My tomato plants leaves are turning yellow and dying on the bottom of the plant the stem also seem to be turning yellow. My green beans have brown spots with yellow around them on the leaves and holes. Any help appreciated, just started getting nice size tomatos on plants hate to lose them before they get ripe.
Thank You
Boy, you guys are super dry. Your ground reminds me of the gumbo in blackland part of our country, cracking open like that. The fruit on your tomatoes look healthy. My bottom limbs on my tomatoes always do like yours. I think maybe as the fruit matures the plants just shed the bottom limbs. Mine are shedded about half way up now but it hasn't hurt the production of the plants and the tops are still green and blooming. Maybe someone else can give you a different take on it.
I agree with Jim. When my plants started to really get heavy with toms, the bottom leaves started drying up. I just trimmed them off and kept on going. You might need to mulch around the plant to keep it from drying out too much, too. Water regularly and continue to feed and see what happens.
I never mulch my garden stuff but if were you, I'd definitly much. I believe I'd use straw or hay if you can get it. When the ground is cracked you can't get enough water to the plants. Hay will hold a lot of moisture and I think the roots of your tomatoes need protecting, as well.
Thank you Jim 41 and Stephanietx,
I'll trim off the dead and mulch.. Can't figure out with all the rain we've had ( rained like crazy all day Sat the 4th and 1/2 day Sunday and again all day Monday and rained a little onThursday) why it is drying out so much so fast.
First thought was to much water until I seen the ground, and I did water after I took the picture.
Grandson is happy though his pumpkins are growing good.....right through the potato patch. First time for pumpkins hell get a bigger spot and plant less next year.
Thank You again
jjsgramma
I can get hay. My husband 's boss has horses I'll have him bring home some tomorrow.
Going to turn on the soaker hose tomorrow also let it run slow but long time. Maybe when I water I don't get as much water as I think I do into the ground.
Good luck Gramma. A good crop of pumpkins will hook your granson he'll want to garden all his life. Not a bad thing for a kid to get his hands in the dirt.
He's 9 ,He can't wait. Looked today and seen tiny pumpkins forming. He likes to help in the garden digging, but pulling weeds is another story.
Thanks again for the help
It looks like a hole was dug into hard packed clay soil and a tomato plant stuck there. But perhaps my eyes deceive me.
Hi Feldon30,
I know that's what it looks like, but it was all tilled up and fine when planted.
Can't figure out with all the rain we've had why? Neighbors think I'm crazy when I said I was watering. Husband went out and dug a hole in the garden and about 1 1/2 -2 inches it is moist, not wet but moist enough I can make a ball ought of a handful of soil. He said didn't need watered I watered anyway,. Did I mention he doesn't like tomatoes.
While I was cutting off dead leaves I noticed brown spots on the higher leaves looked like specks of dirt but then when I looked closely( with my bifocals) noticed one spot had tiny wings. I had dusted with sevin so it was dead. Thinking now have a pest problem and not a water problem.
I wouldn't water if the soil is moist below the surface. Sometimes you can have too much water and get the same results as not enough. Mulching will help you either way, however. Have you top dressed with compost? You may have white flies. Shake the plants and see if a cloud of small bugs appear.
No Barbara I haven't used compost. Will try the shaking and see what I get, Here is a picture of the leaves I cut off .
Thanks
jjsgramma
i have used peat in the past, to fix the heavy clay. both peat and the clay will crack after too much watering. .. not sure why, but it is usually moist in there. the leave will often turn yellow - a sign of too much water for many plants.
-joe-
Thanks jj concepts. I just know the pic makes it look really dry but underneath its still moist and we have had a lot of rain. Neighbor dug new basement and some of that was put where my garden is to level out the yard, maybe that explains that cracking mystery. I would think it would be tilled in good enough though.
