Wispy looking tomato plant

[OllieMartin]

One of my tomatoes has gone a tad funny looking. My book doesn't seem to pin-point exactly what this might be, but the closest thing I can find is either a virus or hormone damage from lawn weedkiller (which I don't use).

Any suggestions?

[RobintheBobin]

Sorry Ollie, no idea. I can't quite see but are the leaves just little and pathetic, nibbled or curled-up?

[Phreddy]

I have some of that also

[Flummery]

It couldn't be the variety could it? Some have very different leaves. The hormone thing reminds me of the aminopyralid business though. There are threads on it here. Did you use 'real' manure? However, I can't see why that would affect only one if you grew them yourself.

[OllieMartin]

I have about 20 plants, 15 are grown in grow sacks, they are all fine, but are slightly smaller as they were planted later and are in partial shade. The other 5 are in the edge of the potato bed which was manured several weeks before planting with a friend's well rotted horse manure. This is one of the potato bed plants. It is the only one that has reacted like this, this is just one branch of the plant, not the main stem.

The plant appears healthy and has produced flowers, but the leaves do not grow properly, it's as if it cannot produce the 'leafy' material, only the veins of the leaves.

[Flummery]

Hmm. The manure does sounds suspect - but I can't see why it's only affected one plant. Maybe you've got a 'sport'? Is it producing fruits? Hard to tell from the pic.

[Flobalob]

It looks to me like caterpillar damage.

[OllieMartin]

Hmm. The manure does sounds suspect - but I can't see why it's only affected one plant. Maybe you've got a 'sport'? Is it producing fruits? Hard to tell from the pic.

A 'sport'? Not sure on the fruit question, will check tomorrow.

It looks to me like caterpillar damage.

Nope, definately not caterpillar damage. Will try and take some better pictures tomorrow.

[glallotments]

I have lots of photographs of plants affected by hormonal herbicide on my website
Our plot on Green Lane Allotments - | Manure contaminated with herbicide
Have a look at the photos and see if they help determine whether this is your problem.

Due to the way that the herbicide residue is released it is possible that only one or two plants are affected at first but usually this will then extend to other plants.

[OllieMartin]

I have lots of photographs of plants affected by hormonal herbicide on my website
Our plot on Green Lane Allotments - Click Here to ENTER | Manure contaminated with herbicide
Have a look at the photos and see if they help determine whether this is your problem.

Due to the way that the herbicide residue is released it is possible that only one or two plants are affected at first but usually this will then extend to other plants.

Useful site, thank you. It could be my friend's manure, although I put that in 3-weeks before planting anything and have had an entire potato crop from it which was pretty successful. and only one branch of one tomato plant seems to be affected, it's not even the main branch. I'll keep an eye out to see if it spreads at all.

Thanks for the help.

[glallotments]

Useful site, thank you. It could be my friend's manure, although I put that in 3-weeks before planting anything and have had an entire potato crop from it which was pretty successful. and only one branch of one tomato plant seems to be affected, it's not even the main branch. I'll keep an eye out to see if it spreads at all.

Thanks for the help.

OM
If the manure is contaminated with AP then it is only as the plant material breaks down that the herbicide residue is released so things can grow well and after a while begin to show signs of trouble and deteriorate from that point onwards. We planted tomato plants in our contaminated ground that grew fine for a few weeks and then succumbed. Similarly with the potatoes. The first lot of growth was good and then gradually one or two plants became affected and then the problem spread. Other plots that used the same manure supplier were either affected before us, after us or in some cases hardly at all. We had the biggest problem in the area where the manure was stacked prior to spreading it. More manure was incorporate there as the soil was really poor.

It's also possible that the whole of the manure heap wasn't affected as the herbicide could have been used just to spot weed or it could be that different supplies of haylege etc were used and only some of the supply chain affected. This would mean as the manure was collected the pile would just have patches of contamination and it would be pot luck whether the manure you received was affected or not.

Don't forget the petition which stands at over 1200 now Petition to: refuse to reinstate Aminopyralid as a weed killer in Britain. | Number10.gov.uk

[OllieMartin]

Helpful stuff, thanks for that.

So what do I need to do? Can I stop it spreading? The potatoes seemed to survive unscathed and it's just this branch of this one plant, it's been like that for a while now.

[glallotments]

Helpful stuff, thanks for that.

So what do I need to do? Can I stop it spreading? The potatoes seemed to survive unscathed and it's just this branch of this one plant, it's been like that for a while now.

OM
If your crops are showing the effect of herbidcide poisoning see photos here

Remove as much manure as possible.
Don't keep the manure in a pile - if you can have piles removed and disposed of. Soil bacteria are needed to break down the residue and render it harmless to your plants.
Rotavate and dig the soil as often as you can to speed up decomposition.
Don't cover the soil as this will prevent air getting to the soil.
Grow crops that are less likely to be affected - we found courgettes, squashes and sweetcorn grew with no problem. We also had no ill effect as far as our brassicas were concerned.
Don't compost any affected plant material
Don't burn any affected plant material - this could be illegal
If your polytunnel or greenhouse is affected then keep turning the soil and keep the soil moist. Moisture and air are needed to aid plant decomposition.

[OllieMartin]

Thanks for the advice.

[glallotments]

Hope it helps OM
One other thing to add is spread the word amongst your friends!!

I've created an info sheet on obtaining manure and what questions to ask etc - if anyone is interested it is here:
http://ossettweather.com/glallotment...anurealert.pdf