Seedlings with curling leaves

[hovermother22]

I have had issues with the Big Beef F-1s I have planted the last couple of years. I get a lot of leaf curling during the seed-growing stages and they generally look unhealthy. I spoke to a company rep, and she said that Big Beef need more light than other varieties and she said it could be edema or intumescence. Anyone else have this issue?

[ClarkB]

I've had lots of issues with unhappy seedlings indoors the last few years. It was very variety dependent - some were fine, but many had slow growth and curled leaves that would eventually fall off. This year I had several that started down that path. I'd been wondering if it might be temperature related as we set the thermostat to about 58F at night. Last year I purchased a large heat mat that I just put under the pots, which did not seem to help. This year I tried again putting the pots on the heat mat but also put large plastic bins upside down over the plants at night leaving about a 1" gap along one edge to allow some moisture to escape. I only plugged in the heat mat at night. The heat mat warmed the air around the leaves under the bins. After a few nights of this, all my sad seedlings looked much better. I continued that process for the rest of their indoor time (~3 weeks), and every seedling looked great. Getting them outside in the natural sunlight whenever the days are warm enough (~60F) also makes a big difference for me.

[MrsJustice]

For the First Time, I tried to grow Heirloom Tomato in large Buckets to let Customers see the Plants In Action in My Markets. Their leaves were curling, with a strange coloration. Even the Tomatoes were good tasting, with slow growth. I put these plants in the Ground at my Market and the Growth has improved with no more "Curling Leaves". I think most of the time the curling leaves come from the Stress of the Root Systems, Amen!!