Since it is putting on new growth, I would leave it be for now and let it recover. Make sure to water daily since it is in a pot. I have a large mophead in a pot and I give it 1/2 gallon of water every day. Because it is in a container, it will need more watering than it would in the ground. The newly planted hydrangeas I have in the ground get watered every 3-5 days. I agree with Ian about the sun scorch---and wanted to add that a water stressed plant is more suceptable to insects (I learned it first hand when my limelights (who I neglected on vacation) got spider mites. I treated them, and they are doing what yours are doing... recovering, putting on new growth, but the old leaves look awful.

While it is normal for the cotyledons to yellow, die and fall off, this pic has nitrogen burn on the leaves - the black necrotic tip tissue - and also shows signs to too much watering and aphids (which are attracted to all the nitrogen). From the fertilization schedule you list I can understand why ;) - way too much fertilization for young seedlings. Their needs are really quite minimal: 1/4 strength of a mild food such as your 6-4-4 1 time before going to the garden. Young roots just can't tolerate anything stronger than that in my experience. Problem is it is now all in the soil so they can't recover while in it. I would suggest that you transplant the plants to new containers with a new, quality, pre-moistened but not wet soil-less mix in it - try to remove as much of the old soil as possible first with a light spray rinse of the entire plant under tepid water. This will also remove the aphids. Transplant them deeply to just below the first set of leaves or remove them if they are damaged too and plant even deeper. This will allow new roots to develop along the stem above the damaged area. Then no more feeding and only minimal water until they begin to perk back up. Hope this helps. Good luck. Dave

LOL, don't hold your breath about Lowes having the same product now if it has been long enough, unless you are sure you can find the pile you pulled it off. I just looked at my bag and it has the same label and color scheme on the bag (though it was identical at first glance) except it is not labeled "dolomitic lime', but rather "Gardenlime" and under that in big bold letters "great calcium and magnesium source" of something to that effect. So Lowes clearly has at least two versions of 40 pound bags. Either way, it is plenty enough so this is not something to worry about for yours at this point and may never be. You had just asked about details and I pulled it out of thin air as an example of the sorts of details that we can get bogged down in. The lime is not your problem now, that's for sure. The filling with water is iffy if you really are under such water usage for that plant, especially with a cover to discourage evaporation that it has, but maybe you are in AZ or something. To be honest I'm skeptical it is using all that water and would measure a better baseline for another couple of days and keep track of it, since I don't want to give you bad advice and I really am not there to be talking. If you find it is using 1.5 gallons per day, then every two days is fine and what I'm shooting for in my head at this point. The plants could easily require more as they get bigger but we're talking now... Don't forget the soil is saturated and has a lot of water capacity too before the wicking action will be lost. It could add another gallon or two, so there is a little safety built in as long as the plants don't cake-dry the setup. Those are just mullings since you may have a better hands on feel than I do, but it's what I'm thinking. In Florida a tomato plant your size would still drink less than 2 liters in the heat, but we have a higher humidity to deal with so that's what I'm concerned I might err on. Hope those thoughts help, as you experiment. around. PC

"continually added fresh water through the fill tube in an attempt to dilute the hydrated lime solution (the soil is covered by a plastic cover, which is part of the Earthbox system)." OK, I get it. Since I'm a DIYer who reads but still won't follow directions (and have no patience for being on tour buses and the like LOL), removing the cover is something I wouldn't think twice about to get rid of the excess. But a single top flood if we could turn back the clock would have addressed the problem much more effectively. More importantly, I think it may also hold a clue for you to re-enforce your original thoughts on what happened when you didn't quickly refill with the balance of water. You'd wick up the let's say 2x concentrated solution, which you already worried about ... but if the top had somewhat dried, you'd also wick up more total volume ... we are not dealing with a gas tank, but rather a sponge. Now you are slowly removing it since there will be a concentration gradient through the small wicks and what is above stays (and this might be the situation that tigrikt was thinking and helping you with too). "I usually use a bagged planting mix from the local nursery (their own "custom mix"), which contains a variety of ingredients (peat, redwood, bat guano, etc.)." tigrikt could comment better than I on this one if they are an actual EB user in your sort of climate. I'm inclined to think you have bad advice from the nursery on the soil, if there is nothing in there to cut back on the sponginess of the peat - like perlite. Redwood? perhaps you mean redwood bark? Big difference there. I'm not up on shredded redwood wood, but I do recall Dr. Gericke had some issues with it, as being somewhat acidic at least, though as a composted ingredient it would probably be good. Either way these things seem to add up to high acid (hurts calcium uptake) and high water retention - outside the sweet spot. I am assuming a lot of things online so it is more of the concern I'd check on, and recommend you learn more about the properties of soils. I understand you've grown this way for years, with reasonable results, so I'm just suggesting you go to the next level now and experiment a little with your soil mix's water retention with something as simple as some added perlite in a few Boxes if you want to take it slowly. Sey has been experimenting with a mix in containers promoted by tapla, and probably could add a few thoughts on the soil if he's still following the thread. Cheers PC edit: maybe the cover is not removable, and I assume it is. If that's the case, I'm sure a DIYer could experiment with removable covers, which I guess is going against the EB concept of set it and forget it, so it will depend on the complexity you feel is appropriate for your situation. One difference between my containers and yours is that I use a lighter mix uncovered and depend on the rain to naturally flush with pure rainwater (free distilled water). It helps keep accumulation or any errors with fertilizer supplements in check, but I enjoy supplementing with fertilizers so that is part of my growing strategy.