Thursday, January 5, 2012

Why do my Tomato leaves curl up or turn white?

I've just been given a bag of fresh Tomatoes from our friends Frank & Tony Lanza. These are commercially grown hybrids so the taste test will be interesting compared directly the juicy reds that Kerry has started harvesting at home.

As we have reached harvesting I have fielded a few questions about Toms this week.

The first was from Mark who noticed the leaves of his KY1 plants curling upwards. I honestly don't know what would cause this, it may be specific to the KY1 variety. Ky has a very distinctive leaf shape and growth habit as a young plant but I'm not aware of leaves curling up especially.  If you have any experience please let me know.

Mark also commented that all his Tomatoes had started fruiting but stopped after only half a dozen fruit or so. This sounded odd but I couldn't respond over the phone, interestingly Kaye has confirmed that her Tomatoes have done the same thing and I may have noticed the same at home (if I looked closely enough). I'm pleased to report that Kaye's plants have started to set fresh flowers.

The other Tomato query came from Michael. 



What is causing the bleaching on this Roma plant. I honestly don't know so if you can help me help Michael I'd be very grateful.

A couple of hints following these discussions:

Please please please use good potting mix (Debco Terra Cotta & Tub - I was going to supply a link here but I think someone has raided their web site).  Only experienced gardeners should play around mixing in their own compost and fertilizers.
Seaweed solution is NOT fertilizer. It is a great multi vitamin, but you can't survive on vitamins alone.
Tomatoes will need plenty of water on hot days so they need a big container to support their roots.
What's this thing with Epsom Salts?  Magnesium is a relatively minor fertilizer element. Let's get the basics right first. NPK. Preferably just stick with manure in garden beds.
Please use Premium Potting mix.
9 times out of 10 a problem observed in the flowers or foliage began with the roots. OK so I exaggerate a little.

I'm off for a couple of weeks.  See you soon.

6 comments:

  1. maybe a type of sunburn !!

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  3. That burn spot is so localized I wonder if it's due to a window reflection causing too much light. It looks like a line across the plants. You'll know after a few months because the pattern will follow the sun. Is there windows above? My plant plants are in a plastic sheet green house and have begun to cup upwards then curl down. Its progressing down the line but the ones effected have smaller pots. I have been water them more. Any ideas?

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  5. Potassium deficiency....

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