I’m wondering if there was something nasty in my load of horse manure for the vege patch. My tomatoes are looking very sickly and pale with new growth tightly curled like new fern fronds. I tested the ph and it is spot on 6 or 7 which is perfect for tomatoes, so I’m wondering if it is some type of soil born disease. They were healthy plants when they went in, and the spares I have in pots are still looking healthy.

I have dosed them with molasses and bokashi juice and if they don’t pick up I will be pulling them out and growing something else.

Sounds like fertiliser burn Beej.
Maybe the molasses was too strong?
Dunno jack about Bokashi, should it be diluted?

I have only just put the molasses and diluted bokashi juice on today in hope that it will deal with any nasties in the soil. It could be that the horse manure was still a little too fresh when I planted them, but it was older stuff and I had it maybe a month before the tomatoes got planted.

bluegreen said:

I have only just put the molasses and diluted bokashi juice on today in hope that it will deal with any nasties in the soil. It could be that the horse manure was still a little too fresh when I planted them, but it was older stuff and I had it maybe a month before the tomatoes got planted.

Hmm. Not good. Hopefully it was the horse poo.
If so, it should shake off the problems and continue on but if it’s a disease then it would be inclined to worsen..

Could be tomato leaf curl virus, check out this site. I have seen it where the new leaves are curled like new fern fronds.

http://www2.dpi.qld.gov.au/health/4250.html

shell bell said:

Could be tomato leaf curl virus, check out this site. I have seen it where the new leaves are curled like new fern fronds.

http://www2.dpi.qld.gov.au/health/4250.html

Forgot to add that this page has a table with alternative problems, could be one of them.

tomato leaf curl virus
+++++++++++++++
OOOOOOOOh
Nasty

shell bell said:

shell bell said:

Could be tomato leaf curl virus, check out this site. I have seen it where the new leaves are curled like new fern fronds.

http://www2.dpi.qld.gov.au/health/4250.html

Forgot to add that this page has a table with alternative problems, could be one of them.

I had a look at that. Although I can’t be certain that it is the problem, it does seem a likely candidate.
The disease vector is the Silverleaf whitefly which could be what I have seen around some other plants. Another site I looked at also mentioned that beans can be affected, and I did have some problems with some beans I planted and have since removed. If this is the problem, then it is possible that I can replace the plants with my spares and as long as I can keep the whitefly away then they may remain healthy.

BG, what will you use to get rid of the whitefly? I had them all through my brassicas one year and they were a plague.

orchid40 said:

BG, what will you use to get rid of the whitefly? I had them all through my brassicas one year and they were a plague.

not really sure o40. I haven’t really seen them around the tomatoes themselves so can’t be sure that they are the problem. Yellow sticky traps work apparently, but they can catch the good guys too. Green Harvest have some control suggestions.

I used the yellow sticky traps for thrips last year and they’re pretty good. It’s true they get a few of the good guys though.

We tried the recipe for oil and detergent and for the first time it has actually worked.
The recipe was:
1 cup Soya Bean Oil
2 tbspns detergent
Add 30mils to 1 litre water
Agitate well
Spray early morning before any wind.
Try to do under leaves as much as possible
http://www.grownups.co.nz/discuss/show/id/712/page/2

Though I’d also suggest using full cream milk.

Longy said:

Sounds like fertiliser burn Beej.
Maybe the molasses was too strong?
Dunno jack about Bokashi, should it be diluted?

Could have been the horse manure if it was too fresh. Horse manure needs to compost for a while or it can burn.

bluegreen said:

It could be that the horse manure was still a little too fresh when I planted them, but it was older stuff and I had it maybe a month before the tomatoes got planted.

I should have read on before answering, LOL! Perhaps a month isn’t quite long enough…

I pulled out the tomato plants today. I went and had a look at them and even the one that I had planted later and was looking OK for a while and the volunteers were starting to curl up. I have 3 left in starter pots so I might plant them into bigger pots rather than the garden bed. Planted out some basil seedlings and a couple of fennel seedlings in their place. Fingers cross they don’t mind whatever it is that made the tomatoes sick.

