Hi tomato people. OK my first year at this. I'm in Houston, TX. Over the Christmas holidays my son and I built a 16 X 16' raised garden (12 inches) and completely enclosed it with a sturdy frame and hardware cloth (1/2 inch wire mesh). We filled it with a mixture of 256 bags of various soils including rose soil, humus, topsoil and organic manure. We then laid 9 lines of drip hose over the top and tied it into my lawn sprinkler system and are thus able to control watering cycle.
I transplanted 28 various tomato plants from local nurseries the last week in February and have been fortunate not to have experienced a frost since. The plants have shot up like rockets to a height of 12" to 18 inches and are producing lots of blooms and early fruit.
For the last week or so I have noticed that the growth rate seems to have slowed and the plants are taking on a pale color. I have dug down about ten inches and tried to determine moisture level. I can make a ball of soil that will hold together, but when pressed with my thumb will crumble. I am watering through the drip lines every other day for 30 minutes.
Temps here are in the 60's at night and low-to-mid 80's during the day.
Any ideas about the pale plants? I can post pictures if I can figure out how to do it. Maybe my wife can help (she's a photographer and forum addict)
