Don't know for sure--maybe others will--but is there any possibility of herbicide drift from somewhere?

Yes, indeed. Herbicide!

Looks like classic herbicide damage to me too.

Tomatoes are very sensitive to herbicides and it is truly amazing how far it can drift. If you don't use a lawn service, I suspect one of your neighbors does.

Betsy

I'm having the same problem with my tomatoes right now, so frustrating! Hope yours grow out of it!

Herbicide drift, 2-4D was sprayed in your area. Keep the moisture up, give some liquid fertilizer and they will be delayed, but they will come out of it. I had this happen last year. Production was delayed a few weeks, but they came out of it ok.

It isn't too bad, but it isn't fun!

Jay

I also suggest to prune off as much of the affected foliage as possible. It helps the plant recover more quickly and the new growth should be fine unless the exposure was severe.

Try to ID the source of the spray for future reference so the plants can be covered and protected.

Dave

My lawn service did broadcast a granular fertilizer with some type of weed ontrol. Could that have caused the problem? It seems to be getting worse on affected plants.

Yes it certainly could just from the dust of spreading it and especially so if any of it got into the mulch/soil near the plants.

As we mentioned above remove the affected growth, rake back any mulch that may be contaminated, even hose off the plants and flushing the area well can help. And then watch for new growth and hope.

You'll either have to forgo the weed killer stuff in the future or completely cover the plants with plastic tents. If you have neighbors who are growing tomatoes it would be nice to warn them too.

Dave

quitman6, ask the lawn people exactly what was spread on the lawn.

Also, you shouldn't use the lawn clippings for mulch for a while. Depending what was spread on the lawn, it might not be a good idea to compost the clippings either.

The chart at the bottom of this link tells how long the bad stuff will stay active in the clippings:
http://extension.missouri.edu/p/G6959
[Unfortunately that article dates from 2003. I don't know if there are newer broad-leaf weed killers that are likely to have been used on your lawn.]

Also you will want to make sure any water from the lawn does not run off into you garden and/or tomato beds.

Betsy

My uncle was spraying 2-4D in the pasture behind my grandparent's house where my plants just happened to be in the greenhouse. Not only did the drift damage everything in their outdoor garden, it also was sucked into the greenhouse intake and my tomatoes were damaged as well. It was early and they were still in the flats so some pruning did them well but they're still struggling to come out of it.

When this happened to me last year, our state vegetable and tomato specialist gave me the following information. I think it is very valuable in this situation.

Jay

1. Don't bother testing samples for herbicide. Phenoxy herbicides are carried as a vapor, are absorbed as a gas and move to the growing points of plants, and are quickly metabolized. What you see are symptoms of the growth-regulating capabilities but you will not find herbicide in the samples (unless samples are from plants that are dead). It will be expensive to test samples so spend you money on replacement of crops etc.

2. Because the material moves through as a gas there is no need wash everything down. There is nothing to wash down.

3. The result of the growth regulating effect will most likely be a distortion and gradual recovery of the plants. Your production will be delayed and yields reduced. How much will be almost impossible to predict.

4. You can contact the Ks Dept of Agriculture to have an inspector look at the damage. However, it has been my experience that they know very little about horticultural crops. They can determine if a pest-application law was violated but many instances are from a quirk of nature rather than a blatant attempt of violating the application label. (sudden shift of wind, unseemingly hot temperatures, etc.)

5. I would probably do some re-seeding but keep the other plants and watch them for a week to see what happens. You should see some re-growth in a week (if we can get rid of this cold, cloudy weather). Then you can make a decision as to whether to keep the plants. Once recovery starts, production will be normal- although delayed for most things. I've seen a few deformed tomato fruit for a short time then everything gets back to normal.

Wow. Very interesting.

I was wondering exactly what "phenoxy herbicides" are, and whether they're more likely to be used by farmers than lawn-care people or homeowners. But then I looked it up.

Wikipedia's definition: "A phenoxy herbicide is any member of a family of chemicals related to the growth hormone indoleacetic acid (IAA). When sprayed on broad-leaf plants they induce rapid, uncontrolled growth, eventually killing them. When sprayed on crops such as wheat or corn, it selectively kills just the broad-leaf plants in a field, the weeds, leaving the crops relatively unaffected."

2,4-D is the one we've heard of, plus a bunch of others. [Most of the formatting below came through when I copied it, though not all. Everything after the first bold heading was indented, so all are listed under "phenoxy herbicides." Many of the names should be indented to various degrees.]

No, you don't have to read through the whole list.

phenoxy herbicides
bromofenoxim
clomeprop
2,4-DEB
2,4-DEP
difenopenten
disul
erbon
etnipromid
fenteracol
trifopsime

* phenoxyacetic herbicides
clacyfos
4-CPA
2,4-D
3,4-DA
MCPA
MCPA-thioethyl
2,4,5-T

* phenoxybutyric herbicides
4-CPB
2,4-DB
3,4-DB
MCPB
2,4,5-TB

* phenoxypropionic herbicides
cloprop
4-CPP
dichlorprop
dichlorprop-P
3,4-DP
fenoprop
mecoprop
mecoprop-P

- aryloxyphenoxypropionic herbicides
chlorazifop
clodinafop
clofop
cyhalofop
diclofop
fenoxaprop
fenoxaprop-P
fenthiaprop
fluazifop
fluazifop-P
haloxyfop
haloxyfop-P
isoxapyrifop
kuicaoxi
metamifop
propaquizafop
quizalofop
quizalofop-P
trifop

The list is from this site (with interesting links at the bottom of the page, if you need to look up herbicide names):
http://www.alanwood.net/pesticides/class_herbicides.html

Now mind you, I am not an agricultural chemist. So I cannot say whether 2,4-DEP should be in two different categories (which it is). [I was looking for glyphosate, which is listed in the organophosphorus category: i.e. not with the ones I copied to this page.]

I had a neighbor whose lawn service (and he did it too) sprayed 2-4 D every year after I put my toms out. I would run get the hose and immediately wash them off and that keep it at bay...but only when I saw it happening, if I didn't I'd get the gnarly toms, most of the time I had to pull them....I also planted a row of something tall like zinnias that acted as a buffer zone, zinnia didn't care whether there was drift or not. Easiest was to move my plants to inner part of my yard so my tree and shrub line between the properties caught the drift...lost 5 redbud trees to drift. Finally got mad, called the lawn service company...told them the problem, and stop spraying my stuff or else....services insurance paid for my trees and hasn't come back to spray...the property owner does do some spraying still but no issues with my toms as of today. I do glare at him or ask him what he is spraying each time I see him...must be getting the idea I am not happy. No one has the right to spray on others property or cause drift damage to your property. Key is to catch them in the act and find out what is sprayed and when...they have insurance to pay for damage.