just started my journey on gardening and been doing a lot of research, seeing very different answers for the scenario that i’m running into and would love some pointers. currently growing roma (3 gal), tumbling tom, (7 gal grow bag), super steak (15 gal grow bag), better boy (15 gal grow bag)
zone 11 hawaii. just about 1/3 compost, perlite, peat moss for potting mix. i use organic balanced fertilizer before first flower cluster then garden tone every 2 weeks or so. getting direct sun around 1-6. indirect morning sun before that, limited by the fact that my balcony is west facing. doesn’t seem like i’m experiencing any sun scalding on my leaves. watering whenever top 1” soil is dry, which is around every other day deep watering. however, i seem to experience powdery mildew way more on my indeterminate tomatoes than my bush ones. i’ve been pruning the affected branches as much as i can. any reason for that and ways to deal with it besides pruning and airflow ?
across all 4 varieties, i observe that the lower leaves wilt/die very quickly (please see photo), especially after transplanting. am i doing anything wrong? lack of fertilizer, over/under watering, too much / not enough sun? all tomatoes under same condition as roma which has already yielded 3 harvest despite small pot size, so i’m pretty sure it’s not the amount of sun they are getting, or pot size, or the watering schedule.
attached is my super steak today, which got transplanted into the 15 gal on april 6. are the yellowing / wilting normal ? top growth looks healthy!
thanks a bunch
by Character_Locksmith4
3 Comments
Transplant shock I imagine. Tomatoes are hardy, wouldn’t worry if new growth is healthy.
I don’t know what’s causing the leaves to die like that, but I just wanted to point out that Garden-tone is a slow-release fertilizer. The pot is probably well fertilized, but the fertilizer you’re using probably isn’t accomplishing what you intend it to. You need to use some sort of liquid fertilizer for immediate nutrient availability.
5 hours of sun is not enough if you want better results. You will get something though. Trim those dead branches.