16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
IMO your plants look ok. Discoloration on a few lwaves isn't a major concern, but I might suggest spraying with a fungicide as a preventative measure. Maybe spray an insecticide also. In spite of all the rain you've had the soil seems to be draining well. I don't know much about growing tomatoes in NC, but maybe the heat and rain is currently limiting the fruit set. MG in liquid form is ok, but what you've applied has surely washed away. If you are going to continue to use that it has to be applied more often depending on weather/rain. I would apply some kind of granular tomato fertilizer to give continuous feeding. The Bonnie 8-4-4 seems a little high in nitrogen, but would probably be ok for now.
3-4 weeks for ripening is totally unrealistic - think 6-7 weeks instead. Patience.
Am I watering too much? Is there some fungus, disease? Not enough sun? Perhaps the soil quality isn't nutritional enough? All I know is the tomatoes aren't ripening.
The ripening isn't related to the rest of this stuff and we can't really help you without a photo of the plants and affected leaves or at least many more details. Otherwise it is just guess work and likely wrong.
It could be disease issues or a watering issue - either over or under - or lack of nutrient issues but you'd need to tells us what the bed filler is, what fertilizers and other amendments you have added, how often you have fed them, how much, how long and how often you water them, etc. etc. etc.
Dave
I waited more than 2 months from flower to ripe tomato. AND that was EARLY girl. haha. But the first month was cold and rainy. The second month was not that great either.
So, I thing it has to do with HEAT. Here at the PNW, supposedly is zone 7B, but in terms of heat it is ZONE !. Down south in zone 7B, heat zone is 10. If here it takes 8 weeks, it will take 6 weeks down there. I know, I have gardened for years in GA, 7B.
Just water normally with the 1 tablespoon per gallon mixture until you are convinced the soil is saturated with it. You might go through several gallons to water everything depending how many plants you have.
This post was edited by edweather on Fri, Jul 12, 13 at 18:34
Yeah even with all the deer damage done early - they topped off some 20-30 plants but most have recovered well - I still have to come down on the far better than average year...so far...knock on wood.
Pretty good year for hornworms but no disease issues and really good production on all varieties. Been eating Bella Rosa, Jetsetter, and a few Mortgage Lifters for a couple of weeks.
Dave
buy the concentrate and use a pump sprayer. I think the premix is to thick, might want to thin it out a little with some water.
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EXACTLY that is what I do. And use an adjustable sprayer bottle (can change from mist to stream). This is very handy and you can aim exactly where you want, how much you want. If I had to spray a big field then I would use a gallon pump sprayer.
Thanks the responses. I'm still looking for more info. If they are simply leaf hopper markings that would be a relief but I'm not sure.
I am a very amateur gardener and my mom thinks I'm paying way too much attention to the leaves. Last year I think we had some kind of blight that hit in August so I want to stay on top of them. This is the first year with cages as well.
I took more pics and added them to the back of that flickr set and added descriptions to the pictures. At the end of the set are closeups I cropped so they'll show on flickr.
I noticed last night when I zoomed in on the pics I took I would see blue/black spots near the white. Here is one example.
I have used some sort of food twice now (10-10-10?) and that stuff I tried my best to keep only at the base of my plants. But as for fertilizer...
I had a tiny bit of dirt left over in a bag from quite some time ago and my mom unceremoniously dumped it in between of my two left-most plants, so that's probably what that is (not sure it was fertilizer though? S: It wouldn't have gotten on the two right ones, in any case, and a few of their leaves are whitish too~
This information quoted from some source? If so, you need to credit the source. Comments taken out of context can often be misleading or misunderstood.
Yellow Leaves - Water-stressed tomato leaves are wilted but still green.
Initially true, but very soon the leaves turn yellow.
Yellowing leaves, on the other hand, are usually a sign that the tomato can't get enough oxygen or other nutrients,
True but what it doesn't make clear is that it is the over-watering, the high moisture level in the soil that creates the lack of oxygen and nutrients by displacing them with water.
diseases/soil deficiencies can also cause yellowing.
True but in most cases it is a very different color of yellow and the interveinal pattern of the leaves appears quite different.
Root Rot/Soil borne disease - Signs of a serious infection include yellow, dark-spotted or brown leaves and slow-growing, stressed tomato plants. Crowns are soft and the roots have large brown sections that may be rotted or desiccated.
(1) root rot is not a disease and (2) the same symptoms are not limited to soil borne diseases only as stated above. Air borne diseases can create the same symptoms.
Leaf Roll - As overwatered tomato plants mature and begin to set fruit, the topmost leaves curl inward and upward. The leaves themselves are firm, rigid or crumbly.
An oversimplification. Many things can cause "leaf roll". Physiological tomato leaf roll is a plant's response to stress and inconsistent watering/soil moisture levels (as opposed to just over-watering) is only one of the possible causes. Plus leaf roll often develops on the larger, older, lower leaves first, not the new growth. Top/new growth leaf roll is often more associated with disease than with over-watering.
JMO
Dave
Did your leaves look like the leaves in my picture? I am not sure my plant has late blight. It isn't progressing as quickly as Dave said it does and is not affecting the stems or fruit. You may not have late blight if it has been going on three weeks. It may be early blight which can usually be controlled with a fungicide.
Any plant, regardless of age, that is getting a major shift in environment needs to be hardened off first.
Dave
I had a cover crop of hairy vetch growing on the barbed wire fence near a tomato. I left it because it was pretty and blooming. I pulled it when it went to seed and the tomatoes sheltered by it got sun scald. You have to protect them from shifts in environment as stated above.