are you fertilizing?

Did you mix your straw with soil? Or did you just plant the plants in the bales? If the latter, they are probably lacking nutrition and the roots are probably drying out quickly. Does the water drain through fast?

Another question - are you sure it is straw and not hay? If it is hay, do you know if it is hay that has been grown beside the roads or ditches? If so the hay may have been sprayed with an herbicide that would be very sensitive to tomatoes. Are new leaves malformed and curling?

Just a thought as I'm facing herbicide contamination this year from ditch hay fed to horses ending up in the manure. Your picture looks more like heat stress or lack of water/nutrients.

Psychological leaf roll from over watering.

Tomatoes with psychological problems? Who knew?

And all these years I thought it was the tomato growers who were suffering from stress ... caused by all those uncooperative plants, vicious hornworms, and wildlife hooligans ... not to mention the vagaries of weather....

I 'think' Steven means physiological, which is what tomato leaf roll is, a physical problem not a psychological one.

And I agree they show definite signs of tomato leaf roll which is caused by inconsistent soil moisture/watering (one extreme to another), not over-watering.

As to the other issues, trying to grow tomato plants in straw bales is one of the many fad approaches. it is not used by many so it is difficult for any of us to advise you on the issues associated with it.

Clearly, inconsistent moisture levels around the roots would be an obvious problem. The straw's inability to retain nutrients for the plants would be another.

You might get more help from one of the websites that advocate this approach to growing tomatoes.

Dave