Purple Twisted Leaves

[PNW_D]

Any thoughts on the health of this plant? This is one of three Sylvan Gaume being grown by the Tomato Container Project group I'm leading - different soil in the three containers - mine is the only one not purple and twisted.

My first thought is this might be due to poor drainage?? I'd like to give some direction to the grower, but this is not my strong point. This is what I've found that closest resembles the problem ....... hard to get a good pic, but the 3rd photo shows the leaf issue quite well

Purplish tomato leaves are usually an indication of phosphorous deficiency, which can be caused by a variety of issues including too-wet soil, cold soil temperatures, or phosphorous deficiency in the soil. You mentioned that you've had a lot of rain, so my first thought is that your problem is soil that is staying both cool and wet. When that happens, the plant isn't able to take up phosphorous from the soil as well, and the result is those purple-tinged, stunted leaves you mention. The good news is that the plant will bounce back on its own once things dry out a bit and the weather warms up.

If you'd like to help the plant along a little, I'd recommend applying bonemeal around the base of your tomatoes and letting the rain water it in. To give the tomatoes an extra boost, you could also try giving them a foliar feed of fish emulsion.

[Timmah!]

I'm guessing phosphorus too. The leaves are curled up too, probably because of water saturation. The black pots and black plastic covering are most likely warming up & drying out the soil rather quickly, necessitating the frequent watering. Perhaps mulching the soil in the pots will help with the water evaporation issue. Wrapping some white plastic or some other reflective material such as mylar around the pots should help keep the soil cooler & reduce water loss too.

[dice]

Could be Curly Top:
http://www.ento.okstate.edu/ddd/diseases/curlytop.htm

Or some other virus/viroid that also produces curling
leaves and purple veins. (When I have had plants with
cold-induced purpling, it is rarely resticted to the veins
in the leaves. It spreads across the bottom of the leaf,
both veins and interveinal tissues.)

I pulled two plants this summer that looked like that all
over (different cultivars), just in case. They looked like
they had stopped growing, too, just sort of curling in
on themselves all over.

[goodwin]

Curly-top - that was my first thought as well, but I didn't know if you had it up there. Here the winds bring the leafhoppers from Arizona which spread it. The insects may be long gone before the plant shows signs. Other things you might notice are an unusual odor and the stems shrinking and turning a dusky green. Let's hope that's not what it is.

[PNW_D]

Thank you all for your input ....... found this info at Seeds of Change

http://www.seedsofchange.com/enewsle...se_corner.aspx

curly top looks similar apart from the overall yellowing .... does not seem to be contagious ........ and fruit has set

[dustdevil]

In my experience, I have seen leaves curl and turn purple when there is not enough water. Often, the lower branches will start falling off too.