Tomato leaf curl/ virus/s

Heather Reed

Repeated tomato leaf curl and other virus/s I’m presuming every year now for the last 4 years in the greenhouse beds despite taking all the soil out and replacing with new…. Multiple times …. Don’t know what else to do other than not grow tomatoes inside my greenhouse which is so disheartening just as much as waiting all year for the new season and watching them all die of leaf curl and other viruses….  

I have a 10 x8ft greenhouse and plant a row of 4 corden toms down the 10ft side …. 

I don’t grow the same variety I’ve tried alsorts over the last 10+ years of living here in Sunny Manchester. 

They used to be amazing every year for about 6 years and one year the viruses started and havnt gone away no matter what I’ve tried every year since. 

Does anyone have any ideas apart from saying the obvious of being doomed 😂 I’d really love to be able to eat lots of fresh tommies again and no be so disheartened each year 

bcpathome

Have you cleaned the actual greenhouse? Quite often these diseases are in the environment rather than the soil . Take everything out and spray the inside of the structure with your liquid of choice and leave to dry . Wash all your pots in soapy water ,rinse and leave to drain dry . New compost and try again . Hope it works good luck .

Dovefromabove

Just thought I’d mention that there are other reasons for tomato leaves curling as well as viruses … I presume you’ve checked them out 
https://www.rocketgardens.co.uk/tomato-leaf-curl/#:~:text=There%20are%20several%20potential%20causes%20of%20leaf%20curl,better%2C%20particularly%20in%20terms%20of%20excess%2Flack%20of%20water.

sometimes it’s very easy to assume the worst … recent summers have not been easy 

Pete.8

I've been growing toms for many years - mostly in a greenhouse.
I also have a 10 x 8 and grow 8 in the border along the 10ft side.
The leaves often curl, they get yellow spots, purple spots and all sorts of other damage - none of this is due to viruses.
I get a fine crop every year.
Tomato plants are sensitive to draughts (causing leaf curl), hot temps can also cause leaf curl, a couple of cool nights may cause purple spots and older leaves naturally go yellow and ragged over time. None of the above affects the crop.

Do your plants produce a good crop?

Heather Reed

@bcpathome yes I clean the glass inside and out every year with agralan 
mall the staging and pots get it also and I regularly sanitise the snips also…. I have usually cleaned it by now but I just feel like what’s the point, dosn’t seem to stop my toms from a miserable death 😂 

Heather Reed

@Pete.8
so my greenhouse was purposely situated half shade, so it’s up to the side of the fence, the comes over the top of the greenhouse but I did this with my seedlings in mind so they wouldn’t be. Frazzled but could have the warmth… it works well…. It’s frustrating because they will start if super healthy and then all of a sudden start to suffer with leaf curl….  There’s no spots or anything but the longer it goes on the more straggly the plants get and stunted and the yeild is rabbish hence why I just pull them before it gets that far, I know the outcome as soon as I see the curling leaves start…. 

I’m wondering if it’s worth me either getting a disease resistant variety to plant in pots outdoors? And see if something else would grow in the greenhouse beds?

or use tomato grow bags in the greenhouse and see if the same things happen?? Like a bit of a trial? 

Just a bit fed up wasting season after season now and this year would be the 5th one. 

Heather Reed

Also I have another problem in the greenhouse and I have tried to remedy this by amending and drenching ….. the soil has turned hydrophobic….. I have resorted over the years to adding to the soil and taking out and replacing…. 

How does everyone else overcome this? 

Heather Reed

@Dovefromabove thanks for the link, I must have winged it year on year!! When you start to read about them there’s so much that they can be fussy about. 

bcpathome

I stupidly thought that you had definitely got some sort of disease in the tomatoes confirmed   For goodness sake they are not going to look perfect ,they are plants ,they do what they do . You’ve probably been throwing out perfectly good plants year after year .Water them ,feed them ,don’t let them bake or freeze ,that’s it ,nothing to it . Bit of leaf curl ,couple of holes in the leaves ……so what ? You don’t eat the leaves .

Fairygirl

A photo or two would help 
Most tomatoes look pretty crap by the time they're fruiting, especially later in the season, so it's quite possible you're expecting too much from the plants. The leaves get frazzled if they touch the glass in hot sun, they get a bit manky/spotty when they're too dry or too cold, and the lower leaves will naturally go yellow and generally pretty duff as time goes on. Those are best removed at that point as they aren't benefiting the toms in any way. 
As @Pete.8 says - lots of little things can affect the foliage, but if they're producing flowers, and are pollinated and forming fruit, there's probably very little problem with them. 

Dovefromabove

Heather Reed said:

Also I have another problem in the greenhouse and I have tried to remedy this by amending and drenching ….. the soil has turned hydrophobic….. I have resorted over the years to adding to the soil and taking out and replacing…. 

How does everyone else overcome this? 

What have you replaced the soil with?