[bexybeck]

I've been getting this for a few years now and it seems to be originating from my greenhouse. Every year I scrub the whole thing, clean all the pots and use fresh compost. I don't have soil in my greenhouse and everything is in pots but every year I get terrible fern-like leaves on all my tomatoes and sometimes other plants too - once I got it on three lemon trees grown from pips.

This year I bought tomato plants rather than growing from seed and within a couple of weeks sat in the greenhouse they had ferny leaves.

Is it cucumber mosaic virus? I checked google images and that's the closest thing I can find. Could my greenhouse be causing it?

I think i've attached a photo 

Beccy

[mumofstig]

It's not very clear in the photo, but that just looks like curly leaves, caused - usually- by cold nights. Most of mine are the same now.

[sunshineband]

Mine are too -- poor chilly things 

[angelavdavis]

It is a bit tricky to see what is really happening to the leaves from the photos. 

Sometimes curled up leaves like this can be caused by too little watering coupled with white fly or greenfly infestation.  Looking at the leaves, they seem like the sap has been sucked out of them.  Are the leaves sticky to touch at all?

[bexybeck]

Hi,
nope they've never had greenfly or any sap-sucking insects! Honestly, I'm a demon for keeping an eye out for them

The leaves aren't shriveled or curled up, they are deformed. They have never been full leaves, they just grow like that. The veins also stick out a lot and are wavy rather than straight. It always starts at the top of the plant and works it's way down.

I've been growing tomatoes for a long time now, it's just the last few years and always plants that have been in the greenhouse, never those that are kept outdoors.

I've attached a close-up photo nexy to a healthy leaf to see if that makes it any clearer - it's a puzzler!

[bexybeck]

...and anther photo but it's getting dark and the light is pretty poor!

[MichelleC]

Could it possibly be that someone has used weed killer nearby or could you be using contaminated water?

[sunshineband]

(Echo)

They are too cold

[bexybeck]

Hi sunshine,

nope it has nothing to do with cold but thanks for the echo. They do this at any time of year. As I said, they have been doing this for several years now and it doesn't matter if I put them in the greenhouse in April or August. I've bought plants late in the past because all my crops from seed have failed - they still do the same thing.

The leaves are not shriveled or curled, they grow like a compacted mass of leaf and later the fruits are deformed and mottled or don't form at all. The leaves continue to grow like that for the rest of the year so it couldn't be anything to do with temperature - I'm not so far north we have snow in July 

Thanks for the help!

[bexybeck]

Michelle -  I had the same thought about weedkiller because it does look like that but we don't use weedkillers (just laboriously pull 'em by hand!) and because they are in a greenhouse it couldn't have drifted from someone else but missed the whole garden on the way.

Thanks for the help!

[mumofstig]

what compost do you grow them in, Beccy? and what do you use to sterilise the greenhouse?
although I really can't see you getting CMV every year from your greenhouse, it just doesn't seem plausible somehow :blink:

[bexybeck]

Mumofstig: I know, every year - I didn't think it was one of those that can survive in an empty greenhouse with no host  Nothing outside the greenhouse is affected though, so it's odd.

I buy different compost every year, just multipurpose, whatever is cheapest and peat free. I've been using mild disinfectant and washing up liquid in loads of water to clean the greenhouse and pots etc. I scrub the staging with a bristle brush. I thought that would be enough?

[shokkyy]

Are all the healthy outdoor plants in the soil, or do you have some that have been treated exactly the same way as the greenhouse plants, i.e. same compost, feeds, etc.?

[Aunt Sally]

As you are in York it could very easily be cold weather.  If it is then they will grow out of it when (if) the weather warms up.

If it's cucumber virus then the advise on the RHS site is good and they suggest some resistant varieties too.

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?PID=250

[bexybeck]

Shokkyy - the outdoor plants are treated in exactly the same way as the greenhouse plants but some are in the soil and some in the same compost in pots and they are healthy and vigourous.

Sally - as I have said before, I get this every year and they do not grow out of it. It happens at any time of year and it doesn't matter if it is blisteringly hot or chilly.

I have been growing my own vegetables for a long time and this never happened until a few years ago.

I guess I'll have to try the resistant varieties or just buy more plants and never let them near the greenhouse! It's a waste of a greenhouse though - I'll just have to turn it into a summerhouse for a couple of years