Recommended reading

Tomatoes for Everyone
Allen Gilbert.

Pollutants:
Tomato plants react quickly to any chemical pollutants in the soil or the air. The signs include: a mass distortion of growth, puckered leaves, yellowing blotchy leave, miniturisation of leaves,fan like growth of leaflets or gradual death of whole plants. If any hormones used in animal feed remain in the manurethe plants will show severely distorted growth patterns. Composting contaminated manure for several weeks befoore giving it to the plants will usually break down the pollutants. The sensitivity of the tomato plant allows it to be used as an indicator plant when judging whether an environment or soil is healthy.

http://www.humeseeds.com/sumtom.htm

roughbarked said:

Recommended reading

Tomatoes for Everyone
Allen Gilbert.

Pollutants:
Tomato plants react quickly to any chemical pollutants in the soil or the air. The signs include: a mass distortion of growth, puckered leaves, yellowing blotchy leave, miniturisation of leaves,fan like growth of leaflets or gradual death of whole plants. If any hormones used in animal feed remain in the manurethe plants will show severely distorted growth patterns. Composting contaminated manure for several weeks befoore giving it to the plants will usually break down the pollutants. The sensitivity of the tomato plant allows it to be used as an indicator plant when judging whether an environment or soil is healthy.

Wow! That’s interesting to know.

I was going to bring PH up but I saw it was mentioned in the OP

now it is OK to ass U me that 6<7 is ok.. but it is better to get it to 6.5 ;)

tomatoes are indeed fussy.

and cannot tolerate glyphosate within metres.. so it stands to reason that too much ammonia could make their breathing become difficult.

I’ll perhaps add..

if you are a smoker..

//

wash your hands well or ask a non smoker to handle the plants.

roughbarked said:

I’ll perhaps add..

if you are a smoker..

//

wash your hands well or ask a non smoker to handle the plants.

Or wear gloves…

hortfurball said:

roughbarked said:

I’ll perhaps add..

if you are a smoker..

//

wash your hands well or ask a non smoker to handle the plants.

Or wear gloves…

bugger that

as they say; wearing a condom is like having a shower with a raincoat..

My fingernails are always dirty..

as are our doctor’s

it is simply this

give your ands at least a rinse between jobs and you stand a better chance I will use a different knife when I change varieties in grafting thousands.. if there is no chance of sterilisation handy

roughbarked said:

hortfurball said:

roughbarked said:

I’ll perhaps add..

if you are a smoker..

//

wash your hands well or ask a non smoker to handle the plants.

Or wear gloves…

bugger that

as they say; wearing a condom is like having a shower with a raincoat..

My fingernails are always dirty..

as are our doctor’s

it is simply this

give your ands at least a rinse between jobs and you stand a better chance I will use a different knife when I change varieties in grafting thousands.. if there is no chance of sterilisation handy

I wear gloves but the dirt gets in anyway. I don’t always wear gloves in my own garden but I always wear them for work, unless I’m fixing retic. Amazing how much dirt gets under your fingernails when wearing gloves.

hortfurball said:

roughbarked said:

hortfurball said:

Or wear gloves…

bugger that

as they say; wearing a condom is like having a shower with a raincoat..

My fingernails are always dirty..

as are our doctor’s

it is simply this

give your ands at least a rinse between jobs and you stand a better chance I will use a different knife when I change varieties in grafting thousands.. if there is no chance of sterilisation handy

I wear gloves but the dirt gets in anyway. I don’t always wear gloves in my own garden but I always wear them for work, unless I’m fixing retic. Amazing how much dirt gets under your fingernails when wearing gloves.

look at it this way.. at least when your fingernails carry too uch dirt.. you do instinctively wash your hands.

when you wear gloves.. you are still transmitting disease from plant to plant regardless.