16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Hard to give best opinion without pics, but in my case, if there is a problem it's usually human error. Like Linda said, too much fertilizer will kill seedlings (been there done that,) overwatering (how do you know soil is dry?,) light, temperatures, etc.
What did you do differently since they were green and healthy?
I have a couple big gardens myself and still enjoy growing some in pots.
Indeterminate's...25gal. nursery pots work well for me, you can use smaller but need to feed and water more. I like some time to myself. lol
This post was edited by pasco on Thu, May 2, 13 at 20:05
I had BAD experiences with those 5 gl. buckets from Home Depot: short, thin plants, no fruits. Maybe I over-watered, maybe I made too few holes at the bottom of the bucket, maybe the soil was not fluffy enough, maybe⦠Anyway, IâÂÂm not going to use those buckets anymore.
I had EXCELLENT results with BIG 
like this one - the bigger, the better. Probably because they are biggerâ¦
So, everything will go in the ground, where ALWAYS everything was fine.
The variety you ask about is completelyy gentically stable, it was borught back frim Siberia by Bill McDorman whi was the first person let into Siberia after sanctions were removed, He brought back many named varieties andmany of them have become faves..
Two of us bought seeds for al lof them when he first listed them.
If it;s just ONE branch that has PL leaves and nowhere else on the plant then I;d suggest what it might be is a somatic mutation,Most mutations occur in the DNA of seeds but somatic mutations occur in the cells of plants .f a
'If it truly is a somatic mutation, then seeds saved from the fruits from that branch should give plants with PLfoliage,
I;ve been lucky to have seen two somatic mutations over the years.
Hope that helps.
Carolyn, who linked to it at Tania;s site and if you look at seed availability there are two places offering seed for 2013
Here is a link that might be useful: Olga's, etc
nothing to my tomato plants so far, but I found them crawling all over my other plants. apparently the larva can cause swelling in areas of plants, with certain types of midges. I also know that there is some that attack the buds of tomato plants, at least in hawaii lol. but my tomato plants arent budding yet... I found it difficult to find information on what they do to plants so I was just curious. the weird thing is that the midges are all gone now but there is dead ones all over the tomato plants and I know that tomato plants are a part of the nightshade family so I was just curious if the tomato plants poisoned them? I was more concerned about my other plants but I tried googling this with no results. my tomato plants are healthy as heck right now which is pretty awesome because I am a first time grower. they are actually almost to healthy... they are growing like crazy and I have so many!! they are of the Tigerella variety.
Could these be fungus gnats, aka fruit flies? They like the damp soil of houseplants. This year, for the first time, I found some in the hairs of my tomato seedlings' stems.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tomato/msg0316540831177.html
Before transplanting out, and at that point the seedlings are 6-9 inches tall, I used to take of all buds and blossoms, and that b'c you want all plant energy to go into making a great root structure as well as good stems and branches, keeping the plant in what's called the vegetative cycle before letting it go into the sexual cycle of blossom formation, fruit set and maturation.
And that b/c energy is diverted to the sexual cycle at the expense of the vegetative cycle,
But if I had plants as big as yours are already, I'd just let them do what they're going to do and not worry about it.
Carolyn
The purple is from a phosphorus deficiency. Seedlings can suffer from seed starting mix that is too acidic which causes poor phosphorus uptake. Peat moss, which makes up a large part of most of starting mixes, has a ph of around 3.4 - 4.0. Most seed mix companies add lime to their mixes to balance the ph, but problems can arise because the begining ph of peat mosses can vary depending on where it was harvested and what species of peat it was. And the PH of starting mix can change over time as more and more water is run through the mix. Phosporus uptake problems can begin at a ph below 6 and uptake is almost nonexistent at a ph of 4 and below.
