tomatoes dying

[luckycrank]

not sure why, but my tomatoe plants are dying off. leafs are curling under and eventually the hole lateral dies and falls off

they took off after potting up and now they are dying little by little each day.

how often to feed em ? some stil have purple leaves but they are the ones to fal off first some are turning yellow

any ideas

[buddha]

I assume you still have them in pots waiting to plant outdoors? If so do you use artifical light? I have 36 of them in a sunny window and use a grow light but fertilize with Schultz Bloom Plus plant food everytime I water. It gets rid of the purple leaf problem. Mine are getting really tall and I need to water about twice a week now at most. I let them dry out and kind of droop before I water and fertilize. I will put mine in the ground next week but I use Wall O Water to help get the toms in the ground a few weeks before normal safe planting.

[Nainoa]

If they are yellow in between the veins... Then it means you are either over watering... Or low on minerals in the soil... If you're not over watering... Then put a Table spoon of Epsom Salt in a gallon of warm water and use that to water them.

Otherwise Yellow is a sign from the plant saying that that particular leaf is consuming more sugar to stay alive than it is producing in photosynthesis... And thus they need more light.

[Powerstroke]

Are they potted too deep?

[Big-Al]

Pretty hard to bury a tomato too deep. Every transplant I give them I strip of most of the leaves bury the stem as deep as I can. When I transplant into the garden I strip the leaves and bury the whole plant horizontally and turn the stem up. That whole stem will grow roots. A 16 inch plant turns into a 2 inch plant. It is all about roots to feed that huge plant by the end of the summer.

[upnorthvoice]

A local garden supply owner told me years ago to not strip the leaves from the Mater's. He said transplant them with the leaves on and he felt that would prevent fungus, etc from infecting through the broken or tore off leaves. I have done it with out striping the leaves for many years and seems to work good. At least I don't see any bad effects from leaving them on.

..

[Big-Al]

That sure seems like it would make sense that it would be a avenue for fungus. Over the years I have had minimal late blight and virtually no early blight. And when pull those plants in October those root symptoms are unbelievable. I think I will keep my method up until I have issues.

[Nainoa]

When you replant deeper, it's fine to remove any cotyledon leaves... But I always plant only up to the base of the first branches. Once a tomato goes in the ground it is a sugar machine... And in the early stages it needs every leaf it's got in order to maximize sugar production to prepare for fruiting.

Things like Fungus and Blight are local diseases, that they are either in your soil or they aren't... Or they are being transported, on the wind, in the compost, in the load of black dirt etc... And often for them to successful take hold on your garden they also need the right (Or in your case wrong) watering conditions.

Hence why you water near the roots without getting the foliage of the plant wet etc...

[Jim Almquist]

Hence why you water near the roots without getting the foliage of the plant wet etc...

Great Info !

Might explain some of my problems last year.

[Nainoa]

Yeah almost anything that is Fruiting, like tomatoes (And ESPECIALLY wild cherries) air flow on the plant is absolutely critical to keeping blights and funguses down.

This is why some of the old farmer ladies used to but double cut out tomato cans at the root base of tomatoes and just fill them up with water.

Getting that foliage too wet just gives blight and fungus spores a nice environment to get started and get a foothold.

*This is one of the achilles heels of many heirlooms (Like I grow) is a lack of blight resistance.

[Nainoa]

Any updates Lucky Crank?

How are the plants doing now?

[KEN W]

I do the same Al....been doing it for over 30 years.Bury the stem up to the grow point.Plant them laying down on their side.Huge root system by fall.Plus the first tomatoes are at ground level instead of 18 inches off the ground.

Only blight problem is when it is really wet.....they get late blight.Evenually kills the plant even with spraying.But that doesn't happen until Sept or so.By then I'm done canning anyway.

I also plant the only blight resistant tomato I've been able to find....Legend.It had tomatoes until cold finally killed it in Oct.

