Sick tomato plants

snowleopard394 · Fri May 08, 2009 7:42 pm

I don't know what is wrong with my tomato plants. They're developing bumps on the undersides of the leaves:
https://erbyfub.googlepages.com/tom1.jpg

From the top, the places with the bumps look yellowish:
https://erbyfub.googlepages.com/tom2.jpg

The leaves and petioles are curling so that on several of my plants, the bottoms of the leaves are facing up:
https://erbyfub.googlepages.com/tom4.jpg

There's also a bit of chlorosis on some of the plants. It seems to be on the cotyledons especially, and also on the older leaves at the tips. Here you can see it on the cotyledons:
https://erbyfub.googlepages.com/tom3.jpg

These have been growing from seed in my closet under lights. They've seemed to be growing pretty well until recently, although their stems and the undersides of their leaves have been red-purple from the beginning. They were transplanted to individual pots last week. I hope someone knows what this is, or has some advice or something. I'm a newbie at this. Thanks in advance!

rainbowgardener · Tue May 12, 2009 2:09 am

I wish I could help, but I really don't know what the problem is. The only thing I have to contribute is that the reddish-purple undersides to the leaves is normal, lots of varieties of tomatoes have it. The bumps etc aren't. My best suggestion though would be to get them out of your closet. Even if it's still too cold where you are to plant them, if you put them out in the fresh air and sunshine, they may be able to fight off whatever it is. If it's cold at night, you may have to bring them in and out for awhile until it warms up more.

snowleopard394 · Tue May 12, 2009 6:14 am

Thanks for replying even if you don't know what's wrong with them. I'm not sure if any of them will make it, but we'll see. I agree that maybe some fresh air would do them good. I haven't put them out yet because it's been in the 50s during the day lately. Today the high is 62... that seems a bit on the cold side, so I'm not sure if going out today would stress them out more. But after today the temperature will be in the 70s, so I'll set them outside during the day.

Hopefully this is nothing that will spread to my peppers, which are still looking great...

pharmerphil · Tue May 12, 2009 8:22 am

a little more info please:
What do you have them planted in? Cups/cells, etc. ..they could be rootbound
What type of soil...
and, Do you leave the closet door open, or closed??
Plants need air exchange for photosynthesis...

snowleopard394 · Tue May 12, 2009 8:51 pm

They're 2.5 week old seedlings in 4" pots. I don't think they're rootbound. The potting soil is a mixture of their original seed starting mix (miracle gro) and some Butterfield Farms potting soil. A little over a week ago, I gave some of my tomato plants away to some friends, and they say their plants are looking fantastic. So I really don't think it's the pot or the soil or a nutrient deficiency...

There is no door on my closet, but I've hung up a sheet in the doorway which is "closed," but not remotely air-tight. I am concerned that the bumps at least could have something to do with really high humidity in our apartment. Could also be the watering regimen... these went downhill when I got sick recently, and my husband was taking care of them instead of me. I'm not sure that he watered them as much as I would have. Or that could be coincidence. But if they weren't watered enough, it seems like they should've perked up by now...