check out Curly Top Virus and see if that might be the problem

I'll call my county extention folks tomorrow to see if that virus exists in my area. From what I read on-line, it seems to be a western US problem and not a southeastern problem. But I will check that. Thanks. Any other ideas anyone?

Herbicide damage also creates symptoms like these.

Could Preen (pre-emergent) have caused this damage? I did apply some preen about a week ago. No other herbicides have been used anywhere in this area.

I checked more on Curly virus and doubt it happens here. It says it only occurs in low humidity areas, which is NOT here! Also the other symptoms aren't right.

Well I'm glad it isnt curly virus, I didnt even notice where your located when I posted that. Good Luck, I hope you find out what the problem is.

Preen is most likely the culprit. I couldn't find a label online for pre-emergent but found labels for every other preen product and they contain 2,4D which is the cause of symptoms just like this. Your plants might grow out of it if you don't use the preen any more.

Thanks. I did find on-line that preen is safe for tomatoes, but it says to apply it before transplanting. The active ingredient is Trifluralin. So I am guessing now that it was the Preen that did it. I guess I won't pull them up. Maybe they will recover. These were my only cherry tomatoes which I enjoy just to eat when I am in the garden. At least my sauce tomatoes weren't hurt. I didn't preen them, only these because of the horse compost I used. I didn't want a ton of weeds coming up in them. I wish I had just left them alone now.

I do the same thing and only 50% of my cherry, grape and pear tomatoes make it in the house lol. It might help to flush the area good with water if your soil drains well.

It was said " It might help to flush the area good with water if your soil drains well."

Too late for that.

Trifluralin is a pre-emergent against sprouting seeds & seedlings.

Likely a post-emergent herbicide with 2,4-D, including where it's in a weed-and-feed formula for the lawn.

Are you saying any residuals can't be flushed from the soil so that they don't continue feeding the plant jean? I don't use weed killers any more because of this happening to some of my plants last year so I haven't really been digging for info on the effects.

Man we sure have been seeing the herbicide damaged tomato plant posts this year!

It used to be a rare situation so what's with the sudden upswing in using herbicides? Must have been a super-duper ad campaign or something.

I wish I had just left them alone now.

A valuable lesson learned the hard way. Good luck with your plants.

Dave

Definitely not any post emergent herbicides used around here. I have very lush gardens in the back yard where these tomatoes are located and no lawn.....just mulch in the pathways. I live in a rural area with no neighbors and no farms within at least a couple of miles. So there is no possibility of any 2,4-D, although I agree that the damage to these plants certainly does look like the ones I have seen on-line of herbicide damage. This is the first time I have ever used Preen. Trust me....I will never use it again. I have koi ponds and didn't even realize until I put it out that Preen is VERY toxic for fish. Luckily all of my ponds are raised slightly so water can't run off into them from the yard. I am sort of afraid to try flushing the bed too much....it's uphill from one of the ponds and I am a little nervous about the contaminated water running towards the pond even though it's unlikely it could run in. I am usually so much better about reading labels. I can't imagine why I even used this stuff!

They are mulched with compost from the horse race track which I have used in the past with no problems.

This could be the source.

From another forum from a well respected tomato breeder.
"Numerous posts have been made recently showing what appears to be herbicide damage from systemic herbicides applied to grass areas for control of broadleaf weeds. These herbicides carry over in grass clippings, hay, or straw used for mulch and in manure or compost contaminated by animals feeding on treated areas or hay from treated areas."

I have a similar problem on some potted plants that got a
grass clipping mulch. I found out that 6 weeks! prior to
me cutting the grass, our lawn service applied Escalade II.
Guess what's in that product? Yep, 2-4D.

I'm going to stick with leaf mulch from now on to avoid this
problem in the future!

Lee

Interesting....I never though about mulch being contaminated with 2-4D. I don't think it's the case this time though. I have used this compost/mulch for years. I have entire hosta beds planted directly in tons of the compost instead of soil. And this latest batch....I mulched probably 10 different beds in my yard with it including perennials, day lilies, conifers, mixed woody shrubs and also incorporated it into many container gardens and around 50 potted japanese maples. These tomatoes are the only plants that show any kind of damage. So I seriously doubt the compost/mulch is the culprit.