From what I have read, plants can start to yellow from the bottom up like this from over watering or too much fertilizer. I have been using tomato tone every 10-14 days and generally watering every other day when the soil has felt dry up top.
I took a 4-5 day break from watering to see if overwatering was the problem and they have only gotten worse. Any thoughts?
by Underschorn
12 Comments
Tomato plants do not need tomato tone every 10-14 days. I’m going to go ahead and say that’s your problem. You’re just over-doing it. Do it like three times in an entire season… If that
If you were over watering, look for bumps on the leaves. Those bumps will burst and turn leaves yellow. It’s called edema. You will have to let your plant dry out before watering it. Even if it wilts a bit. Get a moisture meter so you can see the moisture deeper then surface level. Just because the top is dry, doesn’t mean it needs water
Tomato is an art of nurture then neglect for me. Nurture as a seedling, setup for success at planting, then very minimal inputs apart from typical pruning and maybe a fish emulsion once a month.
Those pots might be on the small side, so don’t neglect on the water. I would suggest 10 gal or bigger on the pots.
I don’t think feeding as guided by the tomato tone package is a problem. And with such a low volume of soil, shrinking their 14 days to 10 days may even make some sense.
What I would do here is prune all the low yellow leaves as they’re too close to the soil anyway. With a little more space to work with, I’d add a little more high quality soil or worm castings, then top with hay or clean mulch. Then I’d reassess if the issue doesn’t resolve with standard care.
Cut off the yellow. Don’t over fertilize. Water consistently
If it’s granular tomato tone that’s not going to break down for a bit, even if it says quick release. There is still a process for that so the roots of your plants can actually uptake it. You wanna use a liquid fertilizer or soil soluable amendments that would be instantly soluable. Also those planters are really small for tomato plants. I would recommend 5-15 gallon fabric pots. You can get some good ones on Amazon that come in packs of 3-10.
If you’re using Espoma Tomato Tone, that is a granular organic fertilizer that requires microbial activity to break it down and make it available to the plants. Despite the quantity you’re putting in there, it may not be breaking down fast enough or sufficiently in a container to give the plants what they need. If these were mine, I would switch to a water soluble synthetic fertilizer to nurse them back to health (follow package instructions). You have 2 so you could experiment and try it on one to see what happens.
I know a lot of people don’t want to use synthetic fertilizers because it’s not “natural”, but neither is growing a tomato plant in a container. The smaller mass of media doesn’t support the same type of ecosystem that’s found in ground because of temperature and moisture swings and other factors.
I have not fertilized my tomatoes more than once since I started them from seed back in february and they are massive already producing fruit.
Tomato roots do not like to be soaked and like to dry out between waterings. I would guess you are way overwatering… I will pull back both on water and fertilizer.
A tomato plants leaves will start to go a bit limp and droop every so slightly when it needs water. I water mine maybe once a week… maybe.
I recommend stopping the fertilizer all together and don’t water till you see them wilt from lack of water. Not that them wilting from drying out is good, it’ll just give you a better idea of how often they actually need water.
Take pictures of the leaves close up.
Yellow leaves can be removed with sterilized snips (a wipe of alcohol will do) since they’re already dead
Tomatoes will do fine with leaf pruning as long as the fruiting stems are above some leaves. Like end of season 70% of your leaves may be pruned.
I think you probably need a liquid artificial fertilizer like miracle grow. There isn’t enough soil or microbe life in those small pots to digest and make bioavailable tomato tone organic feeds. It’s a good product. I use it in my raised beds. But I also do cover crops, deep mulch, etc. it’s a whole system to get organic gardening going.
For results in one season, traditional liquid fertilizer.
Oh and just to be clear, the pots have holes and can drain freely from the bottom right?
I have found that once tomato plants are bigger than a wisp, they usually thrive with a little abuse. I never fertilize and sometimes they get a little dry in the hot southern climate. I always get a bumper crop every year.