Gramma, all the best soil is on the top of the ground. Soil from a dug basement is usually pure clay (according to where you live) and is good for leveling up the yard but that is about it. It needs to be amended radically with organic matter. Compost, rotten hay, leaves, grass clippings and such. Get the hay around the plants and that should reduce cracking. I think it is cracking since it is pure clay. Not much you can do about this year, it will have to be a winter project to get ready for next spring. I went to raised beds because the soil where I had to put my garden was a white crawfish type dirt. You might consider going that route. Takes some work and costs a little to get your beds up and full of compost but once they are in place they are easier to tend than traditional gardening. The white varmint I can see in the picture looks like a mealy bug to me but usually they are clustered together in wads. The spots, I don't know about but would consider the comment about over watering a distinc possibility. Hang in there and keep asking questions. I've gardened all my life but have learned a lot in the past month from the different threads. I hope some of my comments have been a help to others. None of us know it all but combine our knowledge and makes a pretty good pile.
I had dusted the plants with sevin dust and I think the white in the pic ma be that .I got the hay tonight also throwing my coffee grounds in. Plus I got a soil tester and in process of testing soil. Maybe that will tell me something. But I'm sure the addition of the basement junk didn't help. Considering raised beds next year (give my husband something to do this fall) and putting horse manure on this spot in fall.
Keep those suggestions coming
Thanks alot
jjsgramma
Results are in PH is nuetral about 7.0, potash very low, nitrogen very low. phosphorous very low. So I guess I'm up for suggestions on what to get. I don't even know what potash is.
jjsgramma
You can buy a commercial potash but if you have place where you burn sticks and limbs, especially hard wood, the ashes will do the job.
Thanks Jim you sure are helpful. We have a burn pile but he burns everything in it hard telling whats in it I'll look for some commercial. I do know a guy who cuts trees for a living maybe his burn pile. Hmm just a thought
We burn a little of everything, too. When I clean up my burn pit I put all the ashes under my grape vines and muskedine vines. They thrive on it. Friend of mine used to raise Concord Grapes (which are hard to raise in Louisiana) and that was all he did to them. Son of a guns thrived.
For nitrogen, you can add horticultural cornmeal. You can get it at feed stores. Just use a little hand rake to rake up the area around your plant and sprinkle a handful or two on the ground.
Do you have a compost pile? If not, you should start one and then you can add that matter into your garden to loosen the soil and nourish the soil and plants.
No Stephanie I don't have a compost pile. It's on my to do list along with giving my garden a complete makeover this fall.
In the meantime I have mulched, Put some tomato fertilizer spikes 8-24-8 with 4.5 % sulfur beside tomato plants as directed, cleaned up the dead leaves. Got some insecticide and a fungide but holding off for a couple days or so unless I see something new. Going to test soil around plants in a few days see if it will show nutrients from the spikes. And add fertilizerto rest of garden.
All is not lost , I did get two cabbages. Will let you know how its going. Thanks everyone
jjsgramma
Gramma, a hint on compost pile. I used to go to the local agriculture supply and get throw away pallets. They always had a pile of them. I would stand them up and nail a 1x4 across them and at the bottom to hold them in place. Would fill that thing up with leaves, grass clippings, table scraps (except meat), egg shells, coffee grounds and the like. Would throw a handful of ammonia nitrate fertilizer on every few layers. Keep well watered. You are supposed to turn it and it does make it compost faster but I never had the time or energy. It will take a year but it will compost with out turning. Always had a couple of them going. Works great and cheap. If you can get a little of that horse manure and hay, throw it in and you will really have something. If you have the manure to put in, leave off the nitrate fertilizer.
Thanks for the info Jim. Just happen to know where I can get some pallets. Will have to get started on that. My husband puts a granular insect killer on my lawn and has it sprayed for broadleaf weeds, creeping charlie is terrible my neighborhood. Should I use those grass clippings, I bag when I mow but usually burn it. How about the corn shucks I get by the gallons from farmers field?
