plant questions

[matermaniac]

questions from a rookie.

I have several white habaneros. One of which is developing wrinkly leaves. As well was a nearby bell pepper. There are no bugs on either plant and no other damage. Is this something to worry about?

Some of the other habs are beginning to flower but the are just 8-10 inches high. Will this adversely affect the plants growth and production?

Purple Russian tomatoes. Are the leaves supposed to look like this? To my untrained eye, they look weak but the plants are strong.

And lastly, fused blossom maters. Any special care? I have one on a Mortgage lifter or hillbilly plant.Not sure which because I lost the tag.

[dice]

That tomato plant looks diseased or poisoned (wind drift).

[matermaniac]

is it possible that the purple russian is more susceptible to this disease? All of the PR's I have look the same and are on different rows but no other plants have this. If it matters, all of the plants are from seed I saved last year.

[habitat_gardener]

I grew Purple Russian last year, and the plants were very wispy and lanky (like many heart and plum varieties). I can't tell from your photo what you think is wrong, but you should expect the PRs to look wispier and lankier than most other varieties.

Did you save seed from a fruit that someone else grew, or from your own plants? If you grew PR last year, do the plants look different this year?

[matermaniac]

I saved them from a farmers market. Did your plants produce a lot? I hope that mine do because I really liked this one. It's up there with eva purple ball and black cherry.

[jhp]

Your Purple Russian tomato plant looks okay to me. I grew it 2 years ago. It has wispy/droopy foliage. Looks like the new growth on your plant is the part that looks sort of flaccid. I'd give it some time to grow out more.

Take a look at the pictures in the tomatobase and you'll see they have droopy leaves too.

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Purple_Russian

Jen

[feldon30]

Could possibly be herbicide (weed killer) drift.

[dice]

It is that wrinkled look in the new foliage at the top of the
tomato plant and the sort of attenuated look to the edges
of the leaves just below there that looks unhealthy to me.
Has it been raining heavily? The set of leaves a set or two
below the newest leaves at the top does look a bit like
foliage on a plant that has been overwatered.

It is unlikely that herbicide drift or a virus would only affect
Purple Russian plants spread through a lot of plants of other
tomato varieties, unless the disease was seed-borne and all
of the Purple Russian seeds came from the same fruit or plant.
It is possible that Purple Russian could be more sensitive to
saturated soil than any of the other cultivars that you have
growing.

[jhp]

Well, here's a strange timely coincidence. I went out this morning to check my plants. About 2/3 are in the ground, I have 1/3 more to plant in pots, and a whole bunch extra to give away. So I have trays of seedlings sitting and waiting. ONE plant looked odd this morning. Leaves sort of rolled under, shriveled and some looking like they had the sap sucked out of them. I removed the plant from the rest of the herd and brought it inside to look up what it might be. Couldn't find any plant disease that matched it, but it looked to me like bug damage. I set the plant down and then noticed a tiny red dot. It was a clover mite! When I was a kid we called them bloodsuckers. Anyway, they get their nutrients by sucking the sap out of plants.

My question to you, do any of the leaves look sort of deflated like they've had their sap sucked? Just a thought.

Jen

[matermaniac]

hmm,I don't see a post I made the other day from my phone. I'll try to remember what I wrote.

I think we can rule out weed killer. There isn't anyone living close enough to this patch that could use anything. And the one person that does live nearbydoesn't use anything other than a lawnmower.

And no to overwatering as well.The plants hadn't been watered for a few days as the raised mounds were still moist. In fact, I only have to water every 3-4 days and only get the plants that need it. Except for a few plants today, I haven't watered anything for a week.

I took a new pic today. Is there a particular name for the unique leaf pattern?

[dice]

I do not know about the name, but that leaf looks healthy.