[reinhard1]

Ken when you say bury them sideways, do you literly mean lay the plant on the side with the main stem under the ground with only the "branches" sticking out? this is my first garden this year so i have never heard of this. but if it does what you say i'm for it. by the way thanks to you and Nainoa and others for past help. good luck.

[timjones]

Ken when you say bury them sideways, do you literly mean lay the plant on the side with the main stem under the ground with only the "branches" sticking out? this is my first garden this year so i have never heard of this. but if it does what you say i'm for it. by the way thanks to you and Nainoa and others for past help. good luck.

I believe what Ken means is you pinch off all but the top couple sets of leaves. Dig a horizontal trench and lay the whole plant in the trench. Turn the last couple sets of leaves that you left on up, so they will be sticking up out of the ground, and then bury the rest of the stem. The plant will grow roots all along the whole part of the stem that you buried.

[reinhard1]

thanks, i have some tomato plants going now but i will get a couple more and try this. on a side note, last year i was going to stop using the "upside down tomato" gizzmo because it just didn't do what i expected out of it, even with watering it and all the rest. i cant remember if it was a post here, but someone said he put one tomato on the bottom and one on top and it worked fine. well, i did that this year and so far so good [all cherry tomato's]. thanks again. good luck.

[KEN W]

Yes....that's exactly what I mean.Pick all the leaves off up to the top growing point.Lay the plant on it's side in a trench.Cover with soil.Put a pillow of sorts under the top above ground.You don't have to get it straight up.The plant will grow straight up.

I put a TBS of 10-10-10 garden fertilizer in the hole and mix it in with the dirt.Cover it with a little soil to keep the roots from touching it .They will grow to find it.

All the buried stem will develop roots.Be careful you don't snap off the top when you bend it upward.I've done it a few times.

When the first fruits show....put a mulch of straw or clippings around the plant.It will help prevent uneven watering and blossom end rot.

After a month or so....sprinkle a little 10-10-10 over the entire root system.

By burying the stem....the root ball is only an inch or so under the soil where it will warm and grow faster.Instead of 5-8 inches deep where it is colder.

This year with my indetermintes I'm am using the "Florida Weave"developed for commercial tomato growing.If you don't know if you have determintes or indeterminates just ask.

http://www.foogod.com/~torquill/barefoot/weave.html

[reinhard1]

thanks Ken. very helpfull. good luck.

[luckycrank]

sorry been busy ,they have bounced back for the most part threw out a few that didnt make it but I grew plenty any way kept 15 plants for family and I which got destroyed by the first batch of thunderstorms after transplanting.

replacnted another 15 and so far there ok turning a little yellow but I am sure it waws because they are not hardened off did the same last thing year

I think the ones that died where just burnt out from to much fertilizer.

[Agent Andy]

You may want to hold off fertilizing plants untill you see the fruit (vegie) start to grow. If you fertilize to soon the plant has the tendency to put all the growth into the plant and you don't get as much growth in the fruit.

[Nainoa]

It's best to go rich on nitrogen fertilizer from planting to around the 4th of July... A tomato is basically a "Sugar Machine" in order to make that sugar it needs lots of foliage to drink in the sun.

After the summer solstice, in late june) tomatoes begin the job of setting fruit. (They are short day plants that are triggered by the shortening day to make fruit to pass on to seed before winter) Once a plant has it's first green fruit to size, I stop all Nitrogen fertilizer (Soluable pot ash rich fertilizers will be good though) and I sucker all new growth that forms in the crotches of branches...

This encourages the plant to set it's energy into the fruit instead of the foliage.

As for the Yellowing... Yellow in a tomato is a sign that the leaf is consuming more sugar than it is producing. If that yellow is between green veins, then it is a mineral issue... And you will want to give it some warm water from Epsom salt.

Most other yellowing incidents are related to either needing more sunlight, or transplant shock from going into soil that is less than 60 degrees.