On today’s 2 minute garden tip, I share the truth about tomato leaf curl, and it will blow your mind! Tomato leaf curl is a common condition in tomato plants, but the cause will shock you. You’ll learn why tomato leaf curl happens, how to stop tomato leaf curl and how to keep your tomato plants healthy for the rest of the season.
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EQUIPMENT I MOST OFTEN USE IN MY GARDEN (INDIVIDUAL LINKS)*:
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ABOUT MY GARDEN
Location: Southeastern NC, Brunswick County (Wilmington area)
34.1°N Latitude
Zone 8B
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©2 Minute Garden Tips
#gardening #garden #gardeningtips #leafcurl #tomatoplants
what’s growing on gardeners on today’s 2-minute Garden tip I’m going to show you the mindblowing truth about tomato leaf curl and what to do about it this time of year every year I’m overwhelmed with comments from gardeners saying help my tomato leaves are curling and I don’t know why what can I do about it this is what tomato leaves typically look like they are slightly ruffled at all times but they are mostly flat and straight but sometimes during summer time your tomato leaves will change they will start rolling up and curling on you and you can see this phenomenon happening with this tomato plant right here they’re starting to look like a taco shell and when gardeners see this they often panic because of how prone tomatoes are to tomato leaf diseases you may be shocked to learn that tomato leaves do not curl because of disease they curl because of physics tomatoes are native to mountainous regions of Central and South America and they are native Forest species they’re vines that grow in the underst story of forests they did not adapt to grow in full sun now in their native habitat tomatoes have all the time in the world to meander around the forest floor and flow and produce their fruit and reproduce but because we are growing them in temperate regions where we get Frost and freeze we have to jam their entire lifespan into roughly a 6month frostfree period so because of that we plant them out in full sun against their wishes plant leaves are effectively solar panels their job is to collect solar energy and then the plant takes that solar energy and converts it into carbohydrates via the process of photosynthesis for just a moment pretend that this sheet of paper is a plant leaf typically it will be flat like this because that maximizes the surface area of the leaf and then it can collect as much solar energy as possible typically tomato leaves are flat because they are a native understory species so they have to fight through the canopies of trees in order to collect as much solar energy in the dappled light situations as possible now here in the United States Ates we are mostly planting our tomatoes out when it is early spring so the sun is not strong at that point so because the days are still short and the Sun is relatively weak the leaves will be in fully extended orientation to maximize their surface area to collect Sun but a shift happens in most climates in the dead of Summer where suddenly the UV index becomes too strong and the days are too long and it’s more than the Tomato can handle because they adapted to collect light underneath forests they can’t deal with full Summer Sun so what the leaves do is they naturally curl like this to reduce their surface area so whereas before the whole Leaf was collecting solar energy when they curl they’re actually sucking in the leaves underneath to provide shade and get less solar absorption so it is a natural mechanism to decrease surface area now once your tomato leaves curl there’s really nothing you can do about it they will be stuck like that however that’s not a problem because it’s not harming the plant tomato leaf curl is a signal that the sun is too strong and it is starting to stress out your plant and if you don’t do something about it the plants will start getting weak breaking down they will get stressed out and then they will likely come down with disease issues and likely be overwhelmed by pests the best thing you can do at this stage is to install shade cloth overhead to protect them from the intense rays of the sun once you install shade cloth overhead all of the tomato leaves from that point on will likely be normal and flat because they won’t need to curl and reduce their surface area because of the strong Sun if you’re curious how to do this process I will link to a video above and down below that shows you exactly how I installed my shade cloth overhead my plants it is a total game Cher I will also Place links to shade cloth down in the video description for the exact product I use it comes in all different sizes and that’s today’s two-minute Garden tip if you’re new to the Channel please consider subscribing and hitting the Bell to receive new video notifications and check out our Amazon storefront and spread shop in the video description for a list of the gardening products I use and awesome custom designed apparel and other gear your support is greatly appreciated
21 Comments
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Completely valid explanation for leaf curl but here in the UK, particularly in Scotland where I am, there is much much less sun and way lower temp than you. My outside tomato leaves still curl but that is usually because they are stressed from low temps and high winds.
So what causes them to curl UPWARDS?
My garden is south facing but directly next to a row of tall trees on its west side. It gets full sun until about 3:00, when the sun moves behind the tree row, every plant in my garden seems to grow best in this condition
Thank you! we're having some triple digit weather this next week, so i better get some shade cloth..
Wow, thanks. I've wondered about that.
ok so my sun is never strong enough to do this apparently. Thought this was about the leafs bending in random directions. Thats what i´m noticing, some leafs bend down at their stems, some upwards, the leafs are sometimes shaped like spoons either up oder downwards konkave :/ it makes the plant look jagged but does not seem to affect the fruits
Any tips on growing in a greenhouse for zone 7a? Noobie here to the greenhouse world.
Thanks! Another thing you can do is grow large sunflowers around the tomato plants to give a little bit of relief from the sun. I am doing that currently in my garden and you can use them as a natural trellis as well. To those of you out there struggling with growing food, don’t give up! Keep at it, we all have failures and it doesn’t mean you can’t grow things. 💚 Happy gardening!
As Thomas Jefferson once said, "I might be an old man but I am a young gardener". I'm an old man now who has gardened as long as I can remember. I'm amazed at how much I don't know. Everyday is a school day. Thanks for sharing. I just subscribed.
I thought you were going to give me some startling revelation about tomatoes not something that is glaringly obvious.
I never knew that tomatoes are native to Central and South America. I live in the mountains in Costa Rica and I suck at growing tomatoes.
So why do the experts tell us that tomatoes require fifteen hours of full sun?
Maybe the experts could tell us the actual needs of the plants
nice. should also make a video about getting rid of worms in raspberries and all berries..
I've been placing netting above my tomatoes to deter the deer, bonus that it shades the plants!
Wow!! I always thought they were just thirsty. Great video. Thanks.
Seems sunflowers do too
I grow my tomatoes in a shade area of yard, which gets full sunlight only 5 hours per day, and have done well with all sorts of other plants like zukes, cukes, bell peppers, etc. check it out. What shade percentage cloth did you use for your full sun area?
What about just folding back on seem? No curl
Mine curl upwards….
Thanks! New subscriber here! 😊