Tomatoes and yellowing

I am trying to grow tomatoes, bell peppers and petunias in twenty five gallon pots on the deck. First time for growing anything but hair on my chin. The toms, and peppers all have leaves turning yellow and splotches. I am using a slow release fert. I have already pulled out several plants and started over. I mulched because someone told me it would prevent splashing mold etc up on plants, I check water by using the first knuckle test. I just retired from teaching special education for 35 years. Believe me, growing a darned tomatoe in a pot is far more taxing. Add all this together and I am trying not to use anything toxic because I have a toy pomeranian that rules the deck and I am trying not to make her glow green. I did finally use sevin dust today and then sprayed the deck boards down after wards.
God Bless
Coach

Coach, what growing medium are you using?

I made the sad mistake of filling my beds with to much peat moss witch resulted in the PH (acid) level of the soil in the beds unacceptable for tomatoes. The thread is here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/870295/

This was in a bed, and I would assume that in a container (yes we all know what the first three letters of that word spell) The mix would be even more important.

I would repost this question on the tomato forum & test the ph level of my planting medium.

Just a couple of Ideas.

I bought bags of top soil in 20 pound bags at Lowes. Thats all

Can I point a couple of people more knowledgeable about tomatoes than myself to this thread? I would not do this without your permission, but there are people here who can ask better questions and offer better advise than myself.

Howdy Coach, and a Hearty Welcome To DG!

"Top soil" is not the best thing to use in containers as it tends to not drain very well. A classic symptom of being too wet is yellowing plants, mainly due to the fact that the roots are not having access to oxygen. (In other words, they are drowning.)

The yellowing could also come from soil that is too cold, not enough sunlight, or from a lack of nitrogen (or something that is inhibiting nitrogen uptake).

For containers it would be best to use a potting mix rather than potting soil; this will give you good drainage but yet also hold moisture and at the same time allow air to the root system.

As for Sevin I'm not sure why you used that, did you have bugs of some kind on your plants? If so it would be best to identify the bugs before you decide to eradicate them.

Holler back and give us some more info as to what your potting soil is like, how much sun the plants are getting, how often you are watering, etc. No doubt about it we'll make you "king of the tomato kingdom" and also do it w/out using toxic substances!

Best to you and yours!
Shoe

I sure do appreciate the info. As stated, I only used top soil from bags, I will not do lthat again. As for sevin dust, my buddies wife plants a garden and he said she uses it because of some kind of early and late fungus. He knows even less than I do, I guess. Any way all the plants are in full sun. I might have used too much of the slow release granuals. More is always better university. Wrong again, I know. Everything looked so pretty when I planted them. I even put patunias in each pot to make it look good. I retired 20 weeks ago and a week after retiring had open heart and five bypasses. Had no idea.....just went for a check up. Thought this would be a way to pass the time while I got back on my feet but I am thinking about just going to the local farmers market and buying the darn things. I am glad I was a teacher and coach, boy I would have starved.

Changing to a good potting mix instead of regular soil should do the trick for your tomatoes and peppers. The petunias probably don't care one way or the other. I use the bagged soil in my raised beds, but always use potting mix in containers. Some people like the potting mix with the water retention crystals in them. Since I am the type who needs to join "overwaterers anonymous", I never use the stuff with the crystals.

Karen

Coach....Sevin is an insecticide. For fungal diseases (of which there are many) Ortho Garden Disease Control (29.6% chlorothalonil) is a popular preventative. Tomato growers discussed it the other day here:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/870769/

A good photographic diagnostic site for diseases common to tomatoes is here:

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/tomatoproblemsolver/index.html

Just to reiterate, topsoil is very heavy and a very poor choice for growing in containers.

Coach, glad you got those operations taken care of and are now on your way to good health. That's some serious business you went thru, eh?

And don't give up, those plants are most likely salvageable and they handle transplanting (replanting?) well! Like you've probably said many times, "Get back in the game, boy!" :>)

Hope to see you around the site!

Happy Gardening to All!

Shoe

We get on various web sites such as for motorhomes (its just a dream on a teachers retirement), Bluegrass ( I play the banjo) and others but you people are the friendliest I have ever met. Thanks for the info. I am going to change half of the pots and do a little experiment. I will let you know. Also if any of you do the pot thing on decks what do you do about your pets and spraying.
God Bless
Coach