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wvtomatoman

Leaf Curl vs. Leaf Roll - Small Pics included

wvtomatoman
15 years ago

There have been a lot of questions about leaf roll and leaf curl (the abiotic/physiological kind) so I thought I would post some pictures to help clarify. I tried to show enough detail but kept the pictures small for those that are connection speed challenged. :-)

This is a picture of an Azoychka plant with physiological leaf curl. It is an older and established plant. We had torrential rain followed by record setting heat.

Due to a very wet spring I couldn't plant on time. The plants were older than they should have been and a bit leggy. Therefore I trenched them and wanted them to develop roots quickly because I knew they'd be flowering soon. So, I added a little something something to the hole. I've only had to pinch flowers off about 6 plants (there is another I really should, but I'm probably not going to). Anyhow, by jacking it to them like that a couple of plants have developed leaf roll which happens when young plants grow too fast. So here's a picture of one of those plants:

And here's a detailed picture showing the classic tubing of leaves:



I hope this helps.

OBTW, I am not at all concerned about these plants, they will grow out of it and be fine.

Randy

Comments (6)

  • carolyn137
    15 years ago

    I hope this helps.

    OBTW, I am not at all concerned about these plants, they will grow out of it and be fine.

    Randy

    *****

    Thanks for the pictures Randy and thanks for saying that the plants will grow out of it, and I assume you're speaking of leaf roll, which is a physiological condition that occurs mainly with young plants and disappears as the plants mature.

    And leaf curl can occur any time that the plants are under stress, and that means too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry , too rapid growth from overfertilizing or too rich soil, and also when there's a heavy fruit burden and many hybrids have leaves that curl normally.

    So I ignore any leaf curl unless other symptoms appear.( smile) Heaven knows there are much more serious conditions to worry about than either leaf roll or leaf curl.

    And worry I do as do most of us who grow our tomatoes. LOL

    Carolyn

  • greengrass12
    15 years ago

    Great post about leaf curl. I wondered what that was about as this is the first year that I've actually noticed it. It's also the first year that I've started from seed and they experienced wide temp extremes. In any event my polfast are full of toms and inderminates look great even though leaf curl persists on most.

  • buck1173
    15 years ago

    great post thank you!

    Question for anyone in the know... how long, typically, does a young plant take to grow out of leaf roll?

    I have a watermelon beef that went all rolly on me when it started to bloom... its setting fruit now, and still rather rolly....

    Oh, and one more Q, do PL's curl or roll? Not that I have any of that going on (yet) but was curious.

    teehee, its cute, I have 5 PL's growing, and everyone in the neighborhood keeps stopping by wondering what I planted with the tomatoes... this is my first time seeing a PL grow too, its so very neat.

    thanks!

  • wvtomatoman
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Thanks for the comments and you're welcome. I was just trying to help a little because it seemed to be such an issue this year.

    buck,
    "how long, typically, does a young plant take to grow out of leaf roll?"
    You aren't going to like the answer. It varies. I've had some plants get over it fairly quickly (a couple of weeks or so give or take) and some plants it took a fairly long time (I recall a Rose plant in particular that must have taken over a month). I'm sorry I can't be more specific, but I didn't take specific notes on the exact amount of time.

    "Oh, and one more Q, do PL's curl or roll?"
    I suppose they could, but I don't recall experiencing it. Right now none of my PLs do, but as you can see in the pictures RLs are doing it. And, not all RLs are doing it even though they were grown almost the exact same conditions (I didn't measure the exact amount of compost etc. in each hole).

    Randy

  • denno
    15 years ago

    Nice post on a topic I wondered about. But I have plenty of production on these plants anyway. But I could add that I get this effect more on my paste tomato variety.(Big Mama-by Burpee) I grow three other varieties with only some curling on the leaves. My heirloom variety has wide leaves, and has very little curling at all. Most years have been the same.

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