My tomato plants are growing really fast, have blooms and some small green balls already forming. I did notice a few plants I'm concerned about though, the type is the Potato Top, and it looks a tad like what is called Fusarium or Verticillium wilt. I did find some aphids and got them with the spray really good; but the few plants that I'm concerned with now leaves are starting to turn yellow and droop and just look sickly. Will try to get pics up tomorrow to help identify the problem.
joy
Might be in trouble here?
Here are the pics, should I pluck it and disgard it or wait, there are a total of 3 that look like this, a brandywine, a potato top and a bonnie special. Two I bought from a nursery, one I grew from seed.
That was one of my potato tops, I have 2 others that seem to be doing well by the way, but here is another pic of it:
Here's the Bonnie Special starting to look that way, and the thing is, the Bonnie is way across the yard from the other two, not like they are side by side.
Here is the brandywine:
Does it look like they all have the same thing to ya'll? And if they do, is it serious? I would rather pull them and do without them than have them spread some disease to the rest of my maters? The only thing there is they are all in different parts of the container line up and not at all next to each other, my others ones seem to be doing well and it has been raining like cats and dogs. I sprayed yesterday evening after the sun was not present, but it poured again last night (groan). TPlant, Ray, Boca Bob, anyone out there please give me your heads up on this one.
joy
Tough to see the pics clearly. But it looks like the Bonnie's Special is in the worst shape. The leaves look brown, not yellow. Most of the leaves look like they're burnt and damaged from some type of spray. Then there's a couple that look a little suspicious of a problem. What it is exactly, I don't know. It could be a wide array of things.
I would post over at the tomato forum. They might have a better idea as to what is going on.
Just got a call from the FL extension office, I had snipped the leaves and placed them in zip loc baggies and a note to explain and they said it was too much fertilizer, lucky I didn't have a bunch of dead tomato plants. I was also told that since I was using coir/perlite I didn't need to add dolomite lime. And I used too much of that entirely, well, let's hope for the best right?
joy
Quote from joy112854 :
Just got a call from the FL extension office, I had snipped the leaves and placed them in zip loc baggies and a note to explain and they said it was too much fertilizer, lucky I didn't have a bunch of dead tomato plants. I was also told that since I was using coir/perlite I didn't need to add dolomite lime. And I used too much of that entirely, well, let's hope for the best right?
joy
Since you said you recently sprayed, I immediately thought some type of spray scorched them. Too much fertilizer will definitely do that. How much fertilizer were you using? What kind of fertilizer are you using? I bet all the rain you are having just washed it right into the roots. I've always been taught "Less is more" in regards to fertilizer. It's like adding salt as you cook, you can always add if needed later.
About not adding Dolomite lime....I'm not one to argue but where is the calcium gonna come from? Coir/Perlite won't provide it. Gypsum might be a good alternative for you since it doesn't mess with the pH level. Speaking of which, I think a pH meter would be a good investment.
Ray: You are right, TPlant advised me to get a PH meter and I still haven't done so would have prevented this mishap, yepper, I added 3 cups of fertilizer to some of the 5 gal buckets (10-10-10), was lucky I didn't kill the plants actually. Problem is now I'll have more vines and foilage then fruit. I'm actually going to experiment with the Epsoma Garden Tone this summer a bit, it has the micronutrients in it so dolomite lime is not needed, you just use 1/4 cup per month and it supplies everything the plant needs and is organic, won't it be nice to someday reach the ability to be totally organic? LOL
joy
While I still think 3 cups of 10-10-10 is about double what you need in 3 1/2 gallons of potting mix, that damage definitely looks like the result of spraying. Any chance you sprayed a little late in the morning, and the weather heated up pretty quickly? I seem to do that every year, but the plants always snap back in about 10 days.
Yikes! 3 cups in a 5 gallon container? You trying to grow Barry Bonds? lol
I use 2 cups of organic 4-5-3 in a 12 gallon nursery pot. I will lightly dust the soil when fruit is setting, if needed(1/3 of a cup).
You'll be fine eventually with those plants, just flush the buckets with water and don't add fertilizer for awhile.
So wait, you've been using fertilizer without micros? Your plants are gonna need it especially using coir. Looks like we need a fertilizer thread for SWCs :)
Quote from SigourneyBeaver :
While I still think 3 cups of 10-10-10 is about double what you need in 3 1/2 gallons of potting mix, that damage definitely looks like the result of spraying. Any chance you sprayed a little late in the morning, and the weather heated up pretty quickly? I seem to do that every year, but the plants always snap back in about 10 days.
Looking at the bottom leaves, I'm in total agreement. Last month I sprayed on a very overcast day and still got a few scorch marks. It might be a combo of both.
Ray: I spray only in the evening; but that doesn't help much when right after you spray here comes the rain right? I'm going to be using yellow sticky cards.
TPlant: I know you used sticky cards, how many do I put where?
joy
I take a small handful of well-balanced organic fertilizer, guano, dolomite lime and thoroughly mix it with the surrounding soil before setting each transplant.