The following can cause vegetable seedlings as well as mature vegetable plants to become distorted.
Aphids
- Aphids can be found on a wide range including beans, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cantaloupes, cauliflower, collards, cucumbers, eggplant, kale, peppers, potatoes, pumpkins, radishes, spinach, squash, tomatoes, turnips, watermelons.
Herbicide damage
- Misapplied herbicides can cause damage to vegetable plants. Mulching is the recommended way to keep weeds down around plants.
Physiological damage
- The upward rolling of the lower leaves of tomato plants is a common occurrence in mid-summer and is associated with high temperatures and moisture stress. Some tomato cultivars are more prone to leaf roll. It does not harm plant growth or yields.
![Tomato plant with leaf curl symptoms](/sites/extension.umd.edu/files/styles/optimized/public/2022-07/tomato-leaf%20curl-DA-2022-1.jpg?itok=3udZmIbh)
Potato leafhopper
- Potato leafhopper feeding damage creates light dots on leaves called stipples, and foliage may yellow and become stunted.
Virus diseases
- Virus diseases cause yellow mottling and mosaic patterns, ringspots, and dark-green banding on foliage.