Tomato problem - ideas please?

[T-lady]

Hi folks

Help, I've serious problems with my greenhouse tomatoes. They seem to be curling loads but now I've got this kind of shrinking / shrivelling on the tips.

Any ideas?

I'm trying to attach a photo - bear with me ...

Eeek - none of the bits on the message screen works ... help!

[Flummery]

They curl up when they're not happy. As to what they aren't happy about - well, now you're asking! In a greenhouse it can be over-heating. Some of mine in the greenhouse curled a bit last week, but they settled when the weather cooled. Some on the allotment curled earlier this week - cold nights. They are ok again now. If there's some shrivelling too it really sounds like your greenhouse is getting too hot. Can you but some shading on, or open vents or something? Do you have a max/min thermometer? Wilko's sell them for £4.99. They are great for alerting you when the temperature is outside your plants' comfort zone.

I hope you can sort them out. It's a worrying though that you could lose toms when they are getting to maturity.

[vegman]

Healthy tom plants tend to curl their leaves underneath themselves as they grow. They then flatten as they mature. Are you sure this curling is not normal? Not sure about the shrinking and shrivelling in the tips. Aphids perhaps? If you get water splasheds onto any of theleaves then sunlight can leave a white scotch mark.

Hope this helps

[Alice]

T lady if your greenhouse is too hot you can cool it down by pouring water on the floor (damping down). This will knock the temperature down a bit and humidify the hot air. Hot and humid is much less damaging than hot and dry.

[T-lady]

OK, second attempt at getting a photo up. As I said before, shrivelled, brown tips - dead worried!

Thanks for thoughts about how hot g'house is. I have got some shading and I'll get it up this weekend but I'm not sure how much difference it'll make (it's that green plastic mesh stuff) All windows and doors are permanently open and I can't dampen down the floor very well coz it's gravel laid on weed membrane straight onto earth floor (what about trays of water, woujld that help?)

Any other thoughts Viners?
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Darned, the file size is too big - how the heck do you lot get photos uploaded?

[Alison]

The shading will make a HUGE difference - I use the mesh stuff and it's fab and lasts forever if you make sure it's dry when you put it away. Even with gravel on the ground, it can help to hose it down, I know this from experience. Trays of water would increase the humidity which would potentially help with fruit set so no bad thing.

[davefromthechipie]

In windows Click start } all programs } Accessories } then paint
Open the image ( drag and drop into the paint or Click file and then open )
Once the image is there . AT the top click Image then click Stretch and stew , Change the Horizontal and Vertical to 50% ( smaller if needed )
goodluck dave

[T-lady]

Hey Dave, thanks for the help (again)!


OK, here's a really tiny image of the problem - hope you can see it. Hopefully Mike is going to post a larger image for me later.

Any ideas any one?

[T-lady]

Wow, it worked !!!!

[dandamegs]

[davefromthechipie]

no problems . Still hard to tell Can you upload a large image at ImageShack® - Image Hosting ? and post the link it will give you , on here ? Need all the plant in pic and maybe one of the lower leaf stems cut in half and the shoot of that too . Never had what that looks like but reminds me of eaten squash plants and some bad runner bean seeds iv grown before .

[mrdinkle]

I too have this problem - only on my greenhouse ones.

I did put a pic up, but no one saw it:

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...tml#post242180

[T-lady]

That's exactly it Mr D! A perfect piccy of my problem. Any ideas folks?

Next week I'm visiting Barnsdale Gardens so I'm hoping that there may be someone there who can look at the photo and identify it for us all.


I'll look at ImageShack and see about posting photos there - problem is I've paranoid about Internet stuff so I'm struggling with all of this modern image sharing stuff!

[T-lady]

Some additional photos in case they help ... (thanks Dave)

[ChrisE]

Leaves curled inwards- Have you given tom feed?

Found this link about nutrients;

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...nts_14854.html

Sounds like lack of potassium causes this, I think tomato fertilizer is rich in potassium.

Potassium (K)
Essential for good flower and fruit formation
Increases the general hardiness of the plant
Symptoms of deficiency
Poor quality fruits and seeds
Leaf scorch on older leaves
Leaves bronzed and rolled inwards and downwards

Good luck.

Chris