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Something going on with one tomato plant
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Posted by
HeyJude2012 10b/24 CA (
My Page) on
Fri, Jun 14, 13 at 22:17
| Hi everyone-I have an Early Girl plant with some kind of anomaly. I planted 2 starter plants from a nursery at the end of Feb. I'm in San Diego...what can I say? They are in terra cotta pots with organic potting soil and cactus mix. They have been doing great. I've been getting big fruits and little fruits. Taste is great. I fertilize with Miracle grow tomato food once a month. Water regularly. I'm in a microclimate so I don't have as much sunshine as inland and its been on the gloomy side. I try to keep the bushes well trimmed. I hand water at the soil. I don't see any pests. Both plants are about the same size with about the same amount of tomatoes on it but one has a funky leaf thing starting, and I pulled off one tomato today that has a very unappetizing looking skin. Any thoughts? I googled the early and late blights but this really didn't look the same to me. I did move the plant away from my other plants. I have some brandywines and other heirlooms I started from seed and I don't want them to get infected. Any thoughts or advice would be very much appreciated. Also, the skins on these tomatoes are a little tough. A friend of mine suggested a mineral deficiency but I've never had this problem before. Never had Early Girls before so I can't really compare I guess. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Something going on with one tomato plant
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RE: Something going on with one tomato plant
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RE: Something going on with one tomato plant
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| The ugly tomato. The skin is rough. |
RE: Something going on with one tomato plant
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| Fertilizing with Miracle Grow once a month is not enough unless you applied slow release or some other fertilizer when you planted. Nutrients wash out of containers each time you water. Also those pots don't look big enough for indeterminate vine like Early Girl but since you are trimming back maybe OK. When tomatoes set fruit without ample nutrients available, the quality of the fruit can suffer. |
RE: Something going on with one tomato plant
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| Hi Suncitylinda-Thank you so much! I will up the fertilizing schedule. I didn't know there were the two kinds of tomato plants until a few weeks ago while doing some reading about tomato plants on this website. I used the same pots last year when I planted tomatoes but those poor plants were my first in pots and between my ignorance, the super hot weather we had and a hornworm infestation...they never had a chance to get very tall. :( |
RE: Something going on with one tomato plant
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| That pot looks tiny, and I think that's your biggest problem. The plant looks poorly overall and it just isn't going to thrive in a pot that small. Next time, try much bigger pots. 5 gallon absolute minimum, bigger is better. Also, just curious, why the cactus mix? |
RE: Something going on with one tomato plant
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| Hi Gin-Gin...I used part cactus mix to help assist with drainage. Last year I just used the potting mix and it didnt seem to drain as well. It got stinky at the bottom when we had a horrible heat wave. I had just trimmed the plant so it looks more spindly than it would have had I left it alone. |
RE: Something going on with one tomato plant
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| gin-gin, you are right. I grow in containers and totally missed the small container. Good catch. Yep, 5 gal MINIMUM, and preferably 10. |
RE: Something going on with one tomato plant
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| I'm wondering why you trimmed the plant. The fruit of the plant gets fed by photosynthesis in the leaves. The more leaves you have, the more healthy fruit you get. |
RE: Something going on with one tomato plant
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| Just throwing this out there - I was specifically told not to use Miracle-Gro anything on tomatoes, since they're apparently very sensitive to the artificial chemicals. |
RE: Something going on with one tomato plant
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| Not sure who told you that. MG is fine for tomatoes. |
RE: Something going on with one tomato plant
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| The big "danger" I was warned about is MG sometimes making plants focus on foliage rather than fruit... which happened to me last year. I had two plants - both using MG Moisture Control soil - and between the two I only got one tomato the whole season, though they were both big and beautiful with tons of happy green leaves. |
RE: Something going on with one tomato plant
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| So here's the same plant 10 days later. Honestly, does it look that bad? I'm still getting an occasional funky spot on a leaf or two but the tomatoes are starting to ripen with smooth skins and they taste great. I PROMISE promise, promise that next year I will use a bigger pot!!! Hi Ohiofem- I've read many threads on the tomato forum about trimming leaves...so I trimmed the leaves. :) I'm still learning what does and doesn't work. Hi Sylviagrace-I bought the Miracle grow because that's what the nursery had. I figured if it said it was specifically for tomatoes then it would be okay. I'm having lots of flowers and tomatoes. But I did buy a new tomato food yesterday. Hi Edweather-Is your whole garden in containers? So the tomato food I bought is from a company called Grow More. It's 18-18-21. Does this sound appropriate for a containerized tomato plant? I'm just starting a worm farm. Until I get that going, I'm stuck with what the local nursery is selling. thanks everyone. I appreciate your thoughts and input. |
RE: Something going on with one tomato plant
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| Sylvia, There are many different kinds of MG for many different purposes. MG is a balanced fertilizer and if used as per the instructions is a good fertilizer. I use MG all purpose liquid in the yellow bottle almost exclusively and have excellent results. Yes if you pile nitrogen onto any plant it will grow lots of green foliage. HeyJude2012, yes 95%+ of my garden is containers. And btw, your plant looks better from a distance. You are getting a decent amount of tomatoes and that's what counts. |
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