I have lots of experience using 4 gallon containers for tomatoes but your weather may be much different than mine, though we have had many days in the upper 80's to low-mid 90's this year.

How often were you watering before you cut back, and how often are you watering now?

Also, do you still have the bag from the potting soil and what's the exact, complete name on it? Did you add anything else to the mix? I usually don't recommend any rocks in pots for drainage, they usually just reduce the volume of the growing media.

After about 2 months here, a plant about a foot tall, buried deep in a 4 gallon container and watered between a half gallon and 2/3rds gallon of water daily, is usually about 5ft tall, depending on variety (4 to 6ft.)

I use a ratio (this year) of about 5:4:1 ProMix BX, compost, and composted manure (in that order.) When I mix batches in a cement mixer, I add about a cup of time release fertilizer and a cup of kelp meal to each 8-10 gallons of mix being made, which is enough for 2 containers. The municipal compost is about 1.0N-0.3P-0.6K plus contains calcium, magnesium, iron, etc.

I also use drip irrigation and fertilize daily through it, very tiny amounts that would equate to maybe the recommended amounts weekly. I start off for the first 2-4 weeks with a high phosphorous water soluble fertilizer like 10-52-8 (M-G 15-30-15 if you can't find it) and then switch to a more balanced fertilizer like Plantex 15-15-18 Soilless w/micros (M-G for Tomatoes if you can't find it.) The high P promotes strong roots and excellent flowering & fruiting.

Your plants look pretty small for being 2 months old. You need a bigger cage for Yellow Pear too... Yellow Pear should be at least 6ft x 3ft. Maybe you were washing out the fertilizer. Were you applying it to the media or to the foliage? Container plants do need heavier feeding than in-ground plants, or at least more often, especially with soilless mixes.

Do any have any fruits yet? They should be bearing well at 2 months if temps were below 92, even if green, though I've had ripe stuff here in as little as 5-6 weeks with these methods.

Plants usually die back from the ground up, but yours are too young to die already. Also, there have been numerous threads here about problems with different versions of Miracle-Gro media, that's why I asked for the exact name.

Mark

I would think you might have been better with the potting mix instead of the soil,i think it might stay moist longer.Another suggeston you might try for next year is the self watering earth boxes,they are doing well for me in florida.

Usually when the yellowing begins at the oldest leaves first and works its way up progressively through the older leaves ... and the yellowing is uniform yellowing with no black spots or ringed blotches on the leaves ... that is a sure sign of the plant robbing nitrogen from the older leaves and transferring it to the new growth ... meaning your plants are asking for a nitrogen boost.

However, I don't see the "yellowing" ... all I see in your pictures is some off-color, dull khaki colored leaves like in that third picture, then it seems the coloration goes to dry, dead, dark tan or light brown.

Also, look at that first picture and the last picture where the discoloration seems to have skipped past some of the older leaves and is well progressed on a some of the foliage in mid-plant. That doesn't seem indicative of typical nitrogen deficiency which would seem to be the first deficiency that would appear if indeed you are flushing or leaching out nutrients by over-watering as N is more unstable and "leachable" than P or K ... and you say you're fertilizing regularly with Miracle Grow. So, I don't really suspect it's lack of application. I'm thinking possibly disease of some sort.

I'm not familiar with Miracle Grow plant growing mixes, but I did have trouble this summer with a knock-off brand of the same type stuff from Scotts (which I think is the same company now) where it was just to moisture rententive for the tomato plants I happened to use it for. I thought I had lucked into a good deal when I got a couple of busted bags for half price ... but the plants in that mix withered up similarly to yours, but not exactly the same color or pattern of disorder. But the mix always seemed saturated.

My other potted tomatoes never had a problem all summer even though I watered them nearly daily and at the risk of overwatering ... but they were in a very porous homemade mix and never showed the least sign of what we're talking about here. So, I'm really no help with regard to the possibility of over watering.

Personally, since your plants are showing that funky off-color on the leaves AND some of the stem tissue ... and since there seems to be some leaf distortion going on there too ... like a little roll while there's still some greenish color left ... you may want to take some examples of leaves to your county extension horticulturalist. If you do, take some healthy leaves, some that are just starting to show the disorder, and other foliage AND some of those discolored stems in various stages of dying and death so she or he has enough evidence to make a determination whether you're dealing with a fungal or bacterialogical agent or some other thing we all may be missing here.

pick off the bad leaves, hit the plants and the top layers of the soil with some fungicide like daconil, and also mulch the soil on top of the pots to prevent splash/hold moisture. Fertilize with a 20-20-20 water soluble fertilizer once a week at 1T per gallon of water, and add 1T white vinegar to the fertilizer to help lower the ph of your potting soil, which seems to creep up to a higher ph over time. Bark based potting mixes like miracle gro need more nitrogen than peat based ones, but you don't want to over apply nitrogen though or you'll get beautiful plants, with not even one bloom.
If all else fails, cut off the tops of the plants and root them in a glass of water in a sunny window and start over with fresh potting soil and soak your pots in 10% bleach 90% water for 10 minutes before repotting them.

