[feldar]

Why do my tomato leaves always curl up? I give them plenty of water so the soil is moist but not saturated but the top leaves always look curled over,even some of the bottom leaves are a bit furled at the edges.
 Am i doing something wrong or are they lacking some minerals etc? Help please

[suziequeue]

Feldar - this is normal. Dr Hessayon pronounces:

"Unlike potatoes, rolled tomato leaves do not indicate disease. The inward curling of young leaves is usually taken as a good sign if they are dark green. The rolling of older leaves is usually due to excess deleafing or a wide variation between days and night temperatures. provided that pests and disease are absent, there is no need to take action"

With regard to pests and diseases that might cause leaf curl Hassayon mentions:

*     Fern leaf virus - but leaves are usually mottled and distorted aswell
*     Hormone damage from traces of lawn weedkiller in contaminated soil - but again - leaves are usually obviously distorted and sick looking
*     Geenhouse whitefly: leaves become pale and curled with tiny moths under the leaves and evidence of honeydew

I hope this helps. I would strongly recommend Dr Hessayon's books. They are excellent.

[feldar]

Thanks Suziequeue! Thank god i'm not doing anything wrong, OH says they need more water; if i give them anymore they would float away  i will stop fussing and wait for some yummy tommies

[Fleecewife]

Another cause of leaf curl at the top of the plants, plus yellowing, is if they have gone on top of manure which is insufficiently rotted, but they grow through the problem.  I know this as a student I had one year used the wrong manure heap and this is what happened 
My tomato plants this year have had a leaf curling problem which they are getting over now but it has set them back quite a bit.  I think it was to do with the compost I used to pot them on into - the leaves became very narrow, a bit thickened and distorted.  It didn't affect the fruit set and now they are planted out in the polytunnel soil all new growth is normal.

What compost do you all use for potting on?  Mine was New Horizon peat free organic which I have had problems with for the past 2 years - some bags are ok, others not.  I don't use peat and I like my compost to be organic - any better brands?

[feldar]

They are on our local nursery potting compost plus 3 year old well rotted orphan lamb poo, plus i put some rotting straw over the compost surface as a mulch to keep in moisture.