Soil causing tomato plant failure?

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DonnaRayS Vineland, NJ Apr 23, 2016

I have rocky clay-heavy soil, so last year I dug holes at least a foot wide and 8 or 9 inches deep, filled them with garden soil and put in my plants. I fertilized and watered when necessary, but two plants died almost right away and the others never grew right; weak looking, small fruit if any.

Question: Could something from the surrounding soil be leaching in and causing the problem? At my previous residence I planted this same way for years with success.

Thanks in advance for any help.

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DaisyPlantLady Reno, NV(Zone 6b) Apr 29, 2016

Was the soil at your previous home heavy clay? Essentially, you created a little bathtub - the water sits in the bottom of your planting hole for too long. Dig a hole and fill it with water to see how long it takes to sink in then water accordingly. If it takes a long time, water sparingly as you are growing tomatoes in a pot with no holes. Also make the holes a lot deeper and wider - tomatoes are big plants.

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nutsaboutnature Algonquin, IL(Zone 5a) Apr 30, 2016

DaisyPlantLady is right. You may also consider something else for the future.

I have clay soil in many of my beds (except for the raised beds my husband built). Most of my clay beds are regularly amended with compost, leaves and other natural materials which helps, but the soil is still kind of heavy.

Years ago, I tried replacing the clay in just the planting hole with regular topsoil and found the plants suffered. Then I read that by amending only the planting hole the plants start to grow, but then the roots have trouble spreading into the heavy soil which can eventually kill the plant.

You're better off if you try to amend the whole bed, or even better, if the soil is really bad put in some type of raised beds. If raised beds aren't an option for you, you can even consider planting in containers that you place around your garden.

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DonnaRayS Vineland, NJ Apr 30, 2016

Thanks, both, for the input/advice. The soil I worked with before had very good drainage, so hole depth wasn't a real issue. I will definitely dig deeper and wider, and might try a container although I've never done that before.

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