By the way I had to go into Davenport Iowa today so I took some of my tomato leaves and bean leaves with me to a guy at one of the open air markets who is suppose to be a master gardener. He says its blight. No idea if he really knows but I will try the fungicide I picked up. Thanks again for all the help
jjsgramma
Corn shucks will work great. Don't know how easy they are to compost compared to other things but one thing about a compost pile, time doesnt mean a thing to it. The key is to get it wet all the way down. I personally wouldn't worry about the chemicals. They do there job and then they are gone. I'm sure you will get some posts that disagree with me but that's ok. Thank God we still live in a country where we can have a difference of opinion. You might get your husband to make you a couple of probes out of pvc pipe and build you compost around them. I made one to use on the gin trash I composted. I had a 15 yard dump truck of that stuff and I had to be able to move it around. The stuff was loose enough I could work it down at an angle. Using the pallets you would need two and leave them permanent. The way you do it is to put a cap on the end that goes to the ground, then take the smallest drill bit you have and drill all the way through about an inch apart. Turn the pipe half over and drill throug again at about the same distance the length of the pipe. Fix a hose connector to the top and just hook up the hose and turn the water on every 3 or 4 days. Once it starts through the compost heat quit watering it for a while. When it cools down rewater occasionally. I composted that whole dump truck load of gin trash in one winter. It looks like coffe grounds
I don't know if you plants have the blight or not. The kind of blight we have in Louisiana, the whole plant starts wilting and then dies. I quit planting tomatoes for awhile because of it. Now they have several good blight resistent tomatoes on the market and the flavor is very good. I plant 444, 589, 640 and a new one named 'Amelia. All are great tomatoes and bear good crops of fruit. Most of the bottom crop will be a fair size tomatoe, one that a slice will cover a piece of bread. As the crop moves up the plant the tomatoes will be smaller but to me it seems like the flavor increases as the size dwindles. I have better success with my tomatoes putting them in wire cages. Not the wal mart kind, home made. I personally use concrete reinforcement wire and set the cages in the ground before I set out my tomatoesl Usually about 4 inchs deep. The reinforcement wire is still and will stand up in the wind and the weight of the tomatoes with out blowing over. You can keep the plants succored or not. Some good reasons for doing it both ways. I just don;t have the time. I still hold an associate pastors position and am on the road a lot making hospital and in home visits. Put about 30,000 miles a year on my car. Hang with it gramma. Sounds like you are making a good start and learning from your mistakes. That's the best way to learn, hands on experience. Never got much good looking at a book. If you go the raised bed route, keep them narrow enough to reach the middle. Most build them four feet wide, I prefer 5 ft. You can make them as long as you want them. I have 2 that are 40 x 5 and one just for my cantelopes that is 24 x 5. I'm goig to build one or two more that are 5 x 8 to plant peppers, egg plant, carrots, lettuce, radishs, beets and cabbage in. Cage everthing you can in raised beds. Tomatoes, squash (cages need to be a little bigger that tomatoe cages) I run wire down one side of one of my beds and plant running string bean. I am going to use shorter cages on egg plant and bell pepper next year.
I'm going to need a bigger notebook before this year's over. LOL My husband has a hunny do list longer than his arm already. I found a couple of nice big tomato plants while in town going to put them in pots away from the garden just in case the others don't pull through. They'll be late but oh well.
Poor state of Texas can't get rain I can't stop it. Rained again last night. I want to see the sun. Had to go to Florida for a week just to get a tan, and it rained there too. Maybe I should take a trip to Texas. LOL
Thanks again,
jjsgramma
JJ~Come visit me anytime you want, just be sure to pack up that rain and bring it with ya! LOL Of course, you have to be prepared for the 105º temps.
Forgot to tell you, your cabbage look great. Fall and spring crop here. Didn't get but a trace of rain yesterday but dropped the temp to 80. Made me and the garden feel better.
