towards the public sidewalk. Thought maybe it was heat killing them off in July, but it's May and hasn't been that hot really. Northern Illinois. What do you think? If I leave some suckers to grow, will they possibly grow okay? 😭 I also grow peppers in the same bed and they grow fine.
by thatfloralfeeling
10 Comments
Also it seems like the plants get several monster blooms before dying off. Maybe unrelated, idk.
Is your water chlorinated? Is your water freezing cold when watering? Are you rotating your plants every year to prevent diseases from reoccuring?
Maybe get your soil checked, you can buy test kits or get it analyzed in a lab
Herbicides can be in bought soil, compost, manure, mulch and fertiliser as well, not just from spray/drift. That said, I don’t think this is herbicide damage, but I’m also not familiar with what kinds of stuff are being used in the US and the exact damage they cause. It could also be curly top virus or some other disease.
The flowering suggests the plants are under stress before they die off. Interesting how the peppers do ok though. Thinking out loud….are you doing anything different at all with the area where the peppers are growing? Have you had some extreme temp swings? Is that perlite on top of the soil, or what is it? Could be nitrogen excess causing this if you’re over-fertilizing.
Large swings in moisture level in the soil can cause leaf curl & stress but I believe it’s more temporary than lethal. I’d imagine your peppers would also feel some pain too.
This looks like aminopyralid poisoning to me. I had this problem a few years back. I got it from mulch that I got from a local farm and put around all my vegetables.
Read this article and see if it rings true for you: https://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2016/08/curled-tomato-leaves.html
Unfortunately, the only solution that finally worked for me was to remove all of the soil from my beds and replace it. I was scratching my head for several years wondering why most of my vegetables curled up and didn’t produce much of anything. It was so depressing. This was the final solution.
The good news is, after replacing the soil in my beds, my garden is once again beautiful and bountiful. And now I’m very careful about using anything in my garden.
Do you live near a farm field or do your neighbors (or you) spray their yard for broad leaf weeds?
This could be Herbicide drift.
I had to replace 31 plants this year thanks to herbicide issues.
If it is herbicide in your beds, you can still have a (late) tomato season. Get an “early” variety seedling and a container that’s at least 5 gallons (but bigger is always better) and a fresh couple bags of well-amended potting soil.
This might also help you eliminate herbicide drift as a possibility.
What soil did you put in the raised beds?
Three years ago, I purchased Miracle Gro Organic Choice Moisture Control Potting Mix with Compost from Costco as I thought the pricing and size were too good to pass up. Two weeks after transparenting flowers and vegetable in containers – all were stunted, had leaf burn and/or died – it look like pesticide effects to me.
I contacted them with photos, lot numbers, receipts for soil and all the plants and was even willing to send them samples – they kept giving me excuses, but when I get a bug up my ass, I am relentless – they finally compensated me $450.
Also do you collect rain water to water your plants? If you have a asphalt shingle roof the couple be leaching the biocides that they incorporate into the shingles.
You might want to google “tomato big bud” and see what you think….not saying that’s what it is, but seems similar.
Afaik, it’s an uncommon disease (and three years in a row seems unlikely) but would be worth checking out.
I wouldn’t rule out an herbicide of some sort or another, but what’s in the pics doesn’t look like any herbicide damage I’ve ever seen; looks more virus-y than anything.
Next time start one in a pot and see if it does the same thing.