What's wrong with these tomatoes?

I finally did an e-bucket with a beefsteak tomato. However, the tomato is looking rather ragged.

tips of leaves are brown and curling.

stem of the tomato at the base has sort of purplish hue.

it IS flowering, and I have my first tomato (three days ago it was a speck; now it's about an inch diameter).

I did put in some crushed egg shells and a LITTLE bit of fertilizer in the dirt, but I don't know what's going on.


This is a food garden primarily for our family of four; not a hobby, hence the sort of stressing out here. :)

Any advice welcome.

pic #2

I can't get it to rotate; took the picture longitudinally.

I also put stones in the hole for the ebucket so big bugs couldn't get in.

I hope that this photos shows the stem more closely - it's not really purple, but only slight hue.

pic #3

leaves curling and brown

btw - this is only happening on bottom of plant - the top of plant looks fine.

I did spray insecticidal soap on it shortly after I planted it in ebucket, could that be it? (i hope)

You might want to try posting on the tomato forum. You might get a better response.

SoFlaCommercial - did you spray with soap because of bugs? If so, the browning/curling could be caused by the bugs sucking the juice out of the leaves.

The purple color could be a sign of somekind of mineral deficiency. Calcium, maybe? I give my tomatoes lots of calcium by adding crab meal to the soil.

Try this link to identify your problem:

http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/min-def/tomatoes.htm

HBNC:

The only bug I saw were mosquitos. There may have been some sort of fly as well. I sprayed primarily as a preventative measure.

I did mix some calcium in the soil (but just a tablespoon or so) before I put the lid on the plant, and it is flowering and I have one gorgeous green tomato on the plant right now, but I'll add some more calcium just in case.

the purplish hue seems (at least for the moment) to not be as severe, though the leaves look like crap. We're getting a cool spell coming in tonight, so I'm fearful, since it's a relative new transplant (been in the bucket only a week or so).

Thanks!

SoFlaCommercial - I just looked up your weather report and it said it should be in the 60's tonight. That's not too cold for your tomatoes. We're going to be in the 40's and I expect our tomatoes to survive.

The soap you sprayed could have caused the leaves to brown and curl, especially if the weather was hot when you did it. I personally don't like those soap sprays because of this.

I mixed it myself, but perhaps put too much soap in it; don't know. although it was late afternoon, the sun was still up, so that could be it as well.

thanks for getting back to my post.

much appreciated

i went to nursery to get some herb plants, and as i happened to have taken a photo of the plant earlier today to document another problem, the guy at the nursery said I had fusarium wilt. the stem at the base of the plant where it meets the dirt is split open.

see for yourself.

is it wilt? if so, what do i do?

sorry about the photo - can't seem to fix the bugger when i upload from iphone.

is this F. Wilt? if so, what can I do? I put so much effort into this, don't want to get rid of it...

Not Fusarium, unless you mixed some ground soil into it....and you didn't. So no, not the reason.

Looks like a moisture, wicking problem. At first, I thought it might have been too dry "only have to refill water when it gets low - perhaps once a week". In a bucket(small reservoir), and your Florida temps, you should be filling it at very least every other day if the mix is wicking properly. I wondered if it completely dried out and had a problem getting moisture.

Buuuuuut....

In the last picture the mix looks very soggy. First step is to remove the lid and see if you are drowning the roots. If so, leave it off and don't water.


Also, What Miracle Grow Fert did you use? A tablespoon of the blue stuff will be way too much for a SW bucket. Way too strong. Plus no drainage, that stuff will just sit in the mix and reservoir unless you flush it out every now and then.

the soil is soggy, but now that i have the lid on, except to just angle the lid, cannot really take the lid off.

fertilizer was time-release capsular fertilizer; not the blue stuff.

the weather has been uncharacteristically cool/windy for this time of year in south florida. I did add some water today, but not much.

the single tomato on the plant is growing, but it is not flowering right now. the plant had four or five flowers on it when I bought it, but only one pollinated.

I would cut/slice the lid and remove it. Best and fastest way to let the soil breathe. You could always put it back on later, if you want.

Gotta be careful with time released ferts in a SWC. Too unpredictable. They tend to either release all at once in them. But the main and first problem you need to fix is the soggy mix.

Well, I cut the lid off (unfortunately, had to do it in pieces, so no putting that one back on, LOL!) today, and ya'll were right - soil was too moist.

Let me put it this way:

1. the white perlite that I added as an extra aeration was actually GREEN.

2. There was a funky white mold (looked like webbing) on the surface of the soil near where the hole for the plant was. It wasn't much, so I just picked it off.

3. oh, and there were two skinny MUSHROOMS growing in the soil as well.

However, what was weird was that the soil had pulled away a little bit from the sides of the bucket...don't understand why that would happen.

So, now that I figured out a likely culprit (leaves are really turning brown now), how do I fix this?

Can I put a mulch on it so that nothing's laying it's eggs in there? If so, what kind of mulch? I do have some red landscape mulch....


oh, and this time when I watered, just to add a little oxygenation, I put a smidge of hydrogen peroxide in the water.

oh-oh! ....it must have already been on the road to recovery, because the one tomato I have on it is getting big, and it looks like it's going to continue to flower - saw four or five new flower buds - yay!

SoFla ~ I think the ebucket system would work for you in summertime but I don't think they are suited for winter growth.

This time of year it doesn't do plants good to stay too wet. I know you are still hot there but the shorter sunlight days also affect the plant growth.

If it were mine, I would prepare a spot in the ground and carefully remove it from the container soil and all. If the roots are showing on the edges of the soil, (and I'll bet they aren't) I'd untangle them and place the plant in ground. It will suffer a tad of a setback but tomato plants in general are forgiving. Good luck... pod

I only have one more raised bed available to plant. was planning on putting some bell peppers in there. can i throw in the tomato as well, or should they not be in the same area? the bed is 3.5 x 7 feet.

also - it's starting to bear fruit - can you transplant without losing the fruit?

I would put it in with the pepper bed. I've planted tomatoes and peppers together with no problems. Is it a determinate or indeterminate? '

How tall is your plant now? Relocating it may delay the fruit production but it sounds as though it is struggling now.

The tomato plant should do well for you this season in your climate.