Whats going on with my poor plant ?

I don't even know where to begin explaining this. Its a beefsteak. Of the 4 tomato plants I have this one plant seems to be stunted? I'm not even sure if that's a good word for this. All the new growth is tightly curled and hasn't really grown much lately.. It has a thick rough texture and is almost crispy feeling. But doesn't crumble or break when I touch it. I have it under shade cloth and its never in direct sunlight. I water my garden deeply every morning and if it gets over 100 degrees then I water deeply at night too. Which I know sounds like a lot but I live in the high desert and my house sits just under 3000 ft in elevation and hardly any humidity at all. By the time night falls the soil is crispy 4" deep.

Anyone have any suggestions as to whats up with the poor thing?

I had one that has done that very thing. Very thick and stiff vines, the leaves have curled up. But it is still producing tomatoes. I am not sure why it looks the way it does. Perhaps I can take a pic tomorrow and post it.

Cant wait to see it! Mine is still producing too. It had BER for a bit but has resolved itself. Why type is yours?

Try googling "curly top virus" and see if it sounds like what you see. I don't have a link for it, sorry.

Thanks 1lisac. It could very well be curly top, and im so devasted over this. As I was picking hornworms and inch worms off my tomatoes I noticed that plant was looking really yellow compared to the one next to it. Curly top would explain why its turning yellow and hasn't grown much in a while. The fruits that are on it are still tiny and haven't grown much either. If it looks worse in the morning i'm just going to pull it : /

The inch worms are probably tomato pinworms you may want to google these and see what damage they do. I know they eat the underside layer of the foliage and burrow into the fruit. It's been so hot here I can only dream of having tomatoes for worms to burrow into.

The closest thing I have found was a cabbage looper. And like hormworms I just pull them off. I've only had 1 tomato get eaten by a worm and it was a hormworm. The other just get really long and have legs at the top and bottom of the body. So it has to inch around to move. They're skinny green things. If I can find the picture I took of it i'll post it for you in the morning.

IT's not just that the leaves are curled up, the foliage and stems are distorted terribly which speaks to me most strongly of a virus infection.

Did you buy all four plants? I'm asking b'c there's a possibility that one of the plants could have been infected before you got it. Why not all four? I don't know.

And if that one plant was infected at your location that doesn't make much sense since insect vectors for viruses are equal opportunity critters and wouldn't infect just one plant.

What else can cause such distortion other than a viral infection?

herbicide damage , and what you show looks most like 2-4 D, not Roundup, which is glyphosphate. But again, why just one plant and unless it was herbicide drift and only one plant was exposed.

Tobacco mosaic virus, which just isn't a problem these days unless in a large commercial operation inside a greenhouse where it's spread manually.

Cucumber Mosaic virus, CMV is a strong possibility but again, why just one plant.

Lisa had suggested Curly Top, but that's spread by beet leafhoppers so if you live in an area where lots of beets are grown, usually sugar beets for commercial purposes, that's also a possibility, but again, why just one plant since beet leafhoppers descend on all plants in a given area and then leave, so you may not have even seen them.

Those are some of the possibilities I can think of offhand.

Carolyn

1lisac, this is the green inch type worms I talk about. Its a lil guy, they get much longer but dont get fat like hornworms. Now that I actually think about it the tomato that was eaten was off the other thread tomato plant.. So im starting to mix threads haha. I should have just made on big thread haha!

Carolyn,
This plant and a plant next to it were grown from seed they're beefsteak. The plant (better boy) in the other thread and the cherry next to it were bought from lowes. And the only plant that seems to be unaffected by anything is the cherry tomatoes.

Both beefsteaks (plant in this thread) have the distorted look to them. Although the one next to it is huge and doesnt seem like its affected by the distortion. But im sure time will change that. The one I posted about here is so much smaller then its neighbor. As for the beethoppers, I'm pretty sure I live nowhere near any sugar beet farms.

