Is something wrong with my tomatoes, or am I just being paranoid

13 years ago

Hi everyone! As this is my first post, allow me to introduce myself; my name is Fawn, and I live in Montreal, QC, Canada (Zone 5A unless I'm reading NRC's map incorrectly). I live on the 3rd floor in a row of rowhouses, so my gardening is exclusively in containers on my balcony. This is the first year I've tried anything more than just a few herbs, but what I lack in experience, I try to make up for with research and hard work!

I have two tomato plants (a Cherokee Purple and a Giant Belgium) growing in a big Rubbermaid storage bin; I've drilled six rather large holes on the bottom to allow for drainage and have filled the bin with a mix of approximately 30% Miracle-Gro potting mix with slow-release fertilizer, 30% compost, 25% coco coir, 5% perlite and vermiculite, and 10% well-rotted cow manure (this is just an approximation but I'm sure you get the drift). In addition, I mixed in a couple handfuls of organic vegetable food (8-4-5) consisting of bonemeal, feather meal, potash and lime, when I first potted them up about a month ago.

Until about a week ago, they looked great, and each of them has at least a dozen flowers on them and is growing more; also, one of them has 3 tomatoes (albeit grape-sized at the moment). Recently, however, they've started to droop, particularly on the bottom leaves, and the left-hand one (unfortunately I've forgotten which is which) has developed small brown spots at the leaf corners bordered by yellow. Here are some pics to give you an idea what we're talking about:

http://img709.imageshack.us/g/img0075jv.jpg/

Despite this, the plants still look reasonably healthy and are growing well, so maybe I'm just being paranoid, but if I'm doing something wrong, I'd like to nip it in the bud-- I only have two of these plants, after all!

The fertilizer box did say to feed again every 4-5 weeks for "hungry" plants, including tomatoes, so yesterday I did so and also topped up with some more manure.

So what do you guys think? Am I under-fertilizing? Over-fertilizing? Am I maybe over-watering? I do water every day, but everything I read tells me tomatoes like a lot of water, and that container plants need more water than in-ground ones. Or, alternately, should I just shut up and accept that tomato plants aren't necessarily flawlessly beautiful? :p

Thanks in advance guys, and have a nice evening!

Fawn

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Comments (4)

joe-il
13 years ago
Hi Fawn.(what a lovely name) Your tomatoes have a touch of early blight. Just trim off the affected leaves and see how that goes. Are you over head watering? Tomatoes dont like there leaves wet if they can help it, they get a fungus like what you have now. Try to just get the soil wet not the leaves when watering. Not too much water they hate wet feet and will actually wilt if the get too much water just like they will when they are dry.

Your plants look fine, you are doing a great job just watch the watering and you will have a great harvest. I am fighting early blight here also. The heat and the rain is really bring it on.

Joe-il
col_sprg_maters
13 years ago
Fawn;

Your potting mix is not well suited to container growing and will cause what is known as a "Water table" potentially keeping the roots either always wet or dry.

Container growing needs a mix that allows for better movement of water and air than your mix.

go to the container forum below to learn more about the special needs of container growing.

Best

d in colorado also zone 5

Here is a link that might be useful: container Gardening
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Thanks so much. I figured it was in my head :) One of the "stunted" tomatoes seems to have grown a little. They both have strange tiny mushrooms forming at their base which I assume means the soil is too damp so I think I will lay off watering that section. My whole garden saw rain for the first time in its 3 month existence on Friday.... so far all that means for me is a lot of powdery mildew to deal with. Who know rain could be such a problem for plants? :)
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Bacteria are not harmful in garden soil. Actualy what is called "micro organism =microbes" are rsponsible for a lot of healthy things. They even live inside us.They make your bread rise, milk yogurt, grape juice wine, and alcohol to vinigar. Sewage treatment is best done with the help of bacteria. I have seen documentaries that the water coming out of sewage treated by bacteria and down the stream same water was drinkable. But, in your case, you are not consuming anything from soil directly. The vegetables will not be affected by bacteria(living organisms), but they could be affected by chemicals (non-living things). If I were you I would not worry about that sewage leakage into garden, way back when. That leaked material has been dealt with the benefitial bacteria and the balance has been restored. Even if it were not, your basils are smart enough not to take them in.
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Spidermites: see below for a very recent thread on this topic with some suggestions. you can also do a search and will see many similar discussions. There are several options before you have to break out the chemicals. Bush tomatoes: Definitely lay off the fertilizer, and always use a tomato specific fertilizer that's lower in nitrogen compared with the generic garden stuff. High levels of nitrogen promote leaf and plant growth at the expense of flowers. This means big plant with little or no fruit. The problem here, is that this is a determinate plant, so even if you back off on the fertilizing, it doesn't produce a succession of crops so you may not be getting much more fruit. We should start a petition to get Miracle Grow to remove the picture of the tomato from their 'All purpose' fertilizer... Here is a link that might be useful: spider mite thread
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"How often should I feed it?" I take it you are new to growing "maters"because that's a $64k question which is impossible to answer on the net. Too much N and you get large healthy vines with little or no fruit,too little N and the vine doesn't develope enough bulk to support a large crop of fruit. It is simply something you learn to do based on observing the plant. I reccomend tomato food and following directions to the letter for newbies. Tomato food????? Why doesn't everyone use it? Because it's expensive and some folks plant dozens of plants. If you plan getting your feet wet I suggest planting extras so you can try different things to see which work's for you. My aunt plants 30 or 40 tomatos,never fertilizes,waters heavy,stays on top of pests and all the other right things. Her plants are always half the size of mine with twice the size and number of fruit. We are on intirly different soil types so it's usless trying to duplicate her pratices. That's what I mean about road to success can't be scripted.
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sprtsguy76
13 years ago
Ditto on what col sprg maters said. Growing in containers can be done with great results if you use a good draining mix and a regular but not too heavy fertilizer program. I know cause I have grown some awsome tomatoes this year in containers that are all thriving and tasting really good. I know your probably thinking "well I'm stuck with what I have this year" and that may be true but there is something you could right now do to help your mix drain a bit better than it is right now. Search 'container soil', 'fertilizer programs' and 'wicks' over on the container forum. Good luck!

Damon
turquoisegardenia
Original Author
13 years ago
Hi guys! Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. Joe, I think you're spot-on (if you'll pardon the pun!); I did some research on early blight and it looks exactly like what I have on my leaves. I'm concerned about cutting off the entire leaves though- that'll be half of them!! Do you suppose I could just cut off the spotted parts first? I guess it's worth a shot, at least.

No, I don't top water, but my topsy-turvy strawberry planter (which, I might add, is crap!) is directly above it, which I suppose amounts to the same thing. I'll see if I can find another spot for it, though that may be tricky with the space I'm working with!

Damon & Colo. Springs: I think you may be right. My mix does seem to be very water-retentive. I think I'll try watering a little less; the plants have quadrupled in size since I've put them in so I'm sure they must have pretty well-established root systems by now, so as you pointed out, I may simply have to live with it. I had no idea I should use so much bark in my mix- I'd never have thought of that! Well, at least it's better than my first try at container growing tomatoes-- I had a Big Boy in an 8 inch by 8 inch container with nothing but topsoil... so I'm improving! :p

Is something wrong with my tomatoes, or am I just being paranoid

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joe-il

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Is something wrong with my tomatoes, or am I just being paranoid

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