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Container Gardening

Deficiency? Growing organic with deficiencies...

16 years ago

Hello,

This is my second year trying to grow tomatoes and cucumbers in a pot organically. It seems like for both years, I've had to give in to using Miracle Grow to feed my nutrient deficient plants at least twice in order to save the plant (which I would like to avoid next year).

I usually do a home kit soil test for pH, NPK and those amounts are sufficient when I start. For my tomatoes and cucumbers, more than 1/2 of the soil is compost. I also feed my plants with fish emulsion once a week and add some kelp and mor bloom every now and then. Still, with these methods my plants always grow pale green at times with purple veins until I add the miracle grow and voila! They heal to a deep healthy green color.

My question is: What is the deficiency in my plants?

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Comments (3)

justaguy2
16 years ago
I really have no idea. I can't think of any reason that the plants would green up with Miracle Grow and not fish emulsion.

Are you using the fertilizer (the fish emulsion) full strength?

Is it the same brand each time?

If half your potting soil is compost, what's the other half?
jenny_in_se_pa
16 years ago
You might need magnesium. The synthetic fertilizers tend to add a higher concentration of a variety of elemental micronutrients such as magnesium, calcium, manganese, boron, etc. To supplement the fish fertilizer, you might consider trying some Epsom salts, usually at a rate of about 1 tbsp per gallon maybe once a month.

Also, I am trying Espoma's "Plant-Tone" (5-3-3) this year for the first time for the heck of it to see how that does with my 'maters (it can be used for veggies) and the company still makes "Tomato-Tone" (4-7-10). All of their products have been "natural" and "organic" for over 50 years (have been a Hollytone user for ages). Their formulation also gets the important micronutrients in there for slow release to plants. Last year I tried Neptune's Harvest Fish Fertilizer (2-4-1) . Looking at the ingredients, I noticed that at least with Neptune's Harvest, it has a much lower amount of Magnesium than the Plant-Tone product.

For now, with my tomatoes, having been taken from their somewhat nutrient-poor seed starting mix with pale green going-on-yellowish leaves to their Plant-Toned final home with needed sun, the new growth has been coming in richly dark green and flower buds are starting up on all of them. They were planted on 5/20 and the temperatures have been good. The Tomato-Tone formulation would normally be what would be recommended but I'll see how this goes for the season. Last year, my 'mater plants and crop were okay (and I did give them Epson salts through the growing season) but I am seeing a marked difference in foliage color right now without any addition of Epson salts - just Plant-Tone per the directions, and I am curious if this will be sustained. If so, I'll definitely be sold on Epsoma's products for my veggies (I use Hollytone on my blueberries in any event).
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Mike, I was composing my response as you were posting yours :-)) Raised bed gardening is far more like inground gardening than it is to containers :-) Most of the aeration/drainage issues common to container gardening do not apply. That's why you can get away with using regular ole garden soil in a raised bed, together with whatever OM is at hand......not something that would produce similarly successful results in a container situation :-) Ergo, one would want to fertilize a raised bed planting similar to how one would an inground planting bed. With the OM the OP has already got incorporated, I believe the necessary nutrients are very likely present, with the exception of the N for the reasons I gave. Regardless, the 8-4-4 forumlation most likely has a variety of micros included - most do. It is only the primary nutrients that are disclosed on the NPK ratio....the others should be listed elsewhere on the packaging.
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Jue Shei: for the 1st picture, you are right that the whole plant is not pale, but only the upper leaves. I look at your 1st pic. three times, and it looks like iron deficiency (dark veins on pale leaves). See below excerpt: "Iron Deficiency: Caused by High soil pH and salinity. - High Phosphorus, Manganese, Calcium, Molybdenum or Zinc levels. - Soil low in organic matter & Insufficient drainage. Leaves become yellow or near white between their veins. Stunted growth." From Straw: For your 1st pic., it looks like high soil pH (wood ash has pH of 13), plus salinity or high salt (wood ash is very high salt). If you did NOT put wood ash in the pot, it can also be poor drainage. My rose in soaking wet clay has that problem during heavy rain. If water cannot drain fast from a pot, upper leaves can have iron deficiency (pale background with darker veins). If it's a high pH problem from topping with wood ash, then scrape off the topsoil When the soil inside the pot IS NOT changed every 2 years, then the soil becomes compact and water can't drain fast, roses will turn pale. My most dark-green roses are with NEW potting soii which is fluffy and has air for root growth. If your soil is more than 2-year-old in the pot, then change to NEW SOIL will help. Old soil in the pot for more than 2 years accumulate too much salt, then become compact so roots have zero air, so leaves turn pale. From the web: "An ideal soil contains 25 percent air, 25 percent water, 45 percent minerals and 5 percent organic matter."
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There doesn't appear to be much grass at the base of your trees but I would pull out as much as you can, the grass will compete for the nutrients and usually win. I bet if your soil is mostly sand there isn't much nutrients to begin with and everything growing in the immediate area is vying for the fertilizer you put down.
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rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
16 years ago
Test kits are notoriously inaccurate, and especially so for organic based mediums. Also, there is no way that a test kit (or even a professional soil test) can test for nitrogen. Just so you know.

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