Why do tomato leaves curl?

Today, tomatoes are grown in almost every plot, summer residents already know a lot about this crop and know how to cultivate it. But even with proper cultivation and regular care for tomatoes, certain problems may arise: either the ovaries will fall off, then the fruits will crack, or the bush will simply dry out. One of the most common situations is leaf curl on tomato bushes. It would seem that it’s okay, but this leads to a violation of photosynthesis, as a result, the bush slowly dies. Therefore, if the leaves of the tomatoes are twisted, it is necessary to find out the cause and take the necessary measures.

Why the leaves of tomatoes curl, what diseases can provoke it, and what to do so that the leaves on tomatoes no longer curl – this will be the article.

Why do tomato leaves curl?

There are two reasons why tomato leaves curl:

1. Infectious.
2. Non-infectious.

In the first case, tomato leaves curl as a result of a disease caused by some kind of infection. One such disease is cancer, for example. In general, such diseases are called bacteriosis of tomatoes.

Due to bacteriosis, the leaves of tomatoes curl down, then the young leaves at the top of the bush become smaller, the flowers also become small, they do not produce ovaries.

Bacteriosis of tomatoes is very dangerous – this way you can lose all the tomatoes in a short time. The disease spreads with infected seeds, the infection on tomatoes can be carried by pests such as aphids, whiteflies, leafhoppers or cutworms).

It is almost impossible to cure tomatoes with leaves twisted by bacteriosis. Due to the fact that bacteriosis is very contagious, it is better to quickly remove damaged tomato bushes and burn them. The land will have to be treated with antiseptics, you can use Farmayod – this will help kill the infectious agent.

What causes leaf curl in tomatoes?

To the question: “Why do the leaves of a tomato curl?” It is impossible to answer unequivocally. But, most often, the reason for this is the wrong agricultural technology.

Since the treatment of tomatoes will directly depend on the cause of the disease, you will first have to find out why the leaves of the tomatoes are bent.

Lack of moisture

Very often, the leaves on tomatoes begin to wither and curl for such a banal reason as insufficient watering.. In this case, the tomatoes themselves make their leaves curl, because this will reduce their area, which means that less water will evaporate from the surface of each leaf.

How to treat this problem? To prevent the death of tomatoes, they just need to be watered. Tomatoes should be watered correctly:

• do it at least once a week;
• even in a severe drought, you should not water the bushes more than two or three times a week;
• under each bush it is necessary to pour at least a bucket of water (this applies to adult plants);
• it is worth making sure that water does not fall on the leaves and stems of tomatoes;
• when the fruits begin to pour, the number of waterings is reduced, otherwise the tomatoes will crack;
• it is better if the water for watering tomatoes is warm and settled.

Too much watering

Oddly enough, but an excess of water is fraught with the same as its lack: the leaves of tomatoes begin to twist, look lifeless and weak. Recognizing the problem is easy:

• firstly, you need to examine the soil: if it is wet, then tomatoes do not suffer from drought;
• secondly, the stems of too waterlogged tomatoes become brittle, not sluggish;
• thirdly, during drought, the leaves curl inward, and during excessive moisture, on the contrary, the edges of the tomato leaves wrap outward, that is, up.

In a situation with waterlogged soil, the following can be recommended:

1. Temporarily stop watering tomatoes.
2. Stretch a film over the beds to protect the tomatoes from precipitation.
3. Plant tomatoes in loose, well-permeable soil.

A good soil for tomatoes should contain large elements, it can be river sand, peat, sawdust – all this will help the water soak into the ground faster and go into the deeper layers. In extreme cases, if the beds with tomatoes are in a lowland, for example, a handful of sand can be added to each hole – so the roots of the tomatoes will not be constantly in the water.

High air temperature

It often happens that the leaves of a tomato curl from strong heat. And in the beds, and even more so in greenhouses on the hottest summer days, tomato leaves can twist into a tube relative to the central vein.

You can help both greenhouse and ground tomatoes in such a situation:

• ventilate the greenhouse and even arrange drafts in it – tomatoes are not afraid of this;
• mulch the ground on beds with tomatoes with a thick layer of organic matter (sawdust, humus, straw, spruce needles);
• create a shadow over the bushes using opaque covering materials;
• every evening spray a solution of urea (1,5 tablespoons per 10 liters of water) or pale pink potassium permanganate on tomatoes.

Well and of course The main “treatment” for wilted tomatoes is regular watering.

Eating disorder

The lack of trace elements is also often the reason that the leaves of the tomatoes curled up.

