why is my tomato plant so unhealthy looking?

warren

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The leaves are more yellow than they look in the picture. The plant is in a greenhouse as it is often cool at night here. It is about 5 ft tall and the leaves are small curled with purple edges.

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This one does not look very good either. Am I drowning them by over-watering?
 

OaklandCityFarmer

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There could be a few answers to the problem.

Purple veins or leaves could be a sign of phosphorus deficiency, which is a possibility if you're growing in controlled medium in a greenhouse. Although phosphorus deficiency isn't too common it is a possibility.

Yellowing and curling of leaves with purplish tints and veins can be a sign of curly top virus or of psyllids. If there is no sign of insects then it probably is curly top virus. If it is curly top then unfortunately the best thing to do would be to remove the plants to prevent spreading of the disease. Leafhoppers usually are the culprits in causing curly top. They're almost impossible to see and can be very hard to get rid of.

What are your fertilizing methods? Are there any signs of bugs?

Lastly it could be signs of a fungal disease, which unfortunately has very little chance of being exterminate but can be controlled by using a sulfur or copper spray.

Which varieties are you growing?
 

warren

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Thanks for your replies folks. I am growing 'gardeners delight' which is a cherry tomato and 'alicante' which is normal size. The leaves are off a gardeners delight.
The plants are in tubs and fed every day. Am I feeding them too much or drowning them? In previous years they used to go very yellow and I thought that it was magnesium deficiency so I reduced the nitrogen and fed Mg. This did not help so I increased nitrogen and that did. I don't do very well with tomatoes.
As for bugs, I have greenfly on them this year to add to my problems!
 

Tutter

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I'm not sure what you are feeding, but every day does sound a little like an over-correction. What are you feeding them with?
 

OaklandCityFarmer

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Since you mentioned greenfly, I'm going with curly top virus.

You may have an over fertilization problem, as Tutter suggested. Try holding back on that. I'd remove the diseased plants and try a control for the greenfly.
 
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