Homegrown tomatoes are loved by all and there are no second thoughts about that. But farming is not something that every one can master and there are certain precautions that are needed to be taken to keep the fruits and your plants healthy. There are different conditions on the tomato plants that one need to be careful about. Especially when you are dealing with the tomato leaves, they can turn purple at times as well and that is not something healthy to have.
There are chances that purple tomato fruit on your plant might be a characteristic from certain cultivars, but the leaves are not supposed to be purple. Few things that you must know about it are:
Misconception
There is a common misconception about the purple leaves and most people out there think that it is caused due to some nutritional deficiency on the plant. As a result, they treat the plant with phosphorus, nitrogen or potassium that has nothing to do with the purple leaves. So, if you are seeing purple leaves on your tomato plant, you should not be getting into those supplements and you need to have the problem properly diagnosed.
Why Are My Tomato Leaves Turning Purple?
Most of the time, purple leaves on the tomato plants are caused by some sort of disease or stress on them. You will start noticing that the leaves start turning purple from the middle and that spreads throughout the leave. So, you will need to ensure that you are taking appropriate measures to fix the problem.
The disorder is named TPLD that is abbreviation for Tomato Purple Leaf Disorder and it spreading from one leaf to another. You can never be certain about the number of damages you are going to face and it can be dangerous for the fruit as well.
According to the studies so far, no viable reason was found to explain the pathogen that might be causing your tomato leaves to turn purple. The agent causing this problem is not similar to any pathogen that is known so far and studies are still being conducted to find the root cause for this problem and to fix it up for good.
How to Avoid?
While there is no similarity with other pathogens at the time and most of the researchers find themselves in a fix while trying to figure out a solution for this problem. They are certain that the agent can be viral and infectious. So, if you are seeing the veins on your tomato leaves turning purple. You will have to make sure that you are plucking those leaves from the stem and burning them so that these agents cannot spread and affect other leaves that are there.
All you can do to prevent it in the first place is to not let most leaves overlap and have ample space between them so they are not touching each other. You can also add a bit of phosphorus supplement to avoid the chance of phosphorus deficiency.