What mineral is lacking in tomatoes will tell the appearance of the bushes:

• if the tomatoes do not have enough phosphorus, their leaves turn down, turn gray-green, and the veins, on the contrary, acquire a bright purple-red hue.
• when tomatoes are deficient in potassium, their petals curl up from the edge to the middle. Moreover, only young, upper leaves curl, and whitish spots may appear on the fruits.

The treatment of tomatoes in such situations is simple – you just need to make up for the lack of the necessary trace elements by using phosphorus or potassium fertilizer (superphosphate and potassium nitrate, for example).

For organic lovers, wood ash is suitable, which contains both potassium and phosphorus, which are necessary for tomatoes. For quick help, tomatoes need to stir the ash in a bucket of water and spray all the affected bushes with this composition.

An excess amount of nitrogen in the ground can also cause tomato foliage to curl. You can find out about this by a too thick stem, along with small flowers or their complete absence. Ridding the soil of excess nitrogen is simple: you need to abundantly water the beds with tomatoes with plain water.

Wrong stepson

Experienced gardeners know that tomato bushes need to be formed (this does not apply to all varieties and varieties of tomatoes). Stepchildren must be removed correctly, otherwise you can easily damage the bush and destroy most of the tomato crop.

It is necessary to approach the issue of pinching tomatoes competently:

1. Young shoots are removed, the length of which does not exceed five centimeters.
2. Too small stepchildren do not need to be cut off from tomatoes, since the wound will heal faster if a “stump” about a centimeter long is left in place of the process.
3. Stepchildren need to be engaged in the morning, so that until the evening the wounds on the tomatoes are weathered and a little tightened. The humid night climate promotes the spread of infections.
4. On the eve of this procedure, it is recommended to water the tomatoes, this will make their stems more brittle and fragile – it will become easier to remove stepchildren, and injuries will be minimal.
5. You need to do everything in disposable gloves or use a sterile instrument.
6. Ragged stepchildren should be taken away from the beds with tomatoes, as bacteria quickly develop in the waste.

When the stepson rules were not followed, for example, too many shoots were removed in one day, or the gardener broke off already overgrown stepchildren (longer than five centimeters), the tomatoes are under severe stress. As a result, the leaves of the tomatoes curl, they become lethargic and lifeless.

You don’t need to deal with this problem, it’s enough to provide good care for the tomatoes: airing, watering, not too hot climate. So the tomatoes will recover faster and continue their development.

The only thing that can be done is to feed the tomatoes with a complex mineral fertilizer or use a good biostimulant.

If the gardener does not have experience and knowledge, it is better not to pinch at all: let the tomatoes be thickened and the fruits small than to lose the entire crop completely.

Insect pests

Panic on the topic: “Tomato leaves are curling what to do!” inappropriate, as it is necessary to act quickly here. First of all, it is necessary to inspect the bushes, because pests are a common reason that the leaves on the tomatoes spun and drooped.

Why do tomato leaves curl up in this case? The reason is simple: pests suck the juice out of them. As a result, the leaf plate becomes thin and lifeless, quickly dries out in the sun and is wrapped in a tube.

You can see insects on the wrong side of the sheet – that is where they most often hide. Such small pests are considered the most dangerous for tomatoes.As:

• aphid;
• red spider mite;
• whitefly larvae.

A couple more symptoms can be added to the “curly” foliage of tomatoes, such as the appearance of spots, yellowing, drying out and falling off. In this case, the tomatoes should be treated with suitable insecticides as soon as possible.

How to spray tomatoes if the leaves are curled? – at different stages of plant development, preparations of various composition and effectiveness can be used. When there are no ovaries on tomatoes yet, chemically active substances and poisons are quite suitable: such insecticides act quickly and surely, and they cannot accumulate in fruits.

If tomatoes are already ripening on the bushes, and the foliage has curled up, you can try biological agents, such as Fitoverm, for example. Various folk recipes also help well, an infusion of weeds (wormwood, ragweed and other weeds) is especially good.

Conclusions

Unfortunately, there is no definite answer to the question of what to do when the leaves of tomatoes are curled. The gardener will have to find out the cause of this problem, and then decide on ways to deal with it.

It should be understood that there is no universal remedy for “curly” tomatoes: in each situation, the treatment will be individual. There is also premature anxiety, for example, come across varieties of tomatoes, the genetic feature of which is slightly twisted leaves. This happens due to the thinness of the sheet plate – the sheet hangs, and its edges are slightly wrapped. One such variety is cherry tomatoes.

There is only one conclusion: you need to watch the tomatoes and, of course, provide the plants with proper care. Then the foliage will be healthy and beautiful, and the harvest will please the owner.