I have one of my tomato plants that is not up to snuff with the rest, and it's leaves are curling as if it didn't get enough water. It's the same cultivare as those next to it, and they all get treated the same. I'm not sure if I should remove it or let it be. It's about a foot shorter then its neighbors. I don't see any evidence of aphids or other insects.

I'm curious too. I seeded all but one and that is the one that is doing the same thing. It is Big Mamma paste. It might be heat thing.

Mine are all in a row, and they all get the same water, and sun light. It's the only one affected. Nothing else is catching it, so I guess I'll just let it go and see what happens. It doesn't appear to be tomato blight I don't think.

No, there is no blight involved with that tomato, Tom.

But are you sure it is getting water? I assume you have a drip tape or soaker hose under your black plastic. It could be possible that it may be crimped or clogged up around that plant. I think I'd pull the plastic up a tiny bit and peer inside.

Other than that, maybe there could be soil that's washed away from the root system. (JUst thinking out loud.)

Lastly, the curled leaves are definitely an environmental factor, usually from overwatering, under watering, etc. Again, just take a peek and see if that might be the cause. The rest of your plants look fantastic though! Be proud!

Shoe

I tried the black plastic and I liked it, except for one thing...I had some plants that acted the same way. Turns out it was from a tunneling critter and I just couldn't see the hole to know it was there.

Yes, with Shoe, take a peek.

Well, I water the old fashion way, by hand. So I know it is getting the same amount as it's neighbors. I had been watering every day during the very hot spell, now that we've had a rain or two, and it's a bit cooler, I have been watering every other day. I'll experiment with the watering a bit and see if it changes. I haven't been bothered with blight. I think it may be because I rotate where I plant tomatoes, and that I also rotate where I plant my garden. I cover the unused area with tarp, and it gets mighty hot under that thing. I'm guessing it may distroy a lot of what ever causes blight. Thanks for the help.

I've looked into this also because some of my tomato plants have leaves that tend to curl, and from what I've read the plant is ok, its just something in its genetics.
I just had to add lime to all my Rose tomato plants because they were getting blossom end rot. I seemed to have caught it in time because all new fruits are coming out fine Now i'm just having to deal with their heights, most of them are above 6' now!

Uh-oh, two "Toms" here now!

Tom-TVE..., I'd still take a peek under the plastic and see if there is anything living there, i.e., ants, wasps, etc. Ya never know. I also wonder if that plant is a different variety than the others; perhaps it is more susceptible to excessive heat or something. (Again, just wondering out loud.)

Asl for "blight", that has become an umbrella name for the many different kinds of "blight". But again, no blight of any kind is involved in that weak-looking plant so you sure are doing well there. And yes, solarization (putting down your tarp) sure helps to inhibit diseases (and certain weeds). Congrats to you on a great garden!

Maine-Tom, BER often goes away as the plant progresses. Many times the early fruit will suffer from it but the following fruit will be just fine. Lime tends to take a while to kick in and is not a quick-acting fix so that might not have done the job for you. It also will change your pH, which will certainly help with calcium uptake or, if you've changed it too much will inhibit it. If you are growing in containers and using "store-bought" soil then by all means add lime to your soil mix.

Looking forward to ya'lls pics of your next tomato sandwich!

Shoe

The tomato is San Marzano Redorta, and it's the same as the plants on either side of it. They tend to have a little bit of curl to the leaves in the healthy plants. This one is now about 2 feet shorter then the rest of that cultivar. I'll have to go digging under it to see if something is messing with the roots. I don't know if I can wait long enough to take a pic of that first tomato standwich, may have to wait until I've had a few, lol. I have two small early girl tomatoes on the counter now, and I can't decede if I'm going to make cucumber and tomato salad, or my special open face grilled cheese and tomato sandwich. The first ripe tomato never made it to the house. And, I think that I have a big enough egg plant now that I can have egg plant parmesan soon. I have one Tomatilla (not sure if that's the correct spelling) and it has lots of bloom, but no fruit. Should I have had more then one plant? I haven't grown them in a long time, but it seems to me I had one plant before and it did OK.

"my special open face grilled cheese and tomato sandwich"

Now THAT sounds delish! I vote for that!

As for your plant, I've had tomatoes in a row, same varieties, that do what yours is doing and never figured out why some of them did that. Maybe that particular seed didn't carry a strong growth gene or something or maybe it got wind-whipped at some point, disturbing roots, etc. The garden sure is full of interesting episodes, eh?

Regarding tomatillos, yes, most varieties require a second plant but I've heard of folks declaring their one plant produced fruit. I've grown them, from grocery store fruit by the way, but always had more than one. I know they love heat and tend to produce later in the summer than tomatoes so maybe you'll still get some. Don't give up. Or if you want to play around pick a flower and rub some pollen on another flower, preferably early in they day and see if that encourages pollination.

