New To Growing Tomatoes and in Need of Help

[Remirem]

Hello Everyone.

I recently wanted to get into growing some Veggies.

I have cucumbers tomatoes and peppers.

All of them are doing good but the tomatoes are looking a little strange to me.

I have attached pictures so you guys can give some help.

I bought the big tomatoes plant from Costco and it was really green and for the past couple of days it has been getting purple like it is in the picture.

Why do you think this is happening. Could it be over watering?

Also from looking at the size of the plant how much water do you think I need to be giving it?

Any tips would be helpful I just want to have a green plant again.

Thank you for the help!

( I water in the mornings and I do check to make sure the soil is moist and not dry. I have an organic fertilizer in it with organic potting mix.)

[rainbowgardener]

To start with, where are you located and what has your weather been like?

How many hours of sun a day do your tomato plants get there on your balcony?

[Remirem]

I live in michigan. The weather has been all over the place. One day it is hot all day and night the next day it is chilly and I would say I need a sweater in the morning. But we have had more warm days then cold so far.

They sit on that deck from sun up to sun down. I would say that the sun is on them for 8-10 hours a day.

[PaulF]

My guess is that your plant is starving. The pot is about one quarter the size it needs to be to support a tomato plant. As you water the nutrients will be flushed out of the soil and needs to be replenished. Get some fertilizer you mix with water and about every week or ten days (maybe more often with such a tiny pot) water with the liquid fertilizer. Get the type fertilizer that says Bloom Booster or where the analysis is low nitrogen such as 5-20-20 or 8-25-15 or something along those lines. Anyway less nitrogen than P or K. The first thing I would do is get a much bigger pot, remove the whole soil ball and fill the big pot with soilless mix around the soil and plant. Try to damage the roots as little as possible.

[imafan26]

People do not realize how big a pot they need especially when they start with relatively small plants. I use 14-20 inch pots for most of my plants. Larger plants have bigger root systems and will stunt when they become pot bound. Larger pots will dry out slower and that helps with midday wilt, especially in the middle of summer.

I plant one indeterminate tomato in a 20 inch pot. Tomatoes do especially well in self watering containers. A fully mature tomato can drink up to 4 gallons of water a day, and I have not had a problem with blossom end rot on my tomatoes in SWC and I do not add calcium to my mix.

In each 14-20 inch pot I can plant either

1 tobasco chili pepper
1 lacinato kale
1 indeterminate tomato
9 beans
9 snow peas
ginger
sweet potato
1 rosemary (gradually potted up as it grows)
1 citrus tree
1 lavener
1 marjoram
1 Mexican oregano
1 cucumber
1 bay laurel tree
or
1 eggplant

[Remirem]

I can not plant them into the ground so I will for sure get a 5 gallon bucket and put the plant into it.

The strange thing is that I did get the plant in the little black pot from the store and the people told me that this would be fine but clearly they did not know anything.

Thank you for your help everyone! I will keep updating to show how they do with the new pot and fertilizer in the water.

[jal_ut]

Ya, a 5 gallon bucket would be a better size for a tomato. Pretty hard to grow them in a pot. If planted in the ground, the roots will go several feet deep and spread out beyond the scope of the top growth. The roots of one indeterminate tomato plant could well occupy 100 sq. ft. of soil.

https://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrar ... 7ch26.html