What's wrong with my Juliet tomatos?

[rockyonekc]

Any idea what is causing this? I started the seeds Feb 15th and they germinated and outgrew their 6 cell pack as expected. I have potted them up as they grew using Pro-mix potting soil. They have lived on my deck for the last month moving them inside at night if the temps were forecast to be cooler than low 50F. New growth is wadded up into a tight ball. It's been cloudy and cool, but I've protected them from rains and cold temps.

I thought it might be root bound so I potted up again recently. There was some winding of the roots at the bottom of the previous pot, but nothing unusual.

I have grown hundreds of tomatoes from seeds. I have more than 60 pepper plants right next to the tomatoes doing great. I consider myself a pretty experienced gardener but this one has me perplexed.

Thoughts?

[RayR]

Are those the only plants on your deck? Herbicide drift from a neighbors yard?

[rockyonekc]

Originally Posted by RayR

Are those the only plants on your deck? Herbicide drift from a neighbors yard?

All of my seedlings are sitting together and all but the tomatoes are doing well. Relatively certain it's not herbicide drift. Here's a closer look at the new growth too.

[wxcrawler]

Looks like herbicide damage. If it's not drift, maybe traces were in the soil mix? Tomatoes are notoriously sensitive to that, so it doesn't surprise me that the other plants look fine. I got some significant drift a couple of weeks ago. All my tomatoes show it, but peppers and cucumbers show nothing.

Lee

[rockyonekc]

Do plants recover from this? I have extras so I pruned the growing tip off a couple of the plants. Not sure if that will stress the plants or force new growth. Wondering if I should head to the local nursery for tomato plants...

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[VC Scott]

Same thing happened to me last year. Do a google search for "herbicide h2c tomato drift". Look at the images.

Yes, the plants can recover, but they will be set back about 4-6 weeks. It wasn't a bid deal for me in San Diego because our growing season is so long. You might want to consider buying some plants at the nursery. The growing season in MO is much shorter.

I lost a couple of plants because I prune to a single stem and if you lose the growth tip and the lower lateral shoots have been pinched off, you are SOL.

[clkeiper]

I personally have had herbicide drift issues and I will tell you it is far more productive to start over with unaffected plants. unless it is a special variety and you need the seeds... toss it and get something else in its spot.

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by rockyonekc

Do plants recover from this? I have extras so I pruned the growing tip off a couple of the plants. Not sure if that will stress the plants or force new growth. Wondering if I should head to the local nursery for tomato plants...

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no need to go for more plants if you want to try taking a few cuttings.
I usually use the bottom several suckers.
snip or snap them off as close to the stem as possible.
poke them into the ground right where you want them to grow.
water them in and place a bucket over it for the next 5 or so days.
bam, done!
no need to go buy more unless you want something different.

this is how I supplied one of my customers a few years ago after a late frost. there were no tomatoes left anywhere so this is what we did for him out of my garden. He wasn't too stressed about the varieties... he just wanted tomatoes for juice. His wife told me it was one of her best gardens (probably because they were planted at a more appropriate time for our area?)

[Wi-sunflower]

What do you use in that pool out there ?? Chlorine or Bromine ?? Off gassing from that could be your problem.

Carol

[rockyonekc]

Originally Posted by Wi-sunflower

What do you use in that pool out there ?? Chlorine or Bromine ?? Off gassing from that could be your problem.

Carol

Chlorine. It had a heat blanket on it for the last month or so. 🤔

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