[KerryAnn]

Hi, i'm having tomato problems. i'm growing shirleys in a glasshouse. I germinated from seed, planted on with polythene and warming cables and planted out inside the glasshouse 2 weeks ago. the plants are not thriving, leaves from the bottom up are shrivelling up and dry like parchment, mottled light brownish colour. I have 36 plants and they're all the same. two plants I gave away 2 weeks ago are thriving!! also have roma plants and its beginning to affect these too. don't think its leaf roll maybe some kind of virus. does anyone have any ideas? tomatoes have thrived in this particular glasshouse for 30 years (not by me) could it be a soil problem ... we did all the usual things over the winter.

[michael brenock]

if all plants are showing the same symptoms then it might be a temperature problem too high by day and too low at night or did you disturb the roots too much when you were transplanting them. it is highly unlikely that they all got virus disease. is the soil too dry or too wet or did you put in fertiliser near the roots. pests that are likely to cause damage at an early stage include slugs and symphalids (these damage the stems at ground level. The most important point at present is that the central growing point is green and growing. Check out those points.
michael brenock horticultural advisor (retired)

[KerryAnn]

michael thanks for that. i'll keep an eye on them for a week or so, temp has been very varied this year and used smaller peat pots this year so roots could have been disturbed. Tops are still growing good and green so hopefully they'll pull through. stems aren't damaged and no pests evident. My late father-in-law Paddy Landers (retired hotricultural advisor) was the expert on the tomatoes so I've a lot to learn.

[mcgrueser]

I have been growing my tomatoes since January on my windowsill inside. I had been bringing them outside into my greenhouse, which i had insulated with bubble wrap, and finally had brought them on to my polytunnel (newly constructed from scratch i might add!).

People had been giving me warnings about the cold, and i was even reading Michael's comments up above last wk about the temperature difference between day and night..... and what should happen last Fri night?? Massacre of ALL my plants! It got down to about -1 or -2 and has killed everything on me! 3months growing down the drain....

Oh well, I may learn from it. I shouldnt have had all my plants in the one place when the possibility of them being killed was so high!....I'm gutted but i suppose the best way to learn is the hard way...