Knowledgebase
Tomato leaves curling #878307
Asked July 22, 2024, 4:01 PM EDT
Ottawa County Michigan
Expert Response
Thank you for your question. Usually twisted leaves/growth are symptoms of herbicide drift damage from a certain class of herbicides (Group 4). Tomatoes are sensitive to exposure to herbicides from this class. Products from this class are commonly used for broadleaf weed control in turf, some of which can persist in the soil (see this link Persistent Herbicides FAQ: Persistent Herbicides (compostingcouncil.org)).
The topsoil you brought in may be contaminated with a persistent Group 4 herbicide. Does the company you purchased it from test for herbicide residues? There are commercial labs available that test soil for pesticides - see this MSU article for more info and list of testing labs: https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/testing-for-contaminants-in-soil-water-and-plants. The standard MSU soil test is for nutrients and would not detect presence of herbicides.
I suppose you might consider herbicide drift as a potential cause as well. Do you live near any farm fields that spray herbicides on their crops?
If it is herbicide damage, there is not much you can do besides let the plant try and grow out of it and make sure it is not stressed in other ways (nutrients, water, light). Removing an established tomato plant to try and replant it in fresh soil would be problematic at this point.
This article from Oregon State has more information on herbicide residues in soil.
While jimsonweed is toxic to humans and animals, I do not think it is doing anything to cause these symptoms in the tomato plants.
Thank you. I will check w6the source of my top soil. Last year was one thing but 2 years in a row.....
And the puzzling thing is...it is about a quarter of the garden area and he brought in all the top soil at the same time and spread it around.
Not a herbicide drift because there's a perennial bed between the lawn and veggies and the perennials were not affected. No nearby farms.
I will pursue the soil testing...especially after the time and $ and work to rebuild the garden area after the major disruption of a new drainfield.
Thank you!
mjb