The problem may be tomato wilt.

thank you. How does one determine this? Cure?

Yellows virus will make new growth stunted and shriveled too. It's spread by insects feeding on the plants.

https://plantpath.ifas.ufl.edu/u-scout/tomato/tomato-yellow-leaf-curl.html

Some varieties are less resistant than others to certain diseases and/or pests.

A picture's worth a thousand words and would make it a bit easier to tell what's going on.

'Warts' on a tomato stem might be harmless, btw - they could just be adventitious roots...

thank you for your reply. The growing season ended about 4 months ago. Of the six plants that I started out with, I ended up removing 4 of them as they remain stunted. The 4 new plants grew OK but exhibited similar leaf turning/compaction. While I *thought* I could coax the two original plants to some sort of health, they remain stunted. So end of season I removed all the plants, added crushed egg shells, and turned the soil. I will not add compost from the municipal compost pile. So my question is, will the snowy winter and rainy spring rejuvenate the soil and remove the herbicide?

Another question: I treat my lawn with weed killer and fertilizer. In late fall I cut the grass, bag the grass clippings, combine them with shredded leaves from the trees, and mix that with the soil so it decomposes over the winter. Should I stop doing this to avoid possible herbicide contamination?

thanks

J

I would stop adding in the grass clippings. Weed killers can break down over time, but it can depend on what kind of weed killer it is. Hot composting can break down some weed killers, but not all of them.