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Growing Tomatoes

tomato leaves are turning dry and brown.

14 years ago

last year, i just used the seeds that i got from the tomatoes from the supermarket, they grow pretty well.

this year, i put some manure, fertilizer, sluggo plus on top of the soil, not all at once, of course. i don't know which caused it, i had three big tomato plants that were almost ready to produce, but they just died. one died right away. another were still producing light green (unlike the typical dark green leaves) for a while, then it died also.

even a big italian squash plant died, the leaves were as big as a person's hand.

so i planted some more, they are just not growing. the leaves are kind turning brown again. i stopped putting on anything on top of the soil for at least a month now.

so what is going on here?

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Comments (2)

missingtheobvious
14 years ago
Congrats on having learned to save seeds and start your plants from seed -- and condolences on the loss of the plants.

What kind of fertilizer did you use? How much did you use? How often? Where did you put it?

What kind of manure did you use (i.e. from what animal)? Was it fresh or aged/composted? How much did you use? How often? Where did you put it?

How much Slug-go did you use?

It sounds like the plants were doing well at first. Can you think of anything that changed in the week or so before they first began to go downhill (either application of fertilizer/manure, or weather, or any spraying of herbicide on your property or adjacent properties, or anything else that changed or was unusual)?
gardener1908
14 years ago
preppyjock, We all have a lot to learn from gardening, every year. I think you need to start from the basics. In reading your other post, I can see you are having a tough time, as many of us are this year. Many suggestions have been given, and I know you can't do them all at once, but to garden you have to have some basics in place. Since the season is coming to an end, unless you plan on doing a fall garden, which many of us will do, you need to start to prep you area for next year. Look at your soil, have it tested, make adjustments,add compost,manure as needed. Get your soil ready for next year.Nothing gives plants a better start than this! Then look at plants and varietys that do well for your zone. Maybe only do a few until you get those down then add a few more. But believe me start with the basics, you will be so much better off. When you start to do this and that to your garden you really start to mess up the balance. Start small, and add to it year after year until you gain the knowledge to add to the things you grow.
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Just a guess without seeing at least a picture as it could be anything from root rot caused by too much water to pests (aphids) on those 2 plants, nitrogen burn from over fertilization, to early stages of one of the foliage diseases. Most likely - too much water in that particular place in the bed. Is it low-lying where water might collect or a poorly draining pocket? Next best would be environmental damage if they are where heavy winds could have affected them more than the others. Next best would be aphids. Next best guess would be maybe Early Blight but its symptoms are very classic - see pictures on the web of it. But with just your description of leaves are brown, dry and the plant looks almost dead it is impossible to do anything but guess. Dave PS: when you have pics to post I'd suggest you post over on the Growing Tomatoes forum here rather than this one.
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Thanks for all the replies. The only pesticide I used was diluted neem extract and that too after the leaves started to show the dryness/wilting. What steps can I take for environmental damage? I think it may not be early blight because there are no concentric circles on leaves. I was reading somewhere that it may be due to over-watering/water-logging. I plan to remove the plant from its pot this weekend and make sure excess water has a clear path to drain out. Any more suggestions are welcome and most appreciated. Thanks again. Deepa
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Generally speaking, you're NOT supposed to use weed killer in the same beds as good plants, because rain or watering can start washing it into the soil/roots around the good plants, and sicken or kill them from the ground up. I'd stick to hand-weeding and mulch for weed control IN beds. Or you can get some kind of slow-release fertilizer / weed controller pellets and apply that early in the season. Or at least consider gravity. If you water downhill from good plants you should be relatively okay. But if your plants are on the same level or downhill from the weed killer, there will be problems. Otherwise, your pictures indicate regular heat/sun stress behavior. This is normal, unless you water a little in the evening and the plant still looks like that first thing the next day.
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