16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Anyone else? I could really use some advice. This is my first experience with early blight and I want to make sure I'm treating it sufficiently. I'm using Serenade because it seems to treat many different plant diseases. But if it's not the right stuff to use I'd like to get on the correct regimen.
Thanks,
Don
Sorry but that isn't Early Blight. It is most likely Bacterial Spot given the black stem sections. Copper-based fungicides will 'help' (a little) but the best approach since it is so early in the season is to dispose of the plants and replace them.
Do some research into the disease for many pics to compare to your plants.
Dave
Well, I pinched off all flowers over the next two weeks and then as the plant grew I decided to leave the flowers because the weather was getting hotter.
And now that the nights have consistently been in the upper 70s/lower 80s (it sometimes reaches under 75F but probably just for a couple of hours before sunrise) all the blossoms are dropping. I tried keeping a fan on the plant at night to make it cooler but that didn't work. :(
I can't bring it indoors because first, it is in a 45 gallon pot so it is heavy, and second, it is up on my roof and would be too heavy to bring it down and take back up every night.
I should have thought about the upcoming weather and left those early flowers even if it only meant I get a few tomatoes.... as opposed to none at all.
Well, I learned some lessons from this growing season and hopefully I can get successful plants early on so that I actually have tomato-making plants right in the middle of the winter here.
I hate it when dogs get BER. ;)
Dogs love organic fertilizers for sure, but they don't even have to have bone or fish or blood in them. My dog loves to snarfle up anything poop based. Especially chicken poo, though horse is also favorite. Thus one of many reasons we have a strict "no dogs in the garden" policy. Also no dogs in the compost heap.
If you upload a photo to Flickr, click on the share button. Copy the HTML code (CTRL c) and paste it in your message (ctrl v). You will see the code, but when you go to preview, you will see the photo, and others will see the photo (not the code)in your post.
Lots of things like tomatoes. It could be a snail, or more likely in Phoenix, a grasshopper. Other possibilities are a possum, rat, or raccoon.
My dog used to bite mine. If they were ripe, she ate them, and if they weren't she left them with teeth marks. I caught her in the act once.
Here is a link that might be useful: What's Growing On?
If you use Photobucket, this link shows, step by step, how to upload to this forum:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hosta/msg0513322013993.html?14
And I'll just add to what lgteacher said that if you don't see your photo in Preview, you've done something wrong and need to try again.
By the way, Photobucket is free, and I believe Flickr is also.
Fwiw, I've not planted Yellow Pear for many years simply because (imo) they're not worth the space as Dave and others point out w/ their mealy texture and bland taste.
Last year, my local nursery had a flat of mis-marked 4" pots so instead of getting Lemon Boy, which do well here in Orange County, I got Yellow Pears. Though fairly prolific and 'cute', which is why many restaurants use them in salads, I simply gave them away to neighbors along w/ some 'more desirable' varieties.
YMMV .....
"Yellow Pear sure isn't considered a good tomato. It is regularly rated as not worth the space to grow it."
Hmm. Interesting. Well, if they don't turn out to be big plants, I guess they made that worth decision on their own! I think my other cherries are going to start shading them pretty quickly.
I'll be forwarned, but I don't see any such consensus against them on the other forums I follow.
Carolyn - When somebody says they are growing Red Brandywine from TGS I feel compelled to distinguish what I am growing by adding the word Landis. Sorry if that created confusion. I havent grown the others either so I dont know if there are leaf diffferences. I can say this about the San Marzono Redorta leafs, definately skinny and pointy with more indentations on the leaf parameter. My Brandywine, although reg leaf is a fatter leaf, with fewer indentations.
Looks like a magnesium deficiency if they are all on the lower leaves. Young tomato plants often show deficiencies, so may not be an issue. There can be several causes, and maybe more. You'll have to determine why.
1. Fertilizer that lacks magnesium such as Miracle Gro, if you are using an inert medium. Epsom salts or dolomite lime might help depending on pH.
2. pH problems. High pH especially will lock out magnesium. High water pH can cause this.
3. Calcium/magnesium imbalance. Too much calcium can lock out magnesium. Hard water can also cause this.
4. Overwatering can cause uptake issues.
5. Over fertilization can cause lockout of magnesium.
I bought a couple of Husky Cherry Reds at WM a few weeks ago, tempted by our own warm March to hope for some ripe fruit before I can expect any from my still-in-the-basement seedlings (which will be late, as usual). We had lower temps than predicted one night last week, and one of the plants has a 1" white spot on a top leaf.
