16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

Looks like early manganese deficiency to me. Smatter scattering of tiny yellow freckles on all the leaves including new growth. Progresses to interveinal chlorosis and larger spots which turn necrotic.

The soil/compost mix you used in that container - which is never recommended for a container - is very likely low in many of the minerals but high in calcium carbonate - most all rockery soils are - and that CaCo3 interferes with manganese uptake by the plant. If there are no signs of any pests then I suggest some internet research into that deficiency.

There are many different tomato nutrient deficiency websites with photos that you can compare your plant to.

The simple solution is to transplant it into the ground which is rarely manganese deficient (not sure what the purpose of that container is anyway). Or if you are going to confine it in a container then use a proper soil-less container mix, one that also contains added soil bacteria so that your compost can be of any benefit to the plant. Compost provides no nutrients without an active soil food web to digest it to a form usable by plants.

Dave

Thanks, CaraRose. Unfortunately my veggie growing area is way too far from the spigot for irrigation or even hose-watering, not to mention that I would need my own well (the current well I'm on supposedly can't handle a two-person household, a one-person household, and a garden). So I have no experience with irrigation systems except occasionally seeing a set-up here or there, or a photo of one.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I definitely understand how massive growth is NOT a good thing. :) It is very helpful to know so I can plan accordingly!

I would say that a determining factor in choosing this tomato might be whether blight, especially late blight, is a problem in your area. Saw big, fancy 6-packs in a local nursery, in our area where late blight is only a remote possibity. Seemed sort of odd.

I start all of my tomatoes outdoors in full sun. I soak them in water for a couple of days until one of the seeds shows signs of sprouting. Then into a 2 or 3 inch pot with a fine textured mix. I screen any of my potting mixes. The fine texture might be a blend of bark fines, peat, compost, DE, perlite, dolomite. I cover the seed with about 1/4 inch of the blend.

Then outdoors in full sun and water 1 to 3 times per day from above to keep the blend damp or wet. When they sprout you can cut back on the watering a little bit.

I keep them elevated and covered with bird netting. If you plant in the ground you may have trouble with birds, rabbits, mice, insects and ? If you wait to put them in the ground until they are six inches tall they have a better chance of surviving.

Edit: If nignt temps drop into low or mid forties in the early stages I bring them indoors.

Zeuspaul

This post was edited by zeuspaul on Tue, Apr 8, 14 at 13:30

I only grow one variety from seed and I started them
outdoors in a 6-pack (never know if they'll all sprout).

I started them in a sunny spot similar to the garden
location they'll eventually call home.

This gives me the chance to grab the best one of the
six (if they all sprout).

Now, of course, I have 5 to get rid of! They all sprouted!

I did not know that it is forbidden ..

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

There is no such a thing as "forbidden" here. Some do it , many don't. But that does not make a rule. It is more common among pepper growers than tomato gardeners. I think it would make sense when a plant left of its own grows 10 ft tall (when staked). I like them to be within my arms' reach. Plus I grow them for fruits not foliage.
Lets just say that it is a personal practice.

Yes, any plant can be suckered but in some cases it doesn't help your cause and in other cases it is just futile. As an example I've suckered Determinate variety Florida 7514 to a single stem and it seemed to perform well but its Florida counterparts 47 and 91 are far too vigorous at shooting lateral branches that keep ahead of the growth.

I will note that you need to be more careful if you attempt to sucker determinate varieties since the is a greater tendency to top the plant by mistake. It is just something you might not want to tackle.

Yes they look very wet. Light is not the problem but two feet away is too high. I planted lots of different tomato seeds this spring. A few had knobby tops and funny leaves and those were from old seed. What is your planting medium? Something is very wrong there, starting over sounds right to me also.

Did you make your own media?
Or did you "fix" a store-bought mix with something?
If one or the other, what are the ingredients?

Seysonn, Your first points make perfect sense and I'll agree that almost any commercial tunnel tomato grower will prune to optimize yield per square ft. covered space. I've been doing it for years and the yields per plant for me far outweigh the outside unpruned plants. I will clarify that I plant Indt. plants inside at least 2 months earlier than Det. plants, outside. Support for inside pruned plants is stringline, dangled from stuctural frame. For outside plants, also on plastic, I just place a cylindrical cage on each plant. The real yield difference is likely a combination of three times the harvest season, 6 months compared to 2. But I regularly will harvest more on an average harvest day inside (pruned) from 1/10 acre than outside (unpruned) 1/10 acre simply due to the fact that I have over 3 times as many plants inside as outside in that same acreage.

