My beefsteak heirlooms seem to be growing much slower than the Romas. They haven't out grown their cages yet.

Is it normal for them to get that tall and not have flowered at all yet or produced anything? Both were planted in April together so they're almost 3 months along, plus however old they were when I bought them from the plant farm (the romas looked much older than the beefsteaks when I bought them).

I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or not, and then I go out there today with a home rememdy to get rid of the huge ant infestation I just got that seems to be killing off my zucchini, and I find this on my Romas.

The leaves seem to be curling a bit and not looking too healthy. I've been watching it for the last week and now the leaves are all starting to get these strange white spots on them. Any help?

Happy Gardening,
-Kristina K.

I realize that I'm shooting in the dark with that last paragraph, but the pictures look like plants that have been getting too much nitrogen to me.

As far as the spots, It's hard to tell. It looks like septoria leaf spot to me, but you'll be able to do a better job yourself by checking out pictures online and comparing them to your plant. Pick a leaf off and bring it inside to your computer so you can compare it directly to the pictures. I'll include a link to a good website that can help you diagnose it.

Hope this helps,

Michael

I water the garden twice a day. Once in the morning or noon (whenever I wake up) and once after the sun goes down.

I do fertilize. I use some generic organic fertilizer from the plant farm I bought the seedlings from. As far as feeding them? If you're asking whether or not I use plant food on top of fertilizer, no. I'm not even a big fan of using the fertilizer honestly, but the plot of land I'm stuck using wasn't exactly the healthiest plot of land to plant in to begin with, so I had to use something.

As for the septoria leaf spot, I looked it up and it KIND OF looks like what's on my tomato leaves, but these are just small white spots with not brown, black or tan discoloration around the outside edges. It literally just goes from green to white, and the white's dry and brittle.

I didn't know that about the beefsteaks! I'm working with a ridiculously small plot of land for a garden. I'll replant the center one as soon as I can.

I wonder if it's insect damage? Have you inspected the undersides of the leaves for bugs?

When you water, do you spray the leaves, or just soak at the bottom of the plants?

Also, do you have any objection to using chemical pesticides?

When I waster my plants I soak the bottoms of them and try not to get any water on the leaves. Doesn't always work, but I do my best lol.

As far as how to treat this plant, the general rule of thumb is to remove any affected foliage so the plant will not waste energy trying to heal it, and so it won't spread any further. My understanding is that it's not good to remove all of the affected foliage at once, but to start with 4 or 5 of the worst leaves on one day, and then continue each day taking off leaves or branches until most or all of the bad leaves are gone. I'm sure there's others out there with more experience who can comment on this, so please chime in!

As far as natural sprays, Copper fungicides are pretty popular among organic gardeners, and supposedly work very well. I use neem oil, but it's more of a fungus preventer and mild insecticide than a disease treatment. I've provided a link to a copper spray as an example, but there are plenty of other brands to choose from. I've never used one yet, so I can't recommend one.

All that being said, it would be great if you were able to diagnose the disease so that the spray will be the right one for your particular plant problem.

I can't tell from the pictures to be honest, but there may be someone else trolling on the forum who can.

Hope this helps,

Michael

Your watering pattern is problematic for plants in the ground.

As a general rule, tomatoes need an inch of water every week. An inch of rain is exactly that, water that is one inch deep. One inch of rainfall equals 4.7 gallons of water per square yard. So basically tomato plants need 5 gallons of water a week. Cool weather or soil with lots of clay needs will be less, hot weather or sandy soil will need more.

Dig down with your finger about 4", is the growing medium wet, dry, or just right? If it is wet, don't water, if dry then water. If it is just right, check again the next day. Water deeply once or twice a week. Watering daily encourages shallow roots which means the plant is affected more by variations in soil moisture. In my garden during the heat of the summer, I water deeply every 4-5 days, early spring I may only water every 8-9 days and when the weather is moderatly warm (70-80 F), about once a week.

Mulching heavily (to a depth of 6 - 8 inches) with compost, straw, hay, rotted leaves, grass clippings, even shredded paper or sheets of paper or cardboard helps maintain a consistent moisture level.

I'm not sure what is causing the white spots either. They look almost like what you get when you have a sunburned plant (one that was put out without proper hardening off.)

Betsy