Danibdo
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Tomato plant indoors - Leaf curl

Hi folks!
From what I see, every now and then someone asks about leaf curl - it's my time now.

Here is some context:

I have 5 cherry tomato plants indoors. All using the same compost (shop bought) and under grow lights, sown in 29/08.
2 of them I repoted to a grow bag on 11/10 and their new leaves started to curl, with some of the old ones getting distorted.

The plant continues to grow and I noticed flower buds.

Since they are indoors, all I use is Neel oil to control the fungus gnats.

I'm totally new to gardening and still learning. Can you please share some light on this subject and how can I get my plants healthy?

I feel like I was over watering before, but I've adjusted it about a month ago and now I'm afraid I am underwatering and not having a clue what to do.
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Danibdo
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Some additional images.
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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

The blackened leaves look like what might happen from oil burn.Could be your neem oil treatment was too concentrated, or errant globs of oil (insufficient agitation/mixing)

The younger growth curls are troubling — either herbicide (contaminated compost?) ... or leaf curl virus (can’t remember the exact name atm)| not familiar with that one so hopefully someone else will weigh in.

My thought is to prune the affected growths — they will not recover — so you could observe Brand new growths for abnormalities.

pepperhead212
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On your topic of fungus gnats, a much better way of dealing with them, instead of dealing with the adults, once they are landing on the plants, kill the larvae with Bt israelensis - this is what is in Mosquito Dunks, to stop mosquito larvae in ponds and the like. There is a granular form, too, but it is less concentrated - the dunks you could grind up, and mix in with the top 2 or 3 inches of soil, which would kill them for a few months. Or you could do what I do for my large plants that I bring inside in the fall - a couple weeks before, I let them dry out some, then water with a solution of the same thing - something I get in a 6 oz bottle of every 2-3 years. It's Microbe Lift mosquito control, and it only takes 8 drops of it per gallon to perform the task, and once they are brought in, I'll water them again with it in about 3 months. They say the stuff lasts for 2 years at room temp, but I store it in the door of the fridge, and it lasts even longer. One key with using this is using filtered water - the chlorine might kill the active bacteria.

I use this method for the plants in pots, and small pieces of mosquito dunks into my hydroponics, and I never see any fungus gnats!
https://www.amazon.com/Ecological-Labs- ... +mo&sr=8-3

Danibdo
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Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2020 12:27 pm

Hi pepperhead212, thank you for replying.

I followed the bottle's dilution suggestion, but it's not impossible it was too concentrated or insufficiently mixed. I stopped using it on the leaves a while ago, though.

I've read about both herbicide damage and leaf curl virus. I don't think it's viral, because I haven't noticed yellowing and only these two plants are showing symptoms, even past three weeks after I've first noticed the curling. The herbicide damage seems more likely, although I bought the compost from a trusted store. I've read on another post a suggestion to use the compost with peas to see if they grow curled - Do you think I can test it with Sweet Pea? That's what I have at home and I can't buy new seeds now.

You suggested to prune the affected growths since they won't recover - Does that means to cut the entire leaf?

Danibdo
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Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2020 12:27 pm

Dave, I used the Neem oil as a drench and it helped a lot - I have a nasty video of the larvae running to the top of the soil and dying. I've read about the BTi, but could not find it here in Ireland. I also searched the Microbe Lift and it isn't available to ship here. I can use a redirect like AddressPal to buy it though..
At the moment the Neem seems to have done the job and I do have a huge 1L bottle still, that I can only use indoors - Just recently learnt that it is harmful for pollinators. So I'll keep your recommendation for the future - I appreciate you sharing it with me!

pepperhead212 wrote:
Mon Oct 26, 2020 12:47 pm
On your topic of fungus gnats, a much better way of dealing with them, instead of dealing with the adults, once they are landing on the plants, kill the larvae with Bt israelensis - this is what is in Mosquito Dunks, to stop mosquito larvae in ponds and the like. There is a granular form, too, but it is less concentrated - the dunks you could grind up, and mix in with the top 2 or 3 inches of soil, which would kill them for a few months. Or you could do what I do for my large plants that I bring inside in the fall - a couple weeks before, I let them dry out some, then water with a solution of the same thing - something I get in a 6 oz bottle of every 2-3 years. It's Microbe Lift mosquito control, and it only takes 8 drops of it per gallon to perform the task, and once they are brought in, I'll water them again with it in about 3 months. They say the stuff lasts for 2 years at room temp, but I store it in the door of the fridge, and it lasts even longer. One key with using this is using filtered water - the chlorine might kill the active bacteria.