We just bought this house a yr ago, so who knows whats been done to the yard. I'm at a loss. I'm a newbie at all this and truely clueless. I'll google all that later. I'm a bit overwhelmed and almost want to yank it all up.

I do think Im getting the 2 threads confused. On the other thread I mentioned thrips which can transmit the Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV) which you may want to google and see if that looks familiar. Thrips can do plenty of damage on their own and TSWV exhibits different symptoms depending when the plants are infected. I have dealt with thrips for years, thought it was a fungal infection, but I have no personal experience with TSWV. Given you hot dry conditions Thrips could defiantly be the issue. I have a feeling the issues on your 2 threads could be related. The worm looks like a cabbage looper not a tomato pinworm. : )

1lisac,

Okay, I have taken a day to not think about it. haha! I have googled and googled and googled. Have come up with a million possibilities. I found a cool link though.

http://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/id/id172/id172.pdf

I think my plants have more then 1 issue.. So im down to thrips/aphids, ctv, tswv, cmv, or some sort of herbicide/pesticide damage. Pretty much everything that Carolyn said. I also read that pruning, too much nitrogen, and lack of water can also cause leaf curl like my top pic.

The picture is of the 3 tomatoes I plucked this morning that were off my other beefsteak (next to the one originally pictured). This plant has the same curling going on but not as bad and the plant is twice as big as the original one pictured. SO at this point im wondering if my tomatoes are edible if they have a virus?

The cracking CAN be caused by irregular watering. Dry, then wet. Sometimes its almost unavoidable. IF they have a virus you can still eat them, it may or may not affect the flavor, but they arent dangerous, just ugly. What ate the temps in your area? I know it gets hot there, which can cause leaf curling but not distortion. At least thats been my experience.

I'd say the cracking is unavoidable. Especially bc I live in the desert. I water ALOT! More so when it gets above 100. Today we actually have a 20% chance of rain! AMAZING! haha! We'll see how lucky we are. On average were at 100. Lately its been 102-106. We had about a weeks break of mid 90's a couple weeks ago. Oh how I miss central tx's humidity and t-storms!

As for the plant on this post. It is no more. I pulled it this morning. After finally letting the attachment go I ripped it out of the ground. haha! That was one of the things I grew from seed and it has been kinda sad giving up on it. I still have no idea why it looks the way it did or its neighbor but only time will tell if the other can shake it.

I wonder if I should trying growing something else there. Like flowers or something and see if it gets all distorted... What do you think?

Googlie4gardens - As I said on another thread somewhere, I know Victorville and used to work there.

Your climate is tough for growing tomatoes. Heat, near-zero humidity, and the desert wind blows most ALL the time!

Is there any possibility your sick plant was less sheltered from the wind than the others and simply got dehydrated and fried by the wind? Mini-climates mean a lot, and just a fence, a building corner, or another plant can make a big difference between locations. Just wondering.

Hello again Ozark! Of coarse I remember you! I'll attach a picture of my garden area. Dont judge it looks terrible haha. This was taken a couple weeks ago. I'm about to raise the shade cloth again bc the plants are just about to top. The plant that im talking about in this thread is the right corner one. Its hard to see bc its neighbor is behind it and towering over it. The garden is on the north hand side of the green house, and the wind almost always blows to the north. I think its as safe from the elements as I can possibly get it w/out putting it in the greenhouse. Any suggestions are welcome if you think I could do something to improve for next year.

Aha - I think my guess is right, then. You get a hundred-degree, five-percent humidity wind whipping around that shelter almost constantly, and the result is "toasted tomato plant". I bet in those conditions that outside plant was losing so much moisture through the leaves and branches there's no way your watering could keep up!

I'm not knocking what you're doing, you understand. Nope, you're raising tomatoes under extremely difficult conditions there, and that's an accomplishment!

