Tomato Leaf Roll

Several days ago, on June 12, we experienced a cloudburst that dumped well over an inch of rain in a short amount of time. After sharing a few photos with friends on Facebook, many that live in the same basic area commented back that they had only received a few sprinkles and were amazed by the amount of rain shown in my photos. This is kind of normal for the High Desert – a downpour in an isolated location and little to no rain in other near-by areas. Yay, it was my turn for some free water!

Although almost all of the runoff was diverted from my veggie garden area, parts of the area were watered a little more than needed. The garden area held up remarkably well, but one of my heirloom tomato plants (Black from Tula) ended up with an environment disorder – tomato leaf roll.

The symptoms of tomato leaf roll are firm and leathery leaves; and the lower leaves roll upward. This occurs in wet spring conditions, which is usually not a huge problem here in the desert.

There is no need to worry about it though, as the symptoms will disappear when the temperatures get warmer (they have), and the soil dries out (working on that). Normal growth will resume and future fruits will not be damaged.

For more information about other tomato disorders, diseases, and pests, visit ipm.ucdavis.edu.