I use this method for the plants in pots, and small pieces of mosquito dunks into my hydroponics, and I never see any fungus gnats!
https://www.amazon.com/Ecological-Labs- ... +mo&sr=8-3

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Danibdo wrote:
Mon Oct 26, 2020 1:41 pm
The herbicide damage seems more likely, although I bought the compost from a trusted store. I've read on another post a suggestion to use the compost with peas to see if they grow curled - Do you think I can test it with Sweet Pea? That's what I have at home and I can't buy new seeds now.

You suggested to prune the affected growths since they won't recover - Does that means to cut the entire leaf?
- Tomato is pretty robust and will grow new branch from the ✔️ where leaf stem was growing from main stem. You could cut the main stem down to just above a healthy leaf and expect the new shoot to take over as the main stem.

- sweet pea should work fine as test subject. Dry bean would work too if you have a relatively fresh supply in the pantry. When my daughters were little, we tried planting beans that spilled out from a torn hole In their juggling bean bags — that we had sewed (sewn?) together I think the year before — and some, not all, of them sprouted and grew for our science experiment.

Danibdo
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Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2020 12:27 pm

I'll cut them tomorrow morning and will experiment with the sweet pea - I only have canned beans ATM (Lazy me). I will go for three pots with plain coco peat and three with plain compost.
I'm totally new and this is the first year I'm trying to grow veggies indoors. I noticed most of the plants are slow going and so far I was blaming on the cold (I'm on zone 9A - Coastal Ireland) and the not so perfect technique. But now I'm considering that, if I confirm the contaminated compost, it might not all be my fault.
I've checked the plants again and now I can see the sweat pea has curled leaves and also the peppers - That I did not considered related to the tomato.
I've used it for everything, like lettuce, rocket, strawberry, radish, lavender, coriander, basil, etc., and I'm worried about consuming it.
I've put together a file with photos here (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing) if you wanna take a look and judge my awful gardening skills.
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Sweet Pea 01.jpeg
Sweet Pea 02.jpeg

Danibdo
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Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2020 12:27 pm

Wanted to say the BTi for the fungus gnats worked as magic. I adore this stuff. I'm really happy for your recommendation!
I removed most of the plants, but two survives and they actually flowered and I have tomatoes ripping on the vine. Not much at all, but I'm doing this for pleasure, not to feed my family anyways, lol.
pepperhead212 wrote:
Mon Oct 26, 2020 12:47 pm
On your topic of fungus gnats, a much better way of dealing with them, instead of dealing with the adults, once they are landing on the plants, kill the larvae with Bt israelensis - this is what is in Mosquito Dunks, to stop mosquito larvae in ponds and the like. There is a granular form, too, but it is less concentrated - the dunks you could grind up, and mix in with the top 2 or 3 inches of soil, which would kill them for a few months. Or you could do what I do for my large plants that I bring inside in the fall - a couple weeks before, I let them dry out some, then water with a solution of the same thing - something I get in a 6 oz bottle of every 2-3 years. It's Microbe Lift mosquito control, and it only takes 8 drops of it per gallon to perform the task, and once they are brought in, I'll water them again with it in about 3 months. They say the stuff lasts for 2 years at room temp, but I store it in the door of the fridge, and it lasts even longer. One key with using this is using filtered water - the chlorine might kill the active bacteria.

I use this method for the plants in pots, and small pieces of mosquito dunks into my hydroponics, and I never see any fungus gnats!
https://www.amazon.com/Ecological-Labs- ... +mo&sr=8-3

pepperhead212
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Posts: 2851
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2014 1:52 pm
Location: Woodbury NJ Zone 7a/7b

I'm glad you tried the BTi, and that it worked so well for you! Good luck with the other problems you have indoors.

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

It is not tomato yellow leaf curl viruse. TYLCV the leaves curl up and have yellow margins. Once infected the new leaves curl and are stunted.

The plants don't look healthy and they should not be trying to bud now. I would start over. The problem with fast growing crops is that anything that checks their early growth is hard to fully recover from.

https://www2.ipm.ucanr.edu/agriculture/ ... Leaf-Curl/

Danibdo
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Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2020 12:27 pm

Hi imafan26!
Yeah, after researching for the leaf curl disease I understood it's not that and was sure about herbicide damage.

I kept two plants from the batch that I had issues just because I wanted to see how it would develop. They are doing ok, I mean, all things considered.

I had one mysterious seed that germinated on my kitchen mat (those we dry glasses and pints) that I transferred to a pot to see what it was - I had to give it a chance, considering the thing managed to germinate on a mat. It turned out being a tomato plant.

It was looking great and it grew like a rocket, as soon as the flower buds appeared, tiny little things on top, the higher leaves started to stop growing and curling. I know for sure it isn't herbicide drift damage this time, I've bought new batch of compost and am keeping the plants indoor.

My theories now are either mite or severe calcium deficiency - I am using a biostimulant with calcium plus other minerals and bought the microscope.

Besides that, I have no other ideas lol



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