Reasons for Drooping Leaves on Cherry Tomatoes and How to Fix Them

If your home-grown tomatoes develop curled leaves or wilt, don't panic! First look at the symptoms, then check the environment, and once you find the cause you can "treat the root of the problem."

1. Environmental problems

1. Too hot, too dry: leaves curl upward into a tube shape and turn a darker, duller green, and the plant looks wilted. This is most likely in summer under blazing sun, or when cloudy rainy weather suddenly clears up.

Solution: from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., use a shade net to block the sun; don't water during the hottest part of the day, use a spray bottle to mist and cool things down, water a little less each time but more often, and just keep the soil slightly moist. Don't let the soil swing between dry and wet.

2. Chilled by cold: new leaves curl and turn purplish, while old leaves bend downward. This is common during a late-spring cold snap in early spring or when temperatures drop in autumn and winter.

Solution: cover the soil completely with plastic mulch, then build a small hoop tunnel to keep it warm, and don't let nighttime temperatures drop below 12°C; spray a little 0.01% brassinolide to help the tomatoes resist the cold.

2. Nutrition falling short

1. Wrong fertilizer: too much nitrogen fertilizer makes leaves thick, dark green and curled; a lack of calcium and potassium makes leaf edges scorch and curl upward, and can also cause blossom-end rot.

Solution: stop applying nitrogen fertilizer for now and spray a little monopotassium phosphate or chelated calcium; sprinkle some plant ash into the soil to add potassium, or sprinkle gypsum powder to add calcium.

Solution: water heavily to flush out the salt, then buy a humic acid soil conditioner and mix it into the soil to improve the soil quality.

3. Poor pest and disease control

1. Viral disease: leaves turn yellow, wrinkle and curl, and the plant doesn't grow tall; aphids and whiteflies spread it.

Solution: as soon as you spot a diseased plant, pull it up and throw it away, and spray 2% ningnanmycin aqueous solution + 0.1% zinc sulfate solution; hang yellow sticky boards to catch the pests, then use 10% imidacloprid to kill the insects.

2. Root disease: root rot and Fusarium wilt turn roots brown and rotten, and the plant wilts even more after watering.

Solution: drench the roots with 3% metalaxyl·fludioxonil suspension seed coating agent + Bacillus subtilis; don't keep growing tomatoes in the same plot, rotate with legumes to reduce the pathogens.

3. Mite damage: spider mites and broad mites leave white spots and webbing on the undersides of leaves, and the leaves become hard and curled.

Solution: spray 0.3% matrine aqueous solution or 20% pyridaben, focusing on the undersides of the leaves.

4. Poor management

1. Pruning too aggressively: pinching the growing tip too early or cutting off too many leaves means not enough photosynthesis, so the leaves curl.

Solution: keep 6-8 leaves below each fruit truss, then spray a little 0.1% seaweed acid foliar fertilizer to help the tomatoes recover.

2. Too much pesticide or hormone: leaves are twisted and deformed, and the stems bulge, usually because the concentration of a regulator like 2,4-D is too high.

Solution: quickly rinse the leaves with clean water, then spray 0.01% brassinolide to promote recovery.

Everyday care tips

Root care: every 10-15 days, water with a humic acid or seaweed acid water-soluble fertilizer. Only when the roots are strong will the tomatoes be healthy.

Fertilizing: during the growing season, alternate between a balanced water-soluble fertilizer and a high-potassium water-soluble fertilizer; don't apply only nitrogen fertilizer.

Environment: in a greenhouse, keep the day-night temperature difference at around 10°C and the air humidity at 60%-70%, and provide plenty of ventilation.