Shoe (who just picked umpteen pounds of purple hull beans and needs to go shell them, with my latest Netflix of The Waltons entertaining me or course!) :>)

Well upon inspection of the tomatoes, they were too small to give me the amount of sandwiches I'd prefer, so the salad won out, and was it good. I had a few cucumbers that needed to be used. I'll hold on for the sandwich later when I have enough to satify my glutinous indulgence. lol. My open faced sandwich is created by toasting your favorite bread, put some butter and garlic pouder on it, a slab of your fav. cheese, a big slice of tomato. Sprinkle that with a variety of seasonings, depeding on your taste. I like to use seasoned salt, onion powder, sometimes fresh basil and paresan cheese, and put it under the broiler for a while. Other times I use seasond bread crumbs on top. It's good with a variety of cheeses, I like to use munster, brie, mild brick, farmer cheese, colby, guda, what ever type you like. It's really good with just salt and pepper too! That's what I grew up with. I know you have to have some ripe tomatoes where you are, Shoe, so you'll have to give it at try and let me know what you think.

as for the BER, i was getting it on alot of the fruit. i had to prune 20-25 tomatoes off. i was trying to let them work it off but it was getting worse. so i took a chance and dug up the dirt around the stem about 6-8 inches deep then added the lime and watered it, then slightly dusted the dirt i pulled out with lime, mixed it up and pushed it back in the hole, then dampened the soil. I know it was a "crap shoot", but it seemed to work. 3 days later the plants were getting Dark green and all the rest of the fruits were looking normal......i had some REALLY scary looking tomatoes going on.
I know i probably threw the PH off but they really needed the calcium. i checked PH before i planted and it was rate around 6.8-7.0
only the Rose tomatoes were acting up, my cherry(sakura) tomatoes looked fine......just taking forever to ripen!
i'm very surprised the Rose tomatoes made it through me disrupting their roots. i was expecting at least some wilting.....but nothing, they just took off! I guess i just got lucky that time

I usually work in a bit of steamed bone meal a while before I plant my tomatoes, and I don't ususally have a problem with bloom end rot. I know it takes a while for the bone meal to break down so that it can be used by the plant, so I do it as soon as I prepare the soil. Here's a couple of pics of my tomato patch, I have 5 varieties. 6 San Marzano Redorta, 2 White ghost, 1 Early Girl, 2 Beef Steak, and 3 Celebrities. This is my first year for the San Marzano Redorta, and the white ghost. The white ghost seeds were a gift from a seed company, so I am giving them a try, never saw white tomatoes before. You can see the open spot on the right side of the second picture where the sick one is.

I am having a similar problem with my one Green Zebra Cherry. The leaves have been curled for the last month at least but I am just treating it like the others because it is in a coir bag and I checked for moisture constantly. It is next to an Isis which doesn't have the curling. We went through a drought period and now are having more rain than I need daily and it is still curled but producing tomatoes. It is now plenty moist (maybe too much but I can't stop the showers!) so I have determined it must be environmental and hope to enjoy the ripe tomatoes soon. First year for this variety. No other tomatoes are curling but a couple have died from wilt elsewhere in the garden. No consistency to that either. The ones around them are nice and healthy for the moment. With this crazy weather I will be grateful for whatever I get!

Please answer my question.....OK so I'm Very new to the greenhouse thing and slightly new to gardening in general. My husband put up a greenhouse and our tomato plants are unreal gorgeous, thick stalks, bright green....so much so that one (out of 15) seems to have roots growing 3 ft up on the stalk. Really roots....at first I thought it was bugs I had seen on my pepper plants last year, but on observation...I see roots! THIS can't BE *NORMAL*. Does anyone have an answer for this....I don't want to cut off the top of my plant (rerooting) no. If I get a response and you want a pic...I'll get one.....ANYONE????

It would be interesting to see a picture of this.

Those are little root nubbins and don't hurt anything. Tomatoes will root all along their stems and you could even cover those stems with soil and roots will fully form and grow. It's nothing to worry about.

>> I have one of my tomato plants that is not up to snuff with the rest, and it's leaves are curling as if it didn't get enough water. It's the same cultivare as those next to it, and they all get treated the same.

I was thinking 'something underground and localized, where you can't see it".

Some burrowing critter ate half its roots.
A big paving stone has blocked all its roots.
One clump of soil amendment that rotted wrong, or carried a root disease.
Some soil condition that prevents that one spot from draining (drowned roots), or drains too well in that one spot (drier roots).

More likely, though, is some subtle disease or genetic shortcoming. Even F1 hybrids and very stable OP varieities have occasional throwbacks, reversions, flukes and sports.

I would NOT save seed from it. If it turns out to have a root disease, the sooner you spade it up and spread the rootball over the lawn or ornamental bushes, the better. Consider not composting the plant.

Acturally Rick, this is a post from last year. It ended up correcting itself later and grew more normal like the rest of the plants, so I think it was critter damage, and it took a while for new roots to grow.

Thanks for explaining!