Yellowing Tomato Leaves

10 years ago

After a lousy tomato season last year, we're having an incredible season this summer! We planted out transplants on Mother's Day, and today our Sun Golds are between 8' and 9' tall with plenty of foliage, flowers, and several tomatoes ready to be picked this evening. Our Early Girl, Better Boy, Sweet 100 and Lemon Boy aren't far behind.

My question is that on most of the plants, the lowest sets of leaves continue to yellow. I dutifully clip them off, so now the bottom foot and a half or so of each plant is naked. Otherwise, the plants look very healthy.

I asked a salesman at our local nursery about it, and he told me it's perfectly natural for the lowest sets of leaves to simply yellow from old age and not to be alarmed. Does this ring true to the tomato veterans here?

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Comments (4)

dog_wood_2010
10 years ago
Yes, that sounds about right. The lower leaves usually yellow for lack of sunlight. Not a bad idea to snip them to improve air circulation. Keep the plants mulched, feed them about every three weeks. I use Tomato Tone. My Sun Golds are about 7 feet tall and the first tomatoes are just beginning to turn orange. It looks like a bumper crop this year. Thanks to the bees.
digdirt2
10 years ago
Does this ring true to the tomato veterans here?

Yes as long as you first rule out over-watering and/or lack of sufficient nutrients as both those things can also cause yellowing of the older leaves too.

Dave
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raymondo17
Original Author
10 years ago
>It looks like a bumper crop this year.Sure does, dog_wood. Funny how bad last year was, but how incredible this year is! This will probably be the best tomato year of my gardening career. :)

Dave, I amended the soil with composted manure before planting the bed, and added plenty of compost, a bit of bone meal, and even some crushed egg shells at the bottom of each planting hole, so I'm pretty sure it's not a nutrient issue. Watering with a drip line, and it never seems over soggy out in the garden, so I think that's good to go too.

I appreciate the replies. :)
dog_wood_2010
10 years ago
Me too! I wish I could make a salad or something, but I keep eating them right off the vine, LOL!