You mentioned that you're a Texas gal or I wouldn't rub it in - but after having to live in SoCal for a long time this is one of many reasons I say "happiness is California in your rear-view mirror". You're doing great growing garden plants in a place where they're not meant to grow at all, and I've got it very easy now by comparison:

HAHA! You have me laughing over here! I water twice a day everyday and for a while everything was looking great. The suns position has changed quite a bit since starting this garden in the spring and now has direct sunlight from 9 o'clock on. Hence my rigged shade cloth haha! I never gave much thought to the wind and where that plant was sitting. I'm sure that's affecting things quite a bit as well. I have hope though, if all those people on the southwest forum can have gardens so can I! haha! I just may have to rethink about how I want my gardening area next year..

Your garden makes me jealous ;) The tomatoes look amazing!! What all are you growing? Your quote up there has truth to it. No joke! I wake up missing tx almost everyday. You bet your bee-hind that when we finish paying this house off we WILL be heading back east! Till then lets hope I master this gardening thing :)

That's so funny I'm from the San Fernando Valley and gardening was so easy there compared to TX. I realize every place is different but the extreme temps, poor soil, and jillions of bugs gardening here much harder. IMHO

Well, I was speaking in generalities. California is the breadbasket of the country when it comes to veggies, of course. Not Victorville though - huh-uh!

And Texas has some wonderful, fertile areas with a good gardening climate - but I've driven through other miles and miles of TX that, well, you know.....

It all depends on where you are - and gardening in Victorville at 3000 ft. elevation in a windy desert with poor soil, hot days, and cold nights would be tough. Just sayin'.

Oh I know it just hit me when you said that because I really had to learn how to garden in Tx. I would plant a rose bush in Ca and have plate size roses soon after. Here I bought rose bushes, rented a Jack hammer to plant them, the deer pruned them, and then I'd get a few soso blooms. I finally decided if I was going to put that much time and energy into anything I was going to be able to eat it.

There is some beautiful farmland here tho. Victorville doesn't have the best conditions for growing veggies I'm sure. We used to drive that way to get to Big Bear I was there a coupe years ago and boy has it grown they even have a Sonics there and Hwy 15 runs straight through there.

What's even stranger is Googlie moved from Burnet TX, about 30 miles west of here and I'm used to live close to where she lives now, but I would have no idea how to garden in Victorville.

Orzak-arent you the one who tried to drive through Tx in one day with kids? Grin

"Ozark-arent you the one who tried to drive through Tx in one day with kids? Grin"
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Yep, with little girls. With chanting, rhyming, SINGING little girls - aaargh!

We started in El Paso and tried to make it to Louisiana - but daddy's nerves gave out and we stayed in Tyler. They're in their 30's now, and when they all come for a holiday they'll still launch into something like "Little Bunny Fifi, hopping through the forest, scooping up the field mice, and boppin' 'em on the head", just to drive me - nuts!

They know my weaknesses. LOL

Me patio garden:

Me patio Toms. That is a 6 foot ladder on the left:

Me admiring my little fruit producing horrors that will end up eating me for breakfast some day this fall. I'm 5' 11". Who says you can't get big toms in containers? yes, I need a haircut:

When I first moved from CA. I lived in CP too. Your toms do look good. Mine arent setting fruit but the plants are OK, but they get shade too. Full sun doesnt mean full TX sun

Muck4Doo.. very nice garden! They do look like they're taking over :)

Ozark, I swear you have a way of making me feel a bit better about my garden!

1lisac, I support the full sun statement. Same goes here. I'd like to know where "full sun" truly applies :P

Anyways, I have news to report on the garden. After my farmers market friend looked over my garden she has come up with a few things. For one I have a black ant colony living in my garden. Apparently they are aphid farmers. She said that I should just assume I have aphids. Which turns out I do!! She has no idea why the plants look all distorted though. She said the fruits usually show symptoms when its a virus and my fruits look fine. Feel free to correct any of this info if its wrong.. So i've been advised to pull off all the dying stuff and spray spray spray. So I bought neem oil and a pesticidal soap. Can I use them both at the same time?

Also I went to OSH and asked if they sold DE and they do... It was in a huge box marked Diatomacious (sp?) Earth for pool filters?! Is that what I need to buy? The guy looked at me like I was crazy haha!!