This is a Cherokee Purple and it's growing in a pot. The tomatoes got blossom rot so I just gave it calcium yesterday but what's wrong with the leaves? Seems to just be on the bottom half of the plant. Do I need to remove the leaves? Any help/advice would be much appreciated!

The USDA Zone numbers are actually based on the lowest temperature in the winter. They have nothing to do with the highest temps in the summer. As a result, the zone numbers are especially useful for perennials, and assessing freeze tolerance. While those numbers can give a general feel for summer gardening conditions, they are by no means accurate in that regard. Yep, your soil looks bone dry. But I don't think that's your problem. Tomatoes will wilt significantly when they dry out. Yours aren't wilted. I have to suspect a fungal infection for the brown spots. But yes, container plants ALWAYS need added fertilizer. I'm surprised they grew that big without any. Garden soil has organics that, if outside, degrade and release some nutrients, but a container plant doesn't have the biological activity to do that degradation well. Tomatoes lacking nutrients just don't grow.

why did you cut it apart??? .. even a damaged plant... can produce??? 2nd pic ... is the trunk actually squeezed by the tie up???.. is all the damage above said tie? ... when did the black fabric go down ... what if anything have you changed in the last month ... etc ... ken

tessie, potassium nitrate will work great for bell peppers but let me put this in prospective. My goal 4 years ago was to find the best way to fertilize for perfect vegetables without contaminating the soil and my water well 80' below in the ground. I also did not want to pay hundreds of dollars a year for required soil sample tests and expensive plant tissue texts throughout the season to determine how much to apply. As far as home gardening is concerned Few do it and even less of those who say "have it tested" do it, cheap talk. I determined the only way was "Demand Neutral", a term I made up. It involved finding the data from countless research studies over the last 40 yrs, determine the average amount of nutrients each type of plant actually takes up based on science and only feed what that plant will use during it's life span. The final result is to feed only what plants demand when they need it (and most vegetables differ in demand) , and maintain a net nutrient change in the soil to neutral (take none, leave none). If you go organic none of this matters, but I don't. Back to peppers: In the first 30 days a pepper plant uptake of potassium and nitrogen is low and slowly grows with every day that goes by, and the amounts of each fertilizer remains equal as a ratio of 1 to 1. After about 30 days nitrogen demand peaks, levels off and remains constant for each day that goes by, but potassium demand continues to increase for each day and doesn't peak until about 60 days from planting. At this point daily demand for potassium is 3 times what it was at 30 days of age but daily demand for nitrogen has stayed the same as it was at 30 days. So the amount of potassium required is 3 times higher then nitrogen at 60 days compared to the 30 day point. So the ratio of potassium at 60 days compared to nitrogen at 60 days is 3 to 1. The Actual nutrient demand for two weeks is what I'll feed them and it will change every two weeks, nothing more or nothing less then proven demand by science. (does not apply to organic gardening). There is nothing you can buy that can increase amounts and change ratios to meet demand at different growth stages, nothing. All have constant nutrient ratios you can't change, and instructions state to feed them the same amount through the life of the plant. End result is a lack of one nutrient during fruit production and a excess of other nutrients the plant doesn't need. You'll end up with problems like bad tasting fruit, small fruit, deformed fruit or rotten fruit and also end up dumping excess fertilizer in the soil possibly causing toxicity to your plant of some form and polluting the ground water. The "one size fits all" term does not work when fertilizing veggies, or even lawns. (unless organic) The products on the market also contain the wrong forms of fertilizers only for the fact they're cheaper. For example many use potassium chloride which is the cheapest but the chloride in it is slightly toxic to peppers and tomatoes and deadly at higher concentrations. There are also problems with the wrong forms of nitrogen where nitrate nitrogen is superior over ammonium nitrogen for peppers and tomatoes. (but of course going organic there is nothing to worry about.) So it doesn't matter what you buy, miracle-gow, jobes, all purpose 10-10-10, 5-5-10, 20-20-20 or what ever, at some point you're not feeding enough of one and dumping excess of the others into the ground water. 95% of web sites are misguiding the public and adding to leaching problems. No one addresses this because of the complexity, but again going organic isn't complex, only hard work. It is very difficult to give you recommendations at this time because of the complexity involved. I use Potassium nitrate, potassium sulfate, diammonium phosphate, Urea, calcium nitrate, magnesium sulfate, along with all the other micro nutrients throughout the season and the amounts differ every two week based on demand. The best thing I can tell you right now is add 1/2 to 1 teaspoons potassium nitrate per plant every two weeks for healthier plants, and better tasting peppers. This equals to less then 1 gram - 2 grams by total weight of potassium and also equals about the same potassium you'd get from a banana peel. Why not use a peel? they take several weeks to break down for the available potassium plants can use.