Why do my tomatoes turn yellow and die after setting fruit every year?
hostalover1967
7 years ago
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Why are my plant's leaves turning yellow and brown???
Comments (24)Plants don't age in the same way we think of people aging. Age in people is a described on a chronological basis, where plants age ontogenetically. This might be framed as, the parts that have taken the most cell divisions to produce are the plant's oldest parts; so strangely, the most recent part of the plant (say, a new branch high on the plant) to grow is the oldest part of the plant. The youngest part of the plant will be found in the root to shoot transition zone. This juvenile part of the plant is also nearly always the most vigorous part of the plant. Plants pass through life stages until they end up at the sexually mature stage. At that point they are capable of blooming/fruiting. Whether they DO or not is complicated and not entirely understood. Blooming and other environmental reactions of most healthy plants are primarily influenced by day length (technically it's night length), but more than a few plants are triggered by other factors, like moisture availability, temperature, predation. Some plants even seem to have an internal 'alarm clock' that acts as a trigger to bloom. There are species of bamboo that bloom as infrequently as every 130 years and when the bloom occurs, all plants of a given genetic origin bloom simultaneously, en masse (all at once), and this occurs regardless of environmental influences. Now, that a plant is capable of blooms/fruit doesn't mean it will produce same, no matter how much we hope. The factors that limit a plant's ability to bloom are as complicated as those that trigger blooming. The plant's internal chemical messengers that limit blooming is first influenced by the plants ontogenetic age, but then by health, stress, stored energy reserves, a significant number of environmental factors, and sometimes seemingly no more than a built-in piqued obstinacy that can be more irritating than Justin Bieber or the Kardashians, if that's even possible. How do I get it to bloom? Keep it healthy and let it do its thing. You can search online - there might be some simple ways to coax it to bloom exactly whenever it feels like it. How old does it have to be? The only age important to plants is what growth phase they're in. They have to be old enough chronologically to have reached sexual maturity. This is also complicated because the (ontogenetic) age of the parent plant from which the propagule (that is now your plant) was taken has to be a part of the equation. Example - a hawthorn tree from seed needs to survive around 20-25 growth cycles to bloom; whereas, a cutting from a blooming hawthorn tree can be counted on blooming within a few years if its state of vitality has been generally good. Al...See MoreMy potatoes have fruits, and are turning yellow/dying down
Comments (6)Sounds like they've been in the ground for over 70 days? And it does sound like they're done. If you leave them in the ground the curing process will proceed (as long as you don't have voles or other under ground critters, in which case the *eating* process will proceed!) The skins will harden and they'll store better. I also find that potatoes will harden their skins once dug, as long as the vines were really done. So, my recommendation would be to leave them in until the vines are really dead. In the mean time, start eating a few to make sure there isn't any underground damage going on. Then get them good and dry for storage. YG's store so well, I'm sure you'll be able to keep them and not have to eat them all now. Why they made fruit, and why they died back before 90 days, I will leave to someone else to answer -- mine sometimes make fruit, too....See MoreWhy aren't my tomatoes turning red?!
Comments (17)You pick a GWR by feel. When growing a new GWR variety I wait till it they have some give and are no longer firm. Just like other colors each variety will have a point where they taste the best. After picking a few and trying them at different points of ripeness you will determine where to pick each. Some tend to be better when softer. But I always start out trying a new GWR variety when it has give. You never want to wait till one gets to what I call the mushy point. Hard for me to explain. But after you have picked and ate a few you will be able to tell fairly easy. Most varieties will have some color change. A few don't have much at all. I have grown ARGG. It is a good GWR but doesn't usually do well here. Emerald Green is my favorite GWR. I lost most of my GWR's to the hail. I am growing Cherokee Green Pear. Jay...See MoreWhy is my yuzu leaves turning yellow on just one branch?
Comments (9)A magnesium (Mg) deficiency would present across the entire foliage mass because Mg is a nutrient that is considered mobile in the plant. As such, it can be borrowed from other organs to supply what is needed for new growth. A zinc (Zn) deficiency, because it is considered immobile in the plant, must be present in the nutrient stream at adequate levels at all times. If it isn't, deficiencies show only in new leaves that grew after the Zn became deficient. Generally speaking, when a deficiency of the mobile nutrients (N, P, K, Mg) occurs, it is seen in all foliage, even though roots are first affected. The rest of the nutrients which are absorbed via the root pathway are considered to be immobile or mostly immobile (can't be 'borrowed' to provide the building blocks for new growth). A simple analogy would be, leaves and fruit are having a tug of war to see which one gets the lion's share of food and nutrients. Since we know the pull of unripened fruit is always stronger than foliage (fruit is a more powerful energy sink than leaves), fruit will win every time. When fruit ripens, it's loses it's pulling power, which frees up food and nutrients that allow the leaves to recover to their normal color. I'm not sure what you meant by, "That happens when the trees aren't getting enough potassium and open". FWIW, most hobby growers end up shooting themselves in the foot when they think they have identified 'a nutritional deficiency' and move to treat it by adding an element or compound aimed specifically at correcting a deficiency of individual nutrients. The reasons for the shot in the foot are several. 1) Deficiencies are very often misidentified; or, 2) there might not actually be a physical deficiency of the nutrient the grower thinks (s)he identified as there could be another antagonistic nutrient, available in excess, in play, example: too much Ca limits Mg uptake - too much P limits uptake of K, Ca, Fe, Cu, Z, ....... ; or, 3) a nutrient could be acting as a synergist, example: an excess of K can cause an increase in the uptake of Mn and Fe, causing a toxicity of all three nutrients which would be read as a deficiency of who knows what; or 4) the deficiency could be culturally caused, example: in saturated soils, low oxygen levels cause Fe (iron) and Mn (manganese) to become electron acceptors. This leads to the precipitation of both, even though these elements might be present in soils at normally adequate levels, and the plant’s inability to assimilate them. Soggy soils also make uptake of Ca difficult or impossible. Al...See Morehostalover1967
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