If you are under-watering, the plants will wilt a little. My plants perk up within an hour once I get out the hose.

Over-watering can be worse, rotted roots cannot be revived.

I am not so happy with Moisture Control MG mix, gets pretty soggy and it is about the only mix that I have had problems with rotting seedlings. I wouldn't have thought that it would be a problem in your situation, the plants should suck up any excess water pretty quick.

You might want to see if you can sneak one of the plants out of the pot without too much root damage and see what's happening down there. You never know what you're gonna see until you look.

Gary

Thanks all for your recommendations!

1) County extension office was not very helpful. Most likely not a disease, just undernurishment was what I was told.

2) I originally used the MG Potting mix sold at Home Depot, not soil like in my original post.

3) I think the chances are good that I was washing out nutrients when watering...even from the beginning, I would water and it would seem like most of the water would immediately run out the bottom of the pot. I attribute this to the fact that I stupidly put rocks in the bottom of the pot, and that the mix was so airy. Also, the drainage holes on the plastic pot were pretty large. When I started checking, it seemed that even though water was running out of the pots, when I would insert a finger 3-4 inches down, the soil felt dry. I have now started soaking the pots heavily every 2 nights, or every night if the dirt feels dry.

3) I pulled the plants out of their 4 gallon containers and put them in 15 gallon containers with a different brand potting mix, but this time enriched it with time release fertilizer and no rocks. When I removed the plants, they had very established roots...maybe not pot bound, but pretty darn close. I figured I had nothing to lose by repotting in a larger container, plus it would give me the chance to add fertilizer again.

4) I trimmed all the dead away...leaving about 12 inches of healthy growth at the tops of the plants. Day temps are now starting to be below the 90s now, so hopefully I'll see some improvement.

Any more tips are welcomed, and I'll post new pics if I see any changes.

(In the meantime, the plants I planted in Topsy Turvy containers 4 weeks after the first planting are doing really well...go figure!!! No fruits yet, but hopefully soon.)

Thank you all for this valuable resource!

Andrew

Plants do seem a bit skimpy so probably a nutrition problem. I would keep those plant containers in some kind of saucer or tray so the water that runs out hangs around long enough to be absorbed back up. I buy big plastic (terra cotta colored) saucers at my local nursery supply place.
Nothing wrong with the MG mix - it works fine as do a lot of other kinds. But you definitely don't need extra drainage for these plants.

mdtenor

Just to emphasize what you've said -- if you were watering every day but the center of the root ball was still dry, your plants were getting some moisture from the outer roots where the water runs down the sides. So your plants were probably getting only enough water to survive with some dying off of the first growth.

An aside, I've often wondered if root "sections" carry nutrients or moisture to differentiated parts of a plant, i.e., do the more recent roots nourish the more recent top growth? I don't think I've ever seen this discussed. (That could be because it's a ridiculous question!)

All that aside, it sounds as if you've made a much more hospitable environment for your tomato plants now.

Anney,

When you suggested foliar feeding, what exactly did you mean? I talked to the tomato specialist at the nursery, he told me that I could use a hand sprayer with MG for Tomatoes at it's normal strength (1 tbsp/gal) and mist it on the leaves and that would help the plant absorb the nutrients if they weren't by the roots...also that it would help after the transplant. Is that ok? They had no other 'foliar' fertilizer sprays there. I did it at night after dark to insure that the leaves wouldn't burn (he also confirmed this was a good idea). On some of the other discussion about foliar feeding, it seemed there was some disagreement, but I didn't see anything about using MG for Tomatoes as a spray.

Thanks bunches!!!

Andrew

Hi, mdtenor!

Yes, foliar feeding is misting or even drenching the plants with a mixture of water and a liquid fertilizer meant for that purpose. I use Algoflash for tomatoes because it has so many micronutrients and doesn't burn, but there are many foliar feeds that you can use. Early morning feeding is often recommended so the liquid evaporates gradually from the surface of the leaves. Overnight moisture encourages disease.

Many here will recommend compost teas for foliar feeding, which also contain many micronutrients, but since I'm lazy, I use the Algoflash. I've never used Miracle Grow myself.

And yes, you can foliar feed your plants after transplanting since it will overcome any possible slowdown due to root shock.

Here is a link that might be useful: AlgoFlash for Tomatoes -- $9.95 + shipping

Based on my experience of growing tomatoes in the heat, your 4 gallon containers are much too small. Some of my containers are 32 gallon. FL and TX heat is brutal for tomato growing. I just transplanted my 2 inch tomato plants to the large pots last week. I do not get a freeze here all winter, so I eat tomatoes all winter long. YUM!