Can someone tell me what is happening to my tomato plants

Holbrook Construction

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

My 3 early girl tomato plants look horrible. Does anyone recognize what may be happening? Thank you

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Comments (9)

tfoster802002
7 years ago
Are you watering the leaves during the day? I can't tell if that is sunburn because of watering in the day or if that's blight. I would prune some of the bad looking leaves off so you can get airflow in the center of them.
northeast_chileman
7 years ago

Tomato Pests & Diseases
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Much of the over watering problems and too moist soil may very well come from the fact that your plant looks over potted, meaning that it is planted into a container that appears to be too large for the plant. Perhaps you could try re-potting into a much smaller container, making sure that your potting soil is a very coarse mix, and see what happens. Mind you, water thoroughly on watering day, but then let the soil dry out until the next time.
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It looks to me as if your problem is cracking rather than critter damage. Tomatoes crack primarily because of inconsistent moisture (the inside of the tomato grows quicker than the skin can stretch). Temperature changes can also play a role. Some tomato varieties are more prone than others to cracking. For instance, my Black Krims crack horribly! (But the taste is worth it.) On the other hand, just next to my Black Krim is a Rutgers: lovely fat tomatoes, the vast majority without any cracks at all. There are three types of cracks: radial cracks (which begin at the stem and radiate outward; these can be very deep); concentric cracks (these form circles or semi-circles around the stem -- your photo shows a concentric crack); and spiral cracks (which spiral around the fruit irregularly; some tomatoes crack so badly they burst). In hot sun, some tomatoes have tiny cracks on their shoulders: this is called shoulder checking and is variety-related. The split at the bottom of your tomato is not typical (though I have a cherry tomato that likes to split across the bottom like that). The split in your picture is also unusually wide -- but it doesn't look like caterpillar damage, and it looks much more like a crack than any type of animal damage. Have you had a lot of rain (probably not, as you're in California), or did you give your plants more water than usual recently? There are some things you can do to limit or prevent cracking. One is to mulch around and under your tomato plants: that lowers the amount of water that evaporates from the soil, so your plants will be less likely to dry out between waterings. Another is to water regularly (and at least 1" per week -- but not too much, or the flavor of the fruit will suffer!). And you can buy tomato varieties that are less prone to cracking; here's a list: http://www.harvestwizard.com/2009/07/crack-resistant_tomato_varieti.html It's been a dry summer here. We had three or four days of certain rain headed our way. Yesterday I picked every tomato that was showing a significant amount of yellow. If I hadn't, they would have been guaranteed to crack because of the multiple inches of rain we're getting.
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"I bought the highest grade soil that the nursery sold so I assumed they wouldn't need it right away." High grade soil is usually highly graded for friability, permeability, and resistance to dense clumps. It can have nothing to do with nutrients. Those nutrients arise once bacterial action is in full swing on that soil, and that won't happen unless it is mixed with bacterially rich soil from the ground and chewed on by that bacteria for months or years. In fact, plants simply won't grow in that stuff unless you apply fertilizer. That's how it is intended to be used, if not as an amendment to ground soil. As noted, with all those wood chips in it, there won't be a lot of nitrogen. Daily watering is too much, as also noted. "Dry spells"? As in, no rain? You're not trying to keep the surface moist. You're trying to keep it moist where the roots are. But too much water just drowns them.
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It has produced some new growth at the top and at the short stub at the right. It still doesn't look right to me. The new growth on the short stub also has a dark green/brown color. I've put the cutting in the shadow. What's wrong overhere? See photo. @Peter, dry rot might be possible. I don't know really. Should I try some hydrogenperoxide? Edit: I don't trust it at all. I've removed it from my collection and swabbed it with h2o2. Does someone have any pointers about how to progress from here? Can it be saved?
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PRO
Holbrook Construction
Original Author
7 years ago
No i only water in the early morning or at night unless I absolutely have to but I keep the water off the leaves so it doesn't scorch them...we just moved about a week ago and I brought everything in buckets with me obviously but it seems like they have taken a turn for the worst since then...thanks for your time
willardb3
7 years ago
You will do better on a tomato forum.
esox07 (4b) Wisconsin
7 years ago
Yah, I was going to suggest the tomato forum as well. While a lot of pepper growers grow tomatoes as well, the bulk of knowledge on this forum has to do with peppers.
theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)
7 years ago
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/tomato

Might want to post in the Growing Tomatoes forum, rather than the Tomato Pests & Disease forum. The former gets much more traffic.

There's a couple things I see off hand that could be a problem. One is that a 5 gallon bucket is pretty much the bare minimum sized container that you'd want to grow full-sized tomato plants in. 10-15 gallon would be much better. The plants quickly get root bound and stressed much quicker and need watered and fed much more often in smaller containers. Dwarf plants will do okay in 5 gallon buckets.

Can't tell if there are spots on the leaves or not but early blight or one of the many other fungus/disease that tomatoes get is a possibility. The treatment for all is the same though. Remove the affected leaves and start spraying with a fungicide.

Also, general color of the plants, unless it's due to the camera, look anemic to me. Have you fed them at all?

Rodney
internetthingscompany
7 years ago
How hot does the floor you're setting the pots onto feel? It can get 155F/63.3C where I'm from.
PRO
Holbrook Construction
Original Author
7 years ago
Not as hot as that but probably pretty warm..I didn't think about that..thx
PRO
Holbrook Construction
Original Author
7 years ago
And I hadn't fertilized them in a little while as I was getting blossom end rot and had heard that more nitrogen can worsen the situation so I crushed up some calcium pills and dissolved in water and fed them that and I haven't had the problem since and to be honest after that I know I let them go too long with out any food...maybe your right hopefully but with my luck it is probably all of the above lol

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Can someone tell me what is happening to my tomato plants

Comments (9)

tfoster802002

northeast_chileman

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Can someone tell me what is happening to my tomato plants

Comments (9)

tfoster802002

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