Weird leaf curl on my Hillbilly

platys · June 9, 2011

When I first saw this, I thought perhaps I had gotten some weed killer drift. But, I saw some tiny bugs flying around, and perhaps a few bug like tiny dots on the back of the leaves, so I sprayed with insectical soap. The new growth looks okay. The two tomatoes closest to it had a few leaves that looked iffy, but the soap stopped them pretty good. They didn't do the weird curl. This is the worst plant effected.

First, overall:

Hillbilly tomato by knittergail, on Flickr

Then, the leaf curl you can see it on the lower right hand side, and all fuzzy in the middle - darn cell phones, even with macro mode.

Twisted hillbilly by knittergail, on Flickr

There are also some malformed leaves:

Weird leaves by knittergail, on Flickr

The hillbilly is in about 10 gallon containers. It's a mix of old potting mix (the evil husband balked at letting me replace it all), pine bark fines to fluff it back up, and Organic "Garden Safe" Vegetable and Tomato feed. They also got doused with MG Quick Start about 3 weeks back.

dice · June 11, 2011

If you have some row cover, you could isolate that plant and
see what happens. If it is a virus or viroid, that will keep insects
from spreading it to other plants. If it is herbicide wind drift, there
is not much you can do, it may be a goner.

platys · June 12, 2011

Well, with the cooler weather, the plants took a deep breath and took off again. All of the new foliage on my Hillbilly looks fine. And, the other plants I was concerned about, their leaves straightened out, so I think it was just a bit of leaf curl from 95 degree temps out of the blue.

June 9, 2011	#1
platys Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2010 Location: Naperville, IL Posts: 176	Weird leaf curl on my Hillbilly When I first saw this, I thought perhaps I had gotten some weed killer drift. But, I saw some tiny bugs flying around, and perhaps a few bug like tiny dots on the back of the leaves, so I sprayed with insectical soap. The new growth looks okay. The two tomatoes closest to it had a few leaves that looked iffy, but the soap stopped them pretty good. They didn't do the weird curl. This is the worst plant effected. First, overall: Hillbilly tomato by knittergail, on Flickr Then, the leaf curl you can see it on the lower right hand side, and all fuzzy in the middle - darn cell phones, even with macro mode. Twisted hillbilly by knittergail, on Flickr There are also some malformed leaves: Weird leaves by knittergail, on Flickr The hillbilly is in about 10 gallon containers. It's a mix of old potting mix (the evil husband balked at letting me replace it all), pine bark fines to fluff it back up, and Organic "Garden Safe" Vegetable and Tomato feed. They also got doused with MG Quick Start about 3 weeks back.

June 11, 2011	#2
dice Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: PNW Posts: 4,743	If you have some row cover, you could isolate that plant and see what happens. If it is a virus or viroid, that will keep insects from spreading it to other plants. If it is herbicide wind drift, there is not much you can do, it may be a goner. __________________ -- alias

June 12, 2011	#3
platys Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2010 Location: Naperville, IL Posts: 176	Well, with the cooler weather, the plants took a deep breath and took off again. All of the new foliage on my Hillbilly looks fine. And, the other plants I was concerned about, their leaves straightened out, so I think it was just a bit of leaf curl from 95 degree temps out of the blue.