Stephanie, I have a brother who lives in Burleson TX. Don't get there much. When I get time to go somewhere I take my mom and my grandkids to Florida. What a vacation that is.
Jim thanks for the compliment . First time growing cabbage so I was happy. Planted 4 one didn't grow and bugs got one but Guess I had to share.
Later I will post a pic of the tomato plants now. Not sure they are out of the woods yet BUT oh what difference a few days and alot of good advice makes. But for now the suns shining and I'm headed for my pool.
Thanks
jjsgramma
JJ~I don't live very far from Burleson! I live in southwest FW, so we're just a stone's throw north of Burleson.
That cabbage looks awesome! We can grow cabbage in the fall and early spring here, much like Jim. We're going to plant some this next gardening go 'round. Glad your maters are doing better. Great news!!
Here are the pics I promised
another one
They look so healthy!
The first pic is the same tomato plant I posted in the beginning. Amazing what can happen in a short time. Now if they just turn red.
We ate some of the cabbage for supper yum yum.
Time to pick beans too.
I think your tomatoes look great. The top photo is really long jointed. Makes me think of one of those giant tomatoes I ordered out of a magazine a few years ago. That one doesn't have a lot of fruit on it but they will probably be really big. I like how the shorter ones look. The cool climate probably make a lot of difference how the plants fruit up. I think you have em going great guns. Is that soybeans behind your garden?
Yes its soybeans. No corn shucks this year yea! They are a pain.
Thats how small this town is, I live 3 blocks south of main street and and have a field in my backyard.I know that one has a vine that has gone crazy I had to get a stake and tie it up it was over the cage and almost on the ground. I planted early girl, jet star and better boys. 2 of each and then I had a couple of volunteers on the edge of the garden I left to see what they will do. They have a couple of small maters on them. Next couple of days the high is only suppose to be in the 70's and chance of more rain. I wish I could split the difference with Stephanie down there in Texas.
There are quite a few flowers and small maters on my plants the pic doesn't show them they are mostly in the middle of the cages. I was worried for awhile I wouldn't have any. Something turned them around, but I did so many things in a short time I'm not sure what the fix was just glad it got fixed.
We have been as dry in Norteast Louisiana as Stephanie but tonight about 9:30 it started to rain and we got a good one. National weather map looks like Stephanie is going to get rain as well over the next 2 or 3 days. Don't know when you guys get your first major frost but you should have plenty of time. If you have fair size green tomatoes on your plants and you get killing frost warnings, you can pull off the maters and wrap them in news paper and put them in a box and put the box in a cool (not a place that will get below freezing) dark place (under a bed or in a closet) then when you want ripe tomatoes, just take out what you need, unwrap and sit on the window sill. In a couple of days they will be ripe. Read that you could lay a banana peel by them and they would ripen faster. Have ripe maters for Christmas every year. Not as good as fresh off the vine but better than what you buy in a store. I know what you are talking about living in a rural town. I live out in the country but all the towns around have fields around them. In Monroe, which is a pretty nice size city, there is a new residential section, with a soybean field right in the middle of it.
I'll have to try that. I heard the other day that if you boiled rhubard leaves you could use the water to keep insects off anything. Ever heard of that? All I know is rhubarb leaves are poisonous,not sure I'd want to spray it on my garden.
I have at least until october before it frosts, wouldn't count on anything this year. We had 90 degrees for a week in June and now seems doing good to hit 80. Beautiful weather to play in the dirt and yard but not warm enough to keep pool warm. Grandkids think its still warm enough but I want lukewarm bathwater.
I believe you about the soil.
I've been amending mine with leaves and straw and compost ever since I broke the ground, but it still goes directly from mud to brick.
My husband said my list is so long for him to do this fall on that garden soil he's going to have a few truckloads of GOOD dirt dumped and start from scratch. We'll see. I did see something in Lowes the other day you were suppose to mix in clay soil to help don't remember the name.