Your plants are probably too large for OJ cartons or 2-liter bottles, but Capoman's suggestions will work, also old sheets or any spare fabric, up-ended buckets or trash containers, etc. You don't want to risk the temps being a little lower than normal and reducing your plants to stumps....
We're supposed to have lows of 36, 30, and 36 the next three nights. My tomato was damaged on a night when the low was supposed to be 36, so I'll be protecting them starting tonight.
Agree with missingtheobvious. Take whatever steps you need in your situation even when temperatures within a few degrees of frost are forecast. Remote thermometers with alarms can be handy if you are willing to get up in the middle of the night to save plants. These are the risks of planting out early. Set them a few degrees above freezing to give you a bit of a buffer to work with.
The odds greatly favor growing conditions, not disease. Disease is the last option to be explored. So we need to know where you are located - I assume way south since you planted out so early - and if these plants are in the ground or in containers. We need to know what mix is in the containers, what fertilizer you use, how often you water, how big the containers are, any pest problems, etc. In other words, much more information please.
Dave
Sorry, I should've included more information. So here it is: I'm in southern California, zone 10. This plant was planted in a 7 gallon container, and is put out on our rooftop deck where it gets full sun about 6 hrs/day, sometimes even more. I planted it in a container with Ocean Frost potting soil, and I applied Dr. Earth tom, veg, herb fertilizer only once when I planted it in Feb of this year. I water every other day, or when the soil looks dry, I water thoroughly as I read that's the best way to water these tomato plants. I water in the morning before going to work, and I also adjust for rain (which hasn't happened that often, but it has rained pretty hard for a day or so, within the past couple weeks).
Hope that helps! :) Thanks!
Cenesia
It depends. The absolute best way to fertilize is to use weak fertilizer with every watering, rather then blast the plant all at once, then throw empty water at it. The best part of constantly watering with weak fertilizer (fertigating), is that you don't have to track how often you water, and it is self regulating according to how much watering you require. Best to start 1/4 to 1/3 dose with every watering and watch the plant's response to fine tune. This method also avoids salt buildup and overfertilization in fast draining soils.
My rant....please don't respond, just frustrated and venting. I tried 3 different seed starting mixes, dome, no dome, and perfect soil temperature. Seedlings germinate and look great, and then die....sometimes damping off, and sometimes just keeling over. I've been doing this for about 10 years, and the only other time that I had a damping off problem, I switched mixes and that cured it. I came home this morning and 2 more were keeled over. The ONLY thing that I did different this year is that I started 4 grapefruit seedlings in early March. These seedlings are near the others. I can't believe that the g'fruit plants are killing the others.
I have gotten a few seedlings to survive, but my hopes are low. Sometimes it takes a while for them to die. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason. I'm going to try it one more time with a new batch, and then call it quits for this year. I should stop now, but will try once more. At least I won't have to worry about it anymore, and that's why there are nurseries. I know that disease isn't supposed to be air borne, but that's all I can come up with...just something in the air this year. Not meant to be!!
I'm pretty sure that I figured it out. I was over fertilizing them! Both my re-plants in Pro-Mix/peat, and MG Seed Starting Mix are doing well. NO extra fertilizer. I was killing them with too much MG liquid. I'm not against fertilizing seedlings, but one must strictly stick to 1/8 to 1/4 strength. I was probably using full strength.....at least.
FYI "Tomato Leaf Roll" is a good search term. As a new gardener I have had this happen on all thirty tomato plants indicating something in the soil. It turned out to be over fertilization. Fortunately, I am using only natural ferts. I didn't think it possible, but I did place bonemeal in the pot and when the roots reached this section they became stressed. In some cases repotting solved the problem. In other cases a heavy dose of rain washed out the excess from the pots and the tomatoes were fine.
You will have nothing but problems planting in garden soil in a container. It is likely the cause of both problems you have. Check out the 5-1-1 mix from the container forum. I wish I had a better solution for you, but you'll just have to live with your results until next crop. Consider it a learning experience. The only advice I can give you at this point is to cut the bottom off (or the entire pot) and bury it in the ground. That way the ground will help with drainage.
See if this works, pictures of what I am talking about.
I can see the pictures fine. The funny thing about cotyledons is that they act different from other leaves due to the fact they are not true leaves but storehouses that feed the growth of the rest of the plant, so they will always decline. That being said, I am concerned about the lack of true leaves. Other then that, the stems look ok. I would suggest you just cut back on the watering and see what happens. Don't give any fertilization until they are much larger.