Tomato leaves darker in bucket - lighter in VegTrug. Any ideas why?
summerlee340
7 years ago
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Question about Al's mix, tomatoes, peppers, and CRF's
Comments (25)In container culture, which is more like hydroponics than gardening, it's always better to use a fertilizer or supplement your fertilizer with something that provides all the secondary macro and all the micronutrients. Almost any soluble fertilizers you'd choose to use provide NPK in various %s. Many also provide Fe, Mn, and Zinc (Miracle-Gro formulations e.g.). Usually glaringly absent are the secondary macronutrients Ca and Mg. Including a micronutrient supplement and liming your soil insures a full compliment of all the nutrients. In short - choose a fertilizer that HAS ALL the nutrients or use a micronutrient supplement, and lime homemade soils with dolomitic (garden) lime. Hard to find, but very effective at supplying the micronutrients are Micromax and STEM. Easier to find is Earthjuice Microblast. One fertilizer in the 3:1:2 ratio that contains ALL the elements (including Ca and Mg) is Foliage-Pro 9-3-6. This fertilizer alone should be excellent for most things you would grow. Use it at a reduced rate & combine it with Pro-TeKt 0-0-3 for a lower N mix for tomatoes. The silicon on the Pro-TeKt will also improve cellular health & make for a stronger plant that resists cultural adversities (heat, cold, insects, disease . . . better. Though irrigation water DOES have an impact on nutrition (usually mostly Ca/Mg), unless you know it's content via analysis, you shouldn't rely on it to insure adequate levels of any of the nutrients. Al...See Moreindeterminate tomatoes in containers and soil mix
Comments (59)Hi Let me say a couple things here please: I grow tomatoes in containers outside every year and each one produces way more fruit than my neighbors outdoor in ground tomatoes do. Here are dome tips: 1. must get min of 6 hrs full sun 2. You need to start with a premium peat based soil mix and add some extra perlite. Look on line for making soil mix for growing weed (MJ) indoors. If u don't care about organic growing, use miracle grow potting soil with already added fert...not garden soil, not top soil, not dirt from ur yard and no cheap potting mixes. /Soils with already added fert work great for tomatoes but apparently not for weed so u will notice those sites don't recommend it. For tomatoes it will work outstandingly 3. I use 7 gallon plastic trash cans. 1 plant per can. I have used 5 gallon buckets but they are NOT big enough. This probably relates to number 4... 4. I never grow determinate tomatoes or tiny grape sized tomatoes or bush tomatoes or tomatoes bred for container growing. - WHY? - because I want the biggest and most tomatoes. I grow large 1 lb and up varieties of indeterminate tomatoes. I get tons of large fruit. Any plant will produce slightly smaller fruit in containers so start out with BIG varieties! 5. ALSO - I don't get why people recommend determinate tomatoes for containers - they only produce for one shot and then they are done. 6. Obviously you need to pay attention to proper watering, feeding etc. If you use grow soils with fert already in you will not need to fert for the first 5-6 weeks. Then only if needed and only in 1/4 to 1/2 strength. 7. If you go organic, and know how to make a good mix, you will not need to fert at all. Again, If u don't know how to make an indoor soil mix look at a weed (MJ) growing site. DONT FORGET - weed growers are the top professionals at growing indoors. Don't be afraid to look at these sites for expert information on indoor growing....See MoreNewbie Tomato Question
Comments (13)Watering isn't something that can be scheduled. It has too many variables affecting it - soil used, size of container, ambient air temps, air circulation in the area, root mass ratio to top growth, etc. etc. etc. So depending on all those variables it may be daily, every other day, once a week, or whatever. Watering is done only when the plant needs it, not when we schedule it. :) The grower has to learn to evaluate the need of the plant. You do that by 1) acknowledging that it is human nature to over-water so when in doubt - don't water, Remind yourself that the roots need to breathe even more than they need water so tell them today is breathing day. 2) accepting that plants are much more tolerant of under-watering than they are of over-watering, 3) knowing that more seedlings are killed by over-watering than by anything else 4) sticking your finger deep into the soil to check the moisture level deep down, not by surface appearance 5) bottom water - soak until the surface appears lightly damp then dump out whatever is left. Of course all of this is moot when using fiber pots because they wick all the water out of the soil into the pot and then they dry out far too quickly. Effective watering when using them is almost impossible. but I am pretty sure that was where the cotyledons were. It almost looks like a tiny cut there. The stem immediately increases after the mark to the size above the mark. I disagree but only have the pics to go by. It is normal for the stem to "immediately increase after the mark" when it is damp off. In this case it is already discoloring further up the stem as well and there is interveinal discoloration on the next leaf up the stem too. But continue to monitor it. If the plant improves then I'm wrong. If it continues to fail then you will know for sure. Fingers crossed for you. :) Dave...See Morestill can't identify my tomato's problem! *pics*
Comments (19)*Homegardenpa, thank you!.. For the opinion, and getting back to the problem at hand :) I didn't think it looked like blight because of the same things, after really checking it out. I really looked good and hard at every disease, and it seemed that my plants were lacking at least 1 major symptom of each. Nothing was adding up perfectly, even though I know there *are* exceptions to anything and everything. I do see where everyone can think blight at first look tho, especially with everyone's varying experiences with it. Have to say, Im sorry to have started an argument, and had no idea the word "organic" would turn out so bad. Im really neither organic or un-organic, but I see everyone's point. When it comes down to comparing to a disease, I really see bacterial canker more than any. The leaves look identical to pics I have seen. Yet again, the stems dont have browning, and when cut, there is no oozing. So this is where im rattled! I do think it is a combo of things at the moment. I guess a beginner's combo of wrong-doings! I uprooted one of the money makers to give a little more room, and have been evenly watering. I took a leaf to the nursery, and he told me it couldn't hurt to just spray a watered down solution of daconil incase it is disease, but just leave them alone other than that. The fact that every container (all 8 of them, spread apart) is showing these same issues, all appearing at the same time, makes me think its got to be a burn bc a disease would take time to spread. Im happy to say, most of them havn't really gotten worse. Not any better, but not spreading. That has to be a good sign, right?...See Moresummerlee340
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