2015 tomato problems

[newgardener_tx]

Tomatoes are planted. The problems are up for the new season. What is wrong with the new leaves of the tomatoes? They are rolled up, they look smaller/narrower than the normal once. They are green, no color change. They don't look healthy. Almost all plants are infected. I checked a lot of disease links. Are they Cucumber Mosaic Virus?Are they Tomato Leaf Roll? What should I do now?

[Heritage]

It looks like herbicide damage. Are the non-infected plants grouped together or are they interspersed randomly?

Steve

[newgardener_tx]

Almost all plants got infected. Even the ones in the pot. I don't spray my lawn. But not sure about my neighbors.

[Heritage]

Does your potting mix and garden mix have any ingredients in common? Especially, manure?

[newgardener_tx]

I only used Black Kow manure from Lowe's.

[b54red]

It looks like herbicide damage to me also. A few years back during the windy spring weather someone in the neighborhood had their yard sprayed for weeds and a few days later all of my tomatoes had that problem except the ones protected from the wind by my shed. Most of them recovered after a few weeks but some were affected so badly that they just up and died. I clipped off the more badly affected stems and suckers and watered them heavily to encourage them to put on new foliage. Some of the newer suckers came out normal so I concentrated on making them my main stems.

If I had to do it over I would have replanted all the affected plants with new seedlings.
I think the results would have been better. If trace amounts of the herbicide are in the manure you used then it may be a while before you can grow tomatoes in that soil and it might even have to be replaced. I would only use cow manure from a certified organic dairy.

Bill

[Worth1]

Well we dont know if it was the manure or not but it just convinced me not to get it.
Darn it all.
Thank god the prevailing wind comes from the direction of people that dont spray here.
One neighbor a long time ago said he was going to spray and I asked him not to.
He saw my reasoning and didn't.
I sprayed for him the next year before my plants were out.
Worth

[Heritage]

My thinking is this: I'm about 90% sure it's herbicide damage, but it could be Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV). If you only had a few plants, randomly spaced, showing the symptoms I would say it was 90% chance of being CMV (or possibly another virus). Also, I have seen thrip/russet mite damage that caused similar damage but I am eliminating that because I see the ferny (frilly) leaf margins (especially on photos 2,3) and that doesn't indicate insect damage.

Probably the first thing to determine is the likely source of the herbicide. I'm guessing you probably have a neighbor (could be a few houses away) that sprayed their lawn. Either it was too windy and the spray drifted or it was too hot and the herbicide volatilized and rolled in like an invisible fog (this damage is worse on non-windy days).

You can test the soil/manure for herbicide contamination by planting peas or beans in it and checking the growth for distortion. example:
http://www.easydigging.com/blog/herb...n-compost.html
Keep the test at the same temperature as your soil because contaminated manure/compost can go all spring without causing damage but, as soon as the soil heats up, the herbicide in the manure volatilizes and does the damage. I had 1/3 of my crop contaminated two years ago by contaminated manure. The manure had been worked into the soil a year earlier and, even after all that time, it still damaged the tomato plants. It was difficult to diagnose because the plants looked great for the first month of their growth.

It's hard to predict if the plants will recover, or to what degree. All of my plants recovered and produced an almost normal amount of tomatoes.

Good luck, please keep us posted
Steve

[newgardener_tx]

Thank you all for the suggestion. Several plants are getting worse. A couple of them are stunned. The new tip is rolled up so badly. Some plants are getting better. I set up the green bean test as described in the link above. When I transplanted I mixed the soil in the ground with cow manure. In the pots I used Miracle-grow potting mix and top dressed cow manure. Roma Bush green bean seeds are purchased new.

[creister]

I have had that problem in years past as well. I called our county extension office and asked if they had any CMV reported in the area, so you could do that just to see if there is any around. It really looks like herbicide damage. Do you have any other types of plants in your garden that would be susceptible to herbicide damage? If so, how do they look? I know many of my neighbors have there yards sprayed, and chemical drift is always my first suspect. It always sucks when stuff like that happens. All your hard work ruined. I pulled my plants when this happened, but not all were damaged, so I still had a crop. Good luck.

[b54red]

I really think you should just go ahead and replace the plants that are looking worse and hope for the best with the others. It can be a long time for some plants to recover if ever and by the time you are sure it can be too late to replant.

Bill