I solved the problem with my plants by adding just a little hydrated lime to their water once or twice, along with a very dilute fertilizer. The amount of lime I added was about an eighth of a teaspoon per two quarts of water. The purple started to fade after the first application and continued to disappear over the next few days to a week. If you take my approach, you should take it slow and cautious because hydraded lime has a ph of about 12 in solution so it can be overdone. The problem is that you won't know what the ph of your starting mix is but you will know that it is probably below 6 if your leaves are purple. In small amounts lime will balance out the PH so that the plants can take up nutrients. Also be very carful of adding fertilizers. I add mine at about 1/4 of the amount the bottle says to add. So for example my brand says 7-8 drops per quart, and I add about 4 drops per two quarts. And I only add them occasionally after the plants obtain their first true leaves. In any case, the purple problem will disappear fast after they are in the ground, and in most cases they will be fine until you get them there.
Kevin
As Carolyn said above the purpling is common and normal. It poses no threats to the plants and they recover just fine all on their own without any intervention. It isn't lack, a deficiency of phosphorus as testing shows sufficient phos in the tissues and in most all potting mixes. Rather it is a temporary uptake issue due to the plants young age and under-developed root system.
Try to fix it if you wish but often trying to "fix" something that isn't a problem anyway only creates more problems. Alkaline soil pH can interfere with uptake of ALL the nutrients.
Dave
Here's another explanation I like from a very well known poster on the Containers forum:
"you add gypsum, the Ca will be immediately available if you water from the top so it can disperse through the soil a little. Be careful because gypsum does contribute to the level of EC/TDS and you don't want that getting so high you burn your plants.
The reason BER occurs is because Ca is not mobile in the plant. The plant can 'borrow N, P, and K from other plant parts and translocate these nutrients to new cells, but since Ca is not mobile, it has to be continually present in the nutrient stream for new cells to form normally. The blossom end has the newest cells in each fruit, so anytime the nutrient stream is interrupted (cultural) or Ca is unavailable, the cells on the blossom end don't form normally. This can occur not only from an actual deficiency of Ca, but also from high humidity (usually coupled with clouds and calm winds), too much/too little water in the soil ..... anything cultural that interrupts the constant and sufficient supply of Ca to newly forming cells in the fruits."
Thanks Betsy.
First, I've been having major DSL problems and it's still not solved, heaven help Verizon, so I don't know how long I'll be on here or elsewhere and have been offline since last Friday.
Just a couple of other points.
Growing in containers is not the same as growing inground whenit comes to BER..
Second, BER iS primarily found with paste type tomatoes, but can affect other varieties as well, so shape is not the determining factor.
THirdly, different varieteis can have different physiologies, which also plays into BER,.
When I used to have my tomato field there were some low spots and after torrential rains some ares would find the plants under water. The normal progression to death of the plant is yellowing leaves, can 't get oxygen and nutriens via the roots b/c the soil is waterlogged, then the leaves turn brown and then RIP.
Some vaiteites would go the death route and others wouldn't go beyind the yellowing leaves and would recover,
So with different physiologies plants handle Ca++ differently as well.
All for now,
Carolyn
beautiful, healthy plants that have nice color, an abundance of flowering, lots of sun (6-7 hrs) with absolutely zero success of tomatoes.
That type of description usually sets off one alarm bell for many of us - excessive nitrogen. High levels of N triggers big beautiful healthy dark green plants with little to no fruit set.
Tells us about your soil and what may have been added to it. Also define "small amount of Miracle Grow" specifically.
The other possible explanation is 'blossom drop' a condition that is primarily air and tem and humidity related (but is also triggered by high N levels). See the FAQ on it below and let us know how your weather has been - average day and night temps and humidity levels.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Blossom Drop FAQ
MGrow potting soil may be the culprit......it may have been a fortified variety. I don't think that it has anything to do with blossom drop because I can still see older blossoms lower and deeper in the center of plants. OK, so if it is a high N situation, is there anything I can do like 1) adjust it, or 2) wait it out, or 3) yank the plants and start over?
Thanks for the advice! They seem a bit happier now with less frequent watering.
Increase the light levels, too. The plants are very leggy.