So thats my take on the topic. I know Dave and others on this site don't care to prune and I'll admit that it involves work. I like the tradeoff for work on "Off-days" that allow me to pick in half the time on my twice weekly harvests- Fruits are readily visible and none are burried under a tangled mass of plant vegetation. Then there is the fruit quality issue but my results are skewed due to weather protection provided by the tunnels.

take your pick. I will continue growing both ways as I have for the past 15 years. I'll just add that if I had a few more greenhouses I would abandon planting outside tomatoes completely.

Thanks bmoser

There seems to be two schools of gardening, in general:

One: Plant and let the mother nature and the plant's grow habit do as they wish.

Two: as a gardener/grower , get in there and interfere FOR YOUR ADVANTAGE.

I belong the the latter school.

Thanks so much for your advice Dave! I figured I should have stuck with my gut! They were doing so well too, but I think it's time to cut my losses at this point and start fresh! Lesson definitely learned!

Keep them. They can grow back fuller.

Yes, I've done that too but there's no one site shows all in order kind of site. Ugh :(

Check out Youtube for nctomatoman's videos, you may have to search for the dates since he uploads videos on peppers, etc. too but you can probably track the progress of a particular flat by going backwards from the most recent, he usually mentions the last video that he showed those plants.

Here is a link that might be useful: NC Tomatoman videos

my guess is that your Frankenbush is different then the other two plants. a out cast seed got into your pack of seeds.. :)

Boston, I was kinda thinking the same thing, I'm sure it happens from time to time. I'm just not sure if that would explain the twisting leaves...

However the changes I have made this week seem to have helped, I changed to a stronger mix of the nutrients, and switched to the H.P.S. bulb. I changed the light yesterday, but today they look better...Not sure if related or just luck...

Thanks for the reply, and Happy growing,

Bruce

I am itching and getting into planting mood.
If it is not raining, I will start planting, a half a dozen or so this coming weekend and following Monday.
Our highs are hitting 60s and lows are in low to mid 40s. This is a typical PNW spring weather
I am going to try the "cool tolerant" like, SIBERIAN, SILETZ and LEGEND among others. I will plant only in one bed. So in case of very low nights, I can put my portable hoop over them. I am also making small cages from rabbit fence and wrapping them with bubble wrap. That should work similar to WOW.

FINALLY HAPPENED

Today I planted about 10 tomatoes. The seedlings had been hardened off already. Now tonight they are on their own, in their own home in the garden. Tomorrow is supposed to rain. So the day after I will plant some more.

TEMPERATURES:
Not very warm. Lowe are around 42F and highs about 62F(average/median). We are getting more sun and less rain. Thats a plus here. If i have to wait til it gets real warm, it will be like in June some time. That feels like eternity to me :)
I know that tomatoes can tolerate cool weather, though they might not grow much but I could not baby my seedlings inside anymore. They were close to 10" , some even taller. Once it warms up a bit, they will take off.

I aim at having some ripe tomatoes to celebrate The Fourth. That is not easy here at the PNW. Our zone number is just meaningless when it comes to summer gardening.

I don't know, I figure at least 3, so you have to start more in case of poor germination, problems hardening off, cutworms, etc. Anything I think I may want to take to market, at least 6 of each variety. I usually grow about a dozen each of a dozen varieties, give or take (125-150 plants) each year.

Thanks ajsmama, that's what I had in mind so I'll go with that.

I have always heard that the rust is beneficial for your garden as plants take up the iron. Don't know if it's true or not but I know plants need iron so it sounds good anyway.

I have always heard that the rust is beneficial for your garden

Agree. Rust is just iron oxide which is a normal component of all soil.

For those rust bothers it is always just an appearance issue. Plus in this case the most likely place for rust to develop is at and below the soil where it is in direct contact with the damp soil. It wouldn't show there anyway.

Dave