Harris Bolus
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Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2016 11:22 am

Why are my grandma's tomato leaves curling?

Hi everybody,

I bought some tomato plants for myself and my grandma from the same shelves at Home Depot. My four are doing fine, but hers have a problem. The newer leaves are all twisted, stretched, skinny, and curled up! What's going on? Can we do something about it?

Thanks for your time!
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tomato 2.jpg
tomato 1.jpg

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applestar
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Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Could be
- mites
- herbicide damage
- tomato virus — two possible kinds

...hoping for other gardeners with better experience with the virus symptoms to chime in.

PaulF
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Posts: 910
Joined: Tue Nov 09, 2010 5:34 pm
Location: Brownville, Ne

It does look like herbicide damage. Second choice would be curly top virus. How about a photo of the whole plant, that may help.

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Gary350
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Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

Too much nitrogen can cause leaf curl but it looks different than what your pictures show.

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TomatoNut95
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Joined: Sun May 26, 2019 11:11 am
Location: Texas Zone 8

How long have you and your grandma had your plants? Has she sprayed them with anything? Do you know if she fertilized them?

GardenerNate
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Joined: Sun May 24, 2020 7:29 pm

From those two picks and my extremely limited knowledge - I would guess curly top virus.

mr.greenjeans
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Posts: 22
Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2018 3:56 pm
Location: Central Iowa -Zone 5a

Are there any walnut trees near the garden? Walnut trees are toxic to tomatoes. I had a squirrel bury a walnut in my garden last year. I lost 2 plants before I discovered the walnut seedling sprouting between where the 2 plants had died. They looked fine, then all of a sudden they just wilted.

imafan26
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Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

There can be a number of reasons for the leaves curling from insects, virus, herbicide damage, or environmental stress. The article below explore the many causes of leaf curls and tips on how to assess and try to determine the cause.

https://www.rutgers-atlantic.org/pdfs/Tomato%20Leaf%20Curling.pdf



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