16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

With the established garden, probably you can just plant and let its roots grab the soil first and then fertilize as neede.
But with a new raised bed or flat bed.. that has just been filled with purchased material(soil, compost..) it would be safe to fertilize lightly at transplant time.(my case this year). I do not fully understand the merrits of BOTTOM OF HOLE fertilizing. I figure the surface fertilizing eventually will go down anyway. But with the B-of-H methos, it might get leached before the plant gets to it. This of course will depend on the amount of watering( an/or rain fall)

I do not fully understand the merrits of BOTTOM OF HOLE fertilizing.

Just as with all the "magical cures" for BER that many insist on using, it is more for the gardener's benefit than for the plants.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. :-)

Dave

Dave,

Yes, some of it does. Other leaves turned uniformly dark
yellow. And overnight. The day before they looked
perfectly healthy, then overnight - bright yellow orange.
I have no pictures of this because I treated with fungicide
right away and stripped off the most affected leaves.

Also, I think significant the fact that I had another shelf of
plants three feet below these ones that appeared to be
unaffected. One day later though I see the first signs of
the same thing. They have gotten "fungicided" this
morning.

Then of course there is the "yellow printer ink" running off.

Maybe it will never be identified but I will probably know
the end result pretty soon. The fungicide - copper soap
and spreader-sticker seems to be helping.

Thanks again for all your help.

Here's my latest scenario;

1) I think it's pretty definitely a fungus. Which one is uncertain
but according to Dave's reference it could be powdery
mildew or something similar.

2) The indoor location is unusual for that but not impossible.
The area is a back basement. It is not wet and there have
been no other occurrences of mold or mildew. That doesn't
mean it can't happen, especially with the enticing object of
tomato plants, soil and water in a confined area.

3) There is a duct with a register nearby but not very well
located. Consequently, with respect to air circulation,
it is a bit of a dead end. Add moisture and a steady
temperature in the low 70s and it looks as if I may have
created the ideal incubator for some sort of mildew organism.

4) I have used some external soil in there for repotting and
so on. As well, I have entered the area several times a day,
sometimes after working outside in the garden. So, spores
could have come in on clothing or skin.

5) The original occurrence was confined to a single shelf
with an area about 2' by 4'. a dozen plants there might
make an ideal breeding ground for a mildew.

6) The confined area and minimal circulation would have
allowed for a normal pathogen life cycle followed by a
sudden "bloom" of infection and spores. this could account
for the extreme and sudden (overnight) yellowing (oranging)
(sic.) of some leaves while a few others have a more
characterisitc appearance of infection.

Hi Dave, i fed them Tomato tone. That is usually the only thing i use. Do you recommend anything else? They have been planted for 1 week. The banana peppers have brown spots on the leaves, but the new growth does look good.
Of the 15 tomato plants i have, only 3 of them look to be crappy looking, all the other 12 look great, so that is why the concern.

For some reason when i catch those brown bacterial spots on my peppers, i have trouble beating them back, and i've used every chemical under the sun. Some work better, some don't. It isn't the worst thing they can catch, but it is contagious btw.

For more generic plant varieties, i would just yank them out, then buy more and plant those instead, it's early enough in the season. If it's a rare type of plant, then i'll baby it and spray it down with one or two different solutions.

Those May temperature fluctuations + cold rain will get you every time. This is why i prefer to plant out later than normal, instead of trying to beat mother nature ;)

Keep the leaves as dry as you can, but seriously consider yanking a few of the worst, and replant.

will post a picture when I get one--growing them indoors with aeroponics--have other pants without the brown fuzz

Try posting in Hydroponic Forum.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/hydro/

Here is a link that might be useful: Hydroponic Forum.

Perfect info from Betsy. Question - why do you feel you need to prune any of them? The need to prune indeterminates is dictated by your support system and the plant spacing you use.

Dave

Another reason, in addition to what Dave said, is the seasonal limitation. In zone 5, 4.. the plant would not have enough time to rais all the kidds that it wants so greedily.
from the blossom to ripe tomato it takes 3 to 4 weeks.(?). As a gardner with seasonal limitation I want to get fruits not so much lush green foliage. I need just enough green to support the fruits formation . Here in the Pacific NW, some gardener will pinch off all new growth at the end of summer, Becaust any tomato set after that will not have a chance to become ripe. This is analogous to planned parenthood.LOL

Both leaf curl and blossom drop could be the temperatures, it always is for me. On the watering, it's definitely too much. We obviously live in very different climates, and I use raised beds where I control the soil, but I haven't watered yet and have 3 ft tall healthy plants.

"I've been deep watering / flooding with a bubbler about twice a week, and spraying water until it pools up a bit, on the rest of the days."

Sounds like way too much water to me too. That could account for the leaf roll, it is a response to physiological stress. As Ohiofem said, you should let the soil dry out between waterings.

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 5.6 US (4.7 Imperial) gallons of water per square yard. 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 soil 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 moderately warm (70-80 degrees 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.

As for the blossoms dropping, you had some temps that are in the range that cause blossoms to drop. When the temps are moderated, you will get more blossoms that will set fruit.

I hope that helps.

Betsy

Your plants look great!

The varieties you have listed are all midseason tomatoes except for Persimmon which is a late season variety. 75 - 80 days from transplant is the usual time frame given for midseason varieties, and 85-90 for late tomatoes. Yours have been in the ground for about one third of that time.

If I am not mistaken, all the varieties you have listed are also indeterminate, which means they will produce tomatoes on a continual basis, not with the bulk of them at one time like determinate tomatoes do.

I see blossoms, so I would not be concerned, you will get tomatoes and they will make more blossoms for even more tomatoes.

So, the key here is to be patient. You will get tomatoes. (Providing everything goes according to plan and you don't have weather or disease issues, etc., etc.)

Betsy

Here is a link that might be useful: Timeline of a Tomato Truss

This post was edited by bets on Mon, May 20, 13 at 12:40

Find out exactly which one was sprayed and if not the landlord then neighbors. It can drift for a mile. Whether or not they will recover depends on exactly what was sprayed. Since it is so early in the season I would replace them.

Dave

Also,

If you are still living in that complex next year, i would get their lawn maintenence schedule ahead of time, and clear your plants out of the area for at least a couple of days after a spray. Tomato plants are sensitive to even small amounts of residue.

Good luck either way.

Ferti-lome potting mix has fertilizer in it. I like it and use it myself. They should not need anything else until you plant them outside.

You are south of me and should be able to plant them now, unless you have severe storms in your near-term forecast. I have not put mine out yet only because I had too much cleaning up work to do on last year's garden, and it was freezing two weeks ago.

We finally had a nice thunderstorm last night. It has been a long time coming! I don't have a rain gauge, but I bet we got at least half an inch. Generally the rain goes around us, so I'm pretty happy this morning.

It was my mom's birthday this weekend so I didn't get the tomatoes planted. I cooked lunch, baked cake and froze ice cream instead. I'll be raking out bermuda grass roots this evening after work- just a few feet left (I spent two hours on it Saturday). Then the tomatoes are going in.

I will look at walmart for fertilizer this week.

Lynn

I guess you are right in that aspect.

Should I transplant the tomatoes or should I just wait to plant them in the garden?

I would plant them out as soon as your zone permits. mine take off once in the ground.
Tammy

Ok, thanks for the input. No chance it's fertilizer burn or thrips/some kind of pest? I scratched some fertilizer into the soil on this one for some reason even though this soil probably doesn't need it.

Sunburn or burn from your copper sulfate spray probably. It will be fine.