Tomato disease?

[jsnyder]

I need your help. I have grown many tomatoes in the past at my old house in raised beds. I've never had to deal with diseases or pests so in that respect I've been lucky. I now live in a townhouse so I decided to go the container route, I built an ET III and bought a couple of smart pots. I planted a Black krim and purple Cherokee in the ET, and Roma and Tiny Tim in the smart pots. Recently the plants haven't been looking so hot and I wanted to get some opinions on how to ID and ultimately deal with my issues. I took a bunch of pictures. Recently it's been cool and rainy so that might be a factor as well. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks - Jon S.

Black Krim









This is the Roma, it's looking the worst

[dice]

They do have that kind of attenuated look of leaves on plants
that have had more water than what they do best with. The
leaves are not spreading out to maximize photosynthesis.

The yellowing on some looks like they could use a little fertilizer
boost, too, maybe a foliar feeding (some time when it is not
raining).

There could be other things going on, but the plant's reaction to
bad weather obscures any other problems it may have.

[Stepheninky]

I also agree that its bad weather manly cloudy and cool, if the sun will come out and the weather warms into the 70's and 80's for a few days they will green right up. some liquid fert would not hurt either. We finally got three days of nice weather and my plants greened up and jumped. Sadly it has been rainy and cool here again since. In the Southern KY region we are avg temps that are 17 deg below normal for us. I am guessing others have been experiencing similar odd weather up and down the east coast.

[jsnyder]

Thanks for the info!! Yea, unfortunately the weather hasn't been ideal. What worries me is the new growth is twisted and stunted. The roma is looking worse now. The rest of the parts of the plant (stems, older growth, blooms) all look to be in good condition. The tiny tim appears to be unaffected, it looks great. the earthtainer had 3 cups of the new tomato tone put around the perimeter. The smartpots got a cup each around the perimeter. Garden lime was added to all of the containers. I'm going to get some kelp and fish ferts for the water and foliar spray. I'll also try to dry them out a little. Thanks again for the help

[dice]

There are a few things that can cause that twisted top growth:

aminopyralid - a broadleaf herbicide used by hay farmers that
breaks down slowly in the soil and affects tomatoes at very low
concentrations. If your containers do not include animal
manures or wheat straw, it cannot be that.

other herbicides, like roundup or 2-4,d - This would likely be
herbicide wind drift, from someone spraying it close by on
a windy day. Sometimes you can cut off the deformed part
of the plant, and a healthy plant will grow back from the healthy
branches that remain on it. These herbicides are systemic, but
the concentration in the wind and rain can be very low, just
enough to twist up the top of the plant.

A virus or viroid - (like Cucumber Mosaic Virus, Tobacco Mosaic
Virus, Potato Spindle Tuber Viroid, etc) There is no cure, and
contraction of one of these is certain doom for your plant. They
are typically transmitted by insects from one plant to another.

[jsnyder]

I didn't use any type of manure or straw in my substrate mix so I'm good there. The company that maintains the grounds did recently spray something (I'm assuming fertilizer and very possibly an herbicide as well) this sounds like my problem. If I understand what your saying about it being systemic, if the amount absorbed was enough, my plants would most likely be dead already. What is the time period it takes to see new, non-deformed growth? I considered this before posting and it seems like it's the source. I will trim the messed up growth off and hope for the best. Thank you for the help! ~ Jon S.

[dice]

I do not know how long that takes. Probably depends on the
weather. If you cut off the deformed growth, the plant's growth
will be diverted into side branches. You should know soon enough
whether the new growth is developing into a normal plant or not,
say two weeks to a month.

You could put a backup plant in a gallon pot or something just
in case, and then repot that into your larger container if the
new growth has the same symptoms as what you cut off.

edit:
Note that the risk of aminopyralid poisoning from wheat straw
is very low. A wheat farmer that supplied the wheat straw
would need to have fertilized his fields with contaminated
manure. Most wheat in this country in the commercial
supply chain is grown with synthetic fertilizers, and most
cases of aminopyralid contamination of gardens happen
when people use manure from animals that have been fed
aminopyralid-contaminated hay.