gkellie
Newly Registered
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jul 11, 2010 9:10 am
Location: Zurich, Switzerland

My leaves are yellow and some have black spots

Hello!

I am a novice gardener, actually (who am I kidding?), I'm a beginner. This is my first time growing anything and now we (my fiance and I) have a "garden" on our balcony - a whopping three (3!) terra cotta pots: one tomato plant, a rectangular potted herb garden with basil, chives and thyme and my soon-to-be mother-in-law gave me a rectangular pot with beetroot in it as a birthday gift.

We live in Zurich Switzerland and are in the middle of summer. The weather is humid by day and stormy by night, however, the temperature rarely drop below 20C or 70F.

Although the basil is a bit sensitive to light and temperatures and my fiance has pushed the beetroot to the brink of drowning with all the water he's giving it, I'm most concerned about the tomatoes. The leaves of lately have started to turn yellow and are drooping but are not dry. It is covered in blossoms and has 4 or 5 little baby tomatoes about the size of a pea on it - we are so excited for the "harvest!" Only, I don't want to kill the plant inadvertently! Some of the leaves also had black spots on them, but I picked them off. The pot is in the sun for 8+ hours every day so direct sunlight is not an issue. I've also read that tomatoes are thirsty. We didn't give it any fertilizer or Miracle Grow, should we?

Any help and/or advice will be well received! Please help our babies live!!

Thank you! :D

garden5
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 3062
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:40 pm
Location: ohio

Welcome to the Helpful Gardener :D.

It sounds like a fungal disease, possibly septoria or the early blight (Google Image Search them). Your humid weather makes me really feel that this is the case.

Just pull off the infected leaves and dispose of them far from the plants.

TZ -OH6
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 2097
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:27 pm
Location: Mid Ohio

Hoping that it isn't the start of a nasty disease, commonly in your situation droopy yellow leaves could either be over watering, which weakens the roots and prevents nutrient uptake, or nutrient deficiency from inadequate fertilizing. Losing some of the older lower leaves over time from slight underfertilizing is generally better than over fertilizing.

Could you post a picture of the plant and closeup of the leaves?

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engineeredgarden
Green Thumb
Posts: 426
Joined: Thu May 13, 2010 11:51 am
Location: NW Alabama

Frequency of watering and drainage characteristics of the soil within the container is what I'd be most anxious to find out about.

EG



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