Purple stems and curling leaves...Crazy weather or Disease?Help!

shiner · May 2, 2015

I am involved in a 3 family garden with raised beds with 50 tomato plants of different varieties and also have a small home garden with 20 tomato plants in raised beds. They were transplanted to the beds in successive dates of March 22 , April 5, and April 7th. The month of April has been one of the wettest on record in Arkansas. The earlier part of the month had some nighttime lows in the 60s. The last couple of weeks, the lows have dipped into the high 40s-low 50s. The last downpour we had was 8 days ago. Since then it has been sunny and dry but still in the high 40s at night. I fertilized the plants about 10 days ago with Tomato Tone and sprayed the leaves with Epsom Salt at a rate of 1 tablespoon per gallon. Since the rain has stopped the leaves have begun to roll inward and the stems have taken on a purple tint. The older plants are worse than the most recent transplants and the garden at my home is just beginning to show these symptoms. We have small tomatoes on some of the plants and up until this week they have looked robust and healthy. It seems like their growth has slowed down but is not stunted. I would like to believe it is the extremely wet weather and cold nights , but would appreciate any advice anybody can offer, Thanks!

maf · May 2, 2015

Most likely related to the weather; cold weather will induce purple stems and tend to slow down top growth. My experience is that plants exposed to these conditions exhibit good root growth and once the temps warm up they will grow very well. HTH

shiner · May 2, 2015

Thanks maf! I am trying to post some pdf pics I took this morning but I can't get them to upload from my mac

shiner · May 2, 2015

photos

Gardeneer · May 2, 2015

Cold Soil, Cold Feet

Purpleing often in seedlings and transplants is due to the roots inability to uptake nutrients in general and phosphorus in particular. This is mostly due to cooler soil and under developed roots system.

When you transplant a 6 -7 weeks old seedling into a new home (garden), It will take maybe couple of weeks for it to grab the soil. Then it will be busy to grow newer roots and deal with the new environment. So if in this situation the soil temperature are on the cool side (<<55F ) you might see some purple leaves.
In my experience, tomato plants can deal with cool air. I have taken them down to 37F every year. No stress or any set backs. Planted deep in warmer soil they can tolerate cool temps over night.
JMO

Gardeneer

shiner · May 2, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

Cold Soil, Cold Feet

Purpleing often in seedlings and transplants is due to the roots inability to uptake nutrients in general and phosphorus in particular. This is mostly due to cooler soil and under developed roots system.

When you transplant a 6 -7 weeks old seedling into a new home (garden), It will take maybe couple of weeks for it to grab the soil. Then it will be busy to grow newer roots and deal with the new environment. So if in this situation the soil temperature are on the cool side (<<55F ) you might see some purple leaves.
In my experience, tomato plants can deal with cool air. I have taken them down to 37F every year. No stress or any set backs. Planted deep in warmer soil they can tolerate cool temps over night.
JMO

Gardeneer

Thats what I was hoping to hear. I dug to the bottom of one of my raised beds with a garden spade and the soil is very damp....not sopping wet but pretty cool to the touch and very moist. Its 77* here today with lots of sun, hopefully things will turn around soon.

bower · May 2, 2015

shiner, your plant doesn't look too bad in the photo. I agree with maf and gardeneer, it's cold and wet feet causing the problem but they should recover fine if they get a chance to dry out and warm up... hope your weather improves.

shiner · May 3, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by bower

shiner, your plant doesn't look too bad in the photo. I agree with maf and gardeneer, it's cold and wet feet causing the problem but they should recover fine if they get a chance to dry out and warm up... hope your weather improves.

Up until last week, these plants were as healthy as any I have seen, big thick main stems, plenty of suckers to prune, no yellowing leaves or any sign of disease. Last two years we planted in traditional rows and were plagued by weeds , bugs, and inconsistent watering. The raised beds have drip tape and are set up on an irrigation timer so we are hoping for better things this year. So far they are looking great with the exception of the leaf curl issue.

May 2, 2015	#1
shiner Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: arkansas Posts: 17	Purple stems and curling leaves...Crazy weather or Disease?Help! I am involved in a 3 family garden with raised beds with 50 tomato plants of different varieties and also have a small home garden with 20 tomato plants in raised beds. They were transplanted to the beds in successive dates of March 22 , April 5, and April 7th. The month of April has been one of the wettest on record in Arkansas. The earlier part of the month had some nighttime lows in the 60s. The last couple of weeks, the lows have dipped into the high 40s-low 50s. The last downpour we had was 8 days ago. Since then it has been sunny and dry but still in the high 40s at night. I fertilized the plants about 10 days ago with Tomato Tone and sprayed the leaves with Epsom Salt at a rate of 1 tablespoon per gallon. Since the rain has stopped the leaves have begun to roll inward and the stems have taken on a purple tint. The older plants are worse than the most recent transplants and the garden at my home is just beginning to show these symptoms. We have small tomatoes on some of the plants and up until this week they have looked robust and healthy. It seems like their growth has slowed down but is not stunted. I would like to believe it is the extremely wet weather and cold nights , but would appreciate any advice anybody can offer, Thanks! Last edited by shiner; May 2, 2015 at 02:18 PM. Reason: adding photos

May 2, 2015	#2
maf Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: England Posts: 512	Most likely related to the weather; cold weather will induce purple stems and tend to slow down top growth. My experience is that plants exposed to these conditions exhibit good root growth and once the temps warm up they will grow very well. HTH

May 2, 2015	#5
Gardeneer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7 Posts: 4,919	Cold Soil, Cold Feet Purpleing often in seedlings and transplants is due to the roots inability to uptake nutrients in general and phosphorus in particular. This is mostly due to cooler soil and under developed roots system. When you transplant a 6 -7 weeks old seedling into a new home (garden), It will take maybe couple of weeks for it to grab the soil. Then it will be busy to grow newer roots and deal with the new environment. So if in this situation the soil temperature are on the cool side (<<55F ) you might see some purple leaves. In my experience, tomato plants can deal with cool air. I have taken them down to 37F every year. No stress or any set backs. Planted deep in warmer soil they can tolerate cool temps over night. JMO Gardeneer

May 2, 2015	#7
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	shiner, your plant doesn't look too bad in the photo. I agree with maf and gardeneer, it's cold and wet feet causing the problem but they should recover fine if they get a chance to dry out and warm up... hope your weather improves.