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alisha_sutton16

Petunia and Tomato leaf curl

7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago

I planted 4 tomatoes in a raised bed this year. Within a few weeks, I noticed the leaves curling. I let it go, hoping it may recover but it didn't. I then planted up a seperate raised bed of wave petunias. I put 12 in the bed and shortly after planting, I noticed one plant was a much darker green than the others. Time passed and it never flowered. Then I noticed the plant started getting hard and the stems were stiff. The flowers that were forming had a very jagged edge to them, rather than the soft edge that the others had. The flowers died before they bloomed. Still, the plant grew but at a slow rate. I had hoped for it to also recover, but that never happened, and 2 other petunia plants came down with this affliction.Now, I tore out the 4 sick tomato plants and replaced it with 4 more. Soon, they started to get sick with this leaf curl. I have ruled out a water issue. They werent too wet or too dry. My husband, the non-gardener around here, bought a dump truck load of leaf-compost that he caught on sale for $10, without consulting me. I really did not want to use 100% compost to plant in, but it was all I had and could afford. Could the 100% leaf-compost be what happened to the tomatoes?The compost is full of what I think are springflies or thrips. I looked them up and apparently they love decaying leaves. Could they be causing the leaf curl? I have seen spider mites as well and sprayed for them with Bonide, vegetable safe.No other vegetable is affected by the compost. My squash are thriving. My bell peppers and jalapenos are planted right next to the tomatoes.As for the petunias, I cannot find much information out there about the leaf curl on them.I have asked for advice in so many gardening groups on facebook and I just cannot find an answer for whats happening.

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