? herbicide damage.

[Save$]

My 21 tomato plants were growing just fine, then out of nowhere, some had this twisted and mangled leaf growth. I cut some of the leaves and put them under a magnifying glass. Only found a few aphids. Mostly impacted was the middle row of tomatoes. The area was lawn until this spring when I tilled some lawn under to make room for these plants. Some of the plants in the side rows are lush and rapidly growing. We have had a lot of rain, and cool evenings. First it appeared on one plant then others. Tonight I noticed some tips on some of the plants in the cloche planted 50 ft away. Looking through the plant disease section in this forum, it looks all the world like damage from Herbicide. Will these pants outgrow that, or will I need to cut of the damage or pull the plants? I sprayed that lawn two years ago for broadleaved weeds. My neighbor has a professional service that treats his lawn on a regular basis. But he is well over a 100 ft away and there is a thick brush and tree row between us. No other plants seem impacted.
If I did this right, the first picture is one I downloaded from the net that looks like my plants, it is 2 4 D damage. The second picture should be a closeup of some leaves I cut off. the third is my damaged plant, the last is a normal plant growing next to the damaged one.

[Save$]

I called the local extension service. Sent them some pictures of my plants. The conclusion is that this is herbicide damage, but most likly not 2-4 D, A couple years back, I spayed my lawn with a weed killer. I was after the crabgrass. It turns out that some broadleaf herbicides can linger in the ground for 5-6 years. I thought that stuff would be gone shortly after I put it on. I have cucumbers growing in that lawn area. They show no symptoms of being poisoned.
It was so odd seeing the center row being impacted, but not so much in the outside rows.
I've already been out shopping and have several plants potted up in large containers and given tomato fertilizer. If needed, I will use a couche on the other end of the growing season. That is if I escape BL.

[Save$]

I feel like I am writing to myself, but I can see that these postings are being read.
The extension sevice has a quart of my soil for testing and to trial growing some plants to see if they can isolate my problem. In that same direction, I did uproot one of the plants, found no sign of nematode damage. I rinsed off the roots, then replanted that plant in a tub filled with some commercial potting soil. The plant didn't even wilt!
Should I find something out, I will be sure to repost.

[Wi-sunflower]

That's the problem with a whole lot of the new herbicides -- the are persistent.

There was a herbicide released last year that turned out it killed trees nearby. It was used on a lot of golf courses and by lawn services. It was pulled from the market in about only 6 months. As soon as they saw the tree damage (why that wasn't know before is a good question).

But the dead trees and any lawn clippings should not be used in mulch as they can be toxic for over 18 mts and it will NOT be deactivated in a compost pile.

How some of this stuff gets approved in the first place is the real question. Scary to think that money is most likely the grease that is moving them thru the system.

Carol

[PatrickArtist]

I really do hope that it is some herbicide damage, even if it is persistant in the soil and not airborne you will lose the center row, or at least have reduced yeilds, but a virus is bad news...

[Save$]

So many things to consider. Never ever had any issues years ago, but now it seems there are so many potential issues, I don't know where to start. I do know that I gave dozens of 3 in potted tomatoes away. They all came from the same flats of seedlings grown in the solar space. No one else had issues. I have other tomatoes. Some in the ground and many others growing in big buckets without this issue. We are getting a few tomatoes each day, but we will need many pounds of them if we are to do the canning we have planed to do. That deformity came on each plant during the course of a week. I haven't noticed any new infected plant, but there is some on the inside of some of the healthy plants. I've been considering cutting the deformed branches off.

[Save$]

I am trying to update this, I did dig up one of those badly deformed plants. I washed off the roots and replanted it in a tub. I have been feeding it liquid tomato food. What I can see now is new growth comming on that look mostly normal! That is not beeing seen in the plants which remain in the soil. I'll try to add a picture of the potted plant. Look toward the center to see the new growth.

[noinwi]

Save$, that is how my container plants look. We live in an apartment and management has lawn service come in 4 times a season. The first time they spray( a 24D mix)and the subsequent times they spread granular which they say is fert, but I think it probably has an herbicide too(like weed&feed).
When they sprayed, I was here, running interference as best I could, keeping the guy several feet away from my stuff. My toms and peppers were still in their 8oz cups, on top of the BBQ. They all got damage from the vapor/drift. The ones I planted in containers still look like yours. The ones I planted in my raised bed, although damaged, have overcome it. 3 black krim and 3 noid slicers, all indeterminates, bushed out as if I had pruned the top growth, but they otherwise look healthy and have toms on. I'll be surprised to get anything decent from the container toms as the soil isn't the best and the containers are not as big as they should be, but at least the in-ground ones will be fine. I hope yours survive and produce.

[Save$]

not really looking to getting anything from the damaged plants except a hard lesson learned! On the other hand, I have several plants not affected. If our season is long enough, and I don't get LB, then just maybe we'll have some of that delicious selsa for next year! We also try to can our tomatoes. So many things you can go with canned tomatoes, and when they are from your garden, well so much the better!

[Save$]

Update. My herbicide damaged plants contined to grow, but their fruit wan't worth the space. I pulled a few of the out and replaced them with squash. Those plants grew like weeds and have a large number of fruits maturing. The deformed thick mangled growth on the tomatoes easily sun scalds. If this ever happens again, I now know to pull them out and move on to so etching else. The remaining plants grew up over my 5 foot fence. I have huge fists of giant blemish free tomatoes. Some got so heavy,they broke free the of plant. Other than a few pesty hornworms, things are working out fine. And no LB yet! I have my jars all ready to go as soon as I start getting big pickings.

[deerhunter]

lesson learned. don't use herbisides anywhere. i did on my corn years back because i was too lazy to pull the weeds . couldn't plant that area for 3 yrs. being from maine also i know too well about the spraying they do to rid the woods of broadleef trees on paper company land and of friends that came home from nam with agent orange. same stuff they used on the clear cuts.

[Save$]

Originally Posted by deerhunter

lesson learned. don't use herbisides anywhere. i did on my corn years back because i was too lazy to pull the weeds . couldn't plant that area for 3 yrs. being from maine also i know too well about the spraying they do to rid the woods of broadleef trees on paper company land and of friends that came home from nam with agent orange. same stuff they used on the clear cuts.

I was over there in that "orange stuff". You would think I should have known better then to use herbicide. All that trouble and my lawn is still half crabgrass. The company that made the stuff said it is all gone in 30 days. What a joke!