Tomatoes - not forking, no growing point and no side shoots - any ideas?

[marchogaeth]

This is a Ruby tomato. It grew perfectly normally until it was about 50cm high then the growing point just degenerated into a very long leaf frond - which I hope the picyures show. It has not produced any side shoots either. I have one other (Amish Paste) that has done the same and one other Ruby that has done the same except it looks like it is producing a side shoot near the top. Each has one truss of flowers. The one in the photo keeled over today despite having some support I can't really see why. I am 99.9% certain I have not removed the growing points accidently. All my other toms are fine but I did have quite a few forkers in one slightly colder corner of the poly. Th'ese three are spread down the length of the tunnel. As the post says any ideas or comments, please? (Should say I havn't grown tom's before.)

[binley100]

One of mine has stopped itself after producing a truss. But it was an armpit and is also putting out its own armpits. Not much help to yourself tho' ...........strange year this......

[taff]

they don't look very healthy. They may have got frosted and just given up.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Couple of guess's for you, Hormone damage you have transfered something to the plant when you touched it. Virus can produce stunted grow and fern like leaves.

Colin

[marchogaeth]

Thanks for the replies, I'm not being awkward when I say the following (!):-

they don't look very healthy. They may have got frosted and just given up.

I was pretty thorough with fleecing up and they are in among others that are fine maybe these were just that liitle bit more susceptible. I don't think they look very healthy either especially the oddly shaped bumps at the leaf points.

Couple of guess's for you, Hormone damage you have transfered something to the plant when you touched it. Virus can produce stunted grow and fern like leaves.

Colin

Worried about the idea of hormone damage as I am organic in my gardening and haven't used any FYM, can it have come from another plant? I don't think the leaves look fern like, the top leaf frond, that should be a growing point is about 30 cm long and the leaves are quite big, too. I did wonder if it was an over reaction to aphids since I had really early greenfly attacks but all the plants had them and none of the others look as if they have anything like virus damage. I don't have neighbours so I can't blame them.

[taff]

I've never seen anything like it or read anything like it, so i can't help sorry.

There seem to be a couple of Ruby types. Are these the F1 cherry type? Or the plum cherry?

[Paulottie]

They are what is known in the trade as 'dead'...looks more fungal than viral. Would be a good idea to remove and burn anyway.

Did you have other successful toms nearby? Try these....

What is airflow and humidity like?
Problem could be with the roots? What were they planted in...is it well drained? have they been overfed? overwatered? chilled? are there black patches on stems (ie is it blight?)

Any of above ring bell?

[chriscross1966]

Ooh... that is nasty.... dunno what's killed it though contamination in compost or some sort of root-eating pest........ SOme tomatoes can be pretty badly behaved in their growth habits... Berkeley Tie Dye for instance, though the all time winner is Black Krim, a purple Polish beefsteak... I've had one with four leaves that has bifurcated, grown blind into a leaf, grown blind into a truss and then thrown a growth point off the truss... I've had them throw growth points off the end of leaves before and this year one managed to trifurcate on me....

[marchogaeth]

I've never seen anything like it or read anything like it, so i can't help sorry.

There seem to be a couple of Ruby types. Are these the F1 cherry type? Or the plum cherry?

They are from Real Seeds Vegetable Seeds : Bulgarian Vine Tomato Seed and I have others that look fine - although none of the Rubys have many flower trusses on them they are really big strong plants. Diolch any way Taff.

They are what is known in the trade as 'dead'...looks more fungal than viral. Would be a good idea to remove and burn anyway.

Did you have other successful toms nearby? Try these....

What is airflow and humidity like?
Problem could be with the roots? What were they planted in...is it well drained? have they been overfed? overwatered? chilled? are there black patches on stems (ie is it blight?)

Any of above ring bell?

I'm less worried about the dead thing than the odd growth TBH. This plant had really good roots and it's never looked really sickly just peculiar. There are about 25 plants and the rest all look well. I water using upturned plastic drinks bottles so the water goes straight down to the roots. The plants had pee 'til they produced flowers and now they get comfrey tea once a week. The tunnel is pretty well ventilated, one set of doors are open most days and both sets when it's hot (ok so not often this year!).

though the all time winner is Black Krim, a purple Polish beefsteak... I've had one with four leaves that has bifurcated, grown blind into a leaf, grown blind into a truss and then thrown a growth point off the truss... I've had them throw growth points off the end of leaves before and this year one managed to trifurcate on me....

Hmm. Well these are Bulgarian - are the perhaps realted? You would deffinitely describe this as "grown blind into a leaf". I wondered about the potting compost but I keep looking at the number that are absolutely fine (by which I mean big, green healthy plants, setting fruit and begining to turn ripe.)

I'll just wait and see what the others do and what sort of harvest I actually get from the healthy Rubys.

Thanks people.

[veggiechicken]

Is it worth asking RealSeeds whether they have come across this themselves?

[Alison]

I have a couple of Amish Paste in my tunnel and they're quite normal but I think I only sowed about 3 or 4 seeds so not a very good sample. I think they were also from Real Seeds.