Tomato Plant -- It's got me befuzzled

[SweetMissDaisy]

OK folks... this tomato plant has me confused. It's a Sweet 100. Two other Sweet 100's I have growing are doing GREAT and look nothing like this!
I've never had a tomato plant do this to me, and am not really sure what's causing it.
The stems have grown super long and the leaves are now coming in quite small, and curled.
If it were your plant, what would you do?

 

[digitS']

Don't know . . .

However, the Super Sweet 100 is kind of a peculiar tomato in that it does grow like straight-up! It is one of the most difficult tomatoes I grow because of that tendency to skyrocket as a plant start. Some of the others want to grow tall, especially in my crowded greenhouse conditions but Super Sweet 100 outperforms them all.

I have been wondering why it is recommended for hanging baskets. I don't grow tomato plants like that but what must this thing be doing?! Shoot up, then drop from it's own weight? I can imagine that it would end up on the floor and trailing away off the edge of the deck! Maybe I'm wrong. I've had them in the garden for several years and they just make a big plant and produce lots & lots of cherry tomatoes. At maturity, there isn't any rocket fire from their corner of the tomato patch. . .

What you might have there, Daisy, is a parent. I really don't know but if the hybridizing wasn't done, the self-pollinating mother plant would have produced a fruit with seed 100% of her own. One fruit, dozens of seed - contaminating the packets. Or, it may be a mutant and not behaving like either parents or offspring.

BTW - I grew regular Sweet 100's for several years. Then, Sweet Million came out so, I tried that one, became discouraged and didn't go back to the type until the "Supers" came out. You can still buy the seed for the regular Sweet 100 from Tomato Growers Supply but I don't know if anyone else carries it . . . (Now you can tell me that I'm completely off-base assuming it came out of "Super" packet of seed :/.

Steve

 

[journey11]

That is weird... I've grown them before and they are rather tall plants, but the way the leaves are twisted and deformed at the top looks more like it was maybe poisoned. :/ Too much fertilizer or something maybe? You could wait and see if the fruit is stunted too (which I am curious to find out.) Or just yank it because I can't imagine it would bear well with those tiny leaves and I'm not sure I'd want to eat them anyway?

 

[digitS']

Oh,

the sudden onset of small, curled leaves . . .

I may have been too caught up imagining what the dang plants would act like in hanging baskets. It is all I can do trying to keep them from entangling everything they are growing near!

Steve

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

Ok. Correction. It is a Super Sweet 100. As are the others I compare this one to. This one looks so different from the Others. Too much fertilizer may be it. I am trying to remember if I did anything out of the ordinary where this plant is. I'm having trouble getting any spinach to start in this bed too. Thought it might have been the seed tho. Ack. What to do.

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

So, is there a fertilizer that would cause this? I only have bonemeal and Epsom salt on hand. They are all I would have used other than compost. Maybe compost was hot?

 

[MontyJ]

How about a close-up of the leaves. It looks like it may be viral or fungal, but I can't tell. I seriously doubt it's a fert problem since the lower half of the plant looks fine. Are the other super sweets in the same bed?

 

[so lucky]

One of my tomatoes has that small curled-down leaf going on, too. I think it is an heirloom Roma type. Forgot to label it. But it is still growing well. I noticed a few insect-looking things, white fluffy like lint. Maybe thrips? I can use a little sevin or DE. May do that today.

 

[digitS']

It is a new day!

Now, maybe I can get past the "don't know" and my own befuzzlement . . .

Here are some people who have something online that may be of help, Daisy. And, like MontyJ says - it may be a disease. I'll suggest that you click thru to "Cucumber Mosaic Virus." Here's where to begin:

Tomato Problem Solver, Texas A & M (link) Try clicking on "Leaf."

Steve
hoping it helps

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

Hi Monty, nope the other plants are in different beds, and have a slightly different soil mixture. I think that's why I am hung up on the soil possibly being the problem.

Thanks for the link, Steve. I was reading about CMV last night, and wondered if that might be it. The photo on the link you shared is better than the others I saw.
I guess I will remove the plant. *CRY*

Maybe I can find a replacement at the garden center. And hopefully, I have time to get fruit off of a new plant.