Leaves keep curling… broad mites?

Hi All,

first time grower here. Most of my plants are extremely healthy and happy, then there’s this lady. I’ve read up on over/under watering, nutrient overdose, heat stress, and of course broad mites. I can’t figure out what is causing the leaves to curl. It’s been occurring on some leaves for 1.5 months now. I can’t find broad mites in the plant, even with a 40x scope and light.

who has ideas as to what this could be?

I feel like I could provide endless details here, so maybe I’ll let the pros ask questions before i write a novel.

here are a couple pictures of my healthy plants right next to the curling one.…just so ya guys dont think I’m a total idiot. The flowering plant is a auto and the rest are photoperiod.

Heat stress

TXskunkKush said:

Heat stress

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TXSkunkKush - thank you for taking the time to reply. I have had a few really smart people say the same thing as you, so I guess I better accept the reality and stop looking deeper. I had a friend recommend giving the plant some shading. Is there anything else you can think of doing? How will this impact flowering (which just started)?

I have absolutely zero experience with growing outdoor beyond some bagseed back in the day. . . I imagine some shade during the hottest parts of the day would benefit you.

TXskunkKush said:

I have absolutely zero experience with growing outdoor beyond some bagseed back in the day. . . I imagine some shade during the hottest parts of the day would benefit you.

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Thank you for the advice!

I learned something today.
I’ve never seen that.

I'm not convinced that's heat stress. It certainly could be, but I'd scope again.

Tangerine_ said:

I'm not convinced that's heat stress. It certainly could be, but I'd scope again.

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The leaf curl on the new growth is not localized to where the sun is beating, its way down inside also, stressed and not growing right.
You got a can of bug spray on the ground there, do you have an IPM routine with these?

Ive got seedlings doing same thing, was hoping to find answer on your thread, not heatstress in mine solid 80 24x7. Will keep an eye on your thread to see if someone else knows cause, thanks. Pretty sure heat stress is not your cause either.

DCcan said:

The leaf curl on the new growth is not localized to where the sun is beating, its way down inside also, stressed and not growing right.
You got a can of bug spray on the ground there, do you have an IPM routine with these?

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exceptionally good eyes catching that can of bug spray. That can is a natural product that has not been used on the plants at all... I just used it to kill some ants on the ground.

For the plants, I have intermittently been using Mammoth Canncontrol, mixing one ounce per gallon of water. in the beginning, I was using it once per week. I had some friends recommend using it less often, so now I've used it maybe once in the last month.

I am open to ANY thoughts and feedback. This has me really stumped. Of all the reading I've read on broad mites, the only symptom I have is the leaf curling... none of the bumps, shinyness, etc. I also am not able to see any broad mites, even with a 40x loop.

I know something isn't right. I've seen heat stress, but it has looked different... I am just at a loss.

Broad mites needs 100x scope I thought?

amateurbuds said:

exceptionally good eyes catching that can of bug spray. That can is a natural product that has not been used on the plants at all... I just used it to kill some ants on the ground.

For the plants, I have intermittently been using Mammoth Canncontrol, mixing one ounce per gallon of water. in the beginning, I was using it once per week. I had some friends recommend using it less often, so now I've used it maybe once in the last month.

I am open to ANY thoughts and feedback. This has me really stumped. Of all the reading I've read on broad mites, the only symptom I have is the leaf curling... none of the bumps, shinyness, etc. I also am not able to see any broad mites, even with a 40x loop.

I know something isn't right. I've seen heat stress, but it has looked different... I am just at a loss.

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I've read broads are extremely hard to spot even at 100x. They're very good at hiding in the folds of new growth so its best to look for their eggs. I really hope you get it straightened out.

Google , Tomato leaf roll. Perhaps that may give you some help?

From what Ive read its probably a combination of things,over water,high heat,windy,lack of fertilizer or too much.Roots probably arnt happy.

Tangerine_ said:

I've read broads are extremely hard to spot even at 100x. They're very good at hiding in the folds of new growth so its best to look for their eggs. I really hope you get it straightened out.

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Dang a 100x scope, ok, so I would have almost no hope of seeing them with my 40x. I've read a lot of bad things about broad mites, so i am really hoping its not them. Thank you very much for the feedback!

myke said:

Google , Tomato leaf roll. Perhaps that may give you some help?

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Myke, thank you for the reply and feedback dude. I am hoping you are right, regarding it being a combination of factors, as opposed to just broad mites. I guess my biggest concern if it was broad mites, is infecting my other plants. I would almost be tempted to just get rid of this plant if I knew that was the case.

I have suspected over or underwatering for a while. It started when I left town for five days, and my brother was in charge of watering the plants. I was watering them every 2-3 days at that point, and he was insistent they needed water every single day, did that, then I came home to the leaves looking like that.

What is tough for me to figure out is the plant has continued to grow in this way and do this. I have tried pulling back on the water (plants are up to being water 1-2 times a day at this point/size), increasing the water, pulling back on the fertilizer, going back to the normal amount. To my ability to see, nothing changes during any of this, accept obviously the plant performs better (grows faster) when having enough water and fert.

I will post up some more pictures in just a minute.

I greatly appreciate the feedback, and I will be googling tomato leaf roll.

Ok, here are some additional pictures. The large branch in my hand was cut off yesterday, simple because I am running out of room in my garden.

broad mite symptoms dont look like that. the leaves would be blistering and and twisted and usually turned downwards.

Also, if it were russet mites you would have no trouble seeing them with a 40x scope, you can see actually see them without a scope if you had an infestation this bad, plus all your preflowers would have a brownish tinge to them while yours still look green.

This is typical russet mite damage, note the preflowers are brownish...that is actually the mites themselves in huge numbers. Does not look how your pictures do.

And this is what broad mite damage typically looks like