Can These Plants Be Saved?

[ButterflyGarden]

So when I went to the hospital to have a baby, my husband took care of the kids and the plants. Thankfully my kids where all in one piece when I got back but my plants where a different story. He grossly underestimated the amount of water they needed and for about a week and a half my tomato plants sat in 90 degree weather without enough water. I took off most of the dead parts and gave them lots of water and some fish fertilizer hoping that bringing back some foliage would help the plant recover. There is some new growth near the bottom of the plant. Can they be saved?

[gixxerific]

If it were me after slapping your husband I would not count them out just yet. Thankfully the kids didn't end up like this.

You would be amazed what a little boost of fertilizer and a bunch of water will do. You might want to try a fert with a level paying field. Like 5-5-5, 10-10-10 Those plants need all of it. Normally with tomatoes you don't want a high nitrogen number but in this case you need it to stimulate leaf growth.

Good luck.

Oh yeah maybe give them a little shade during the really hot day's at least. that will help the come back.

[gixxerific]

Good point about the white wall.

And give you husband some sunblock at least if he is going to stand out there all day. We don't want to mean just teach him a lesson.

[ButterflyGarden]

There is no getting away from the way. The white stone you see is called Jerusalem Stone and here in Jerusalem the exterior of every building is covered with it. It's actually very pretty, but it's everywhere so I have to work around that.

I'll try to fertilize and keep up with the water and see if that helps. It hasn't really gotten hot yet (it gets up over 100 at the height of our summer which is about August and will not cool down until Sept.) but I'll try pulling them under the overhang when it's hot out and see if that helps.

Last year I had some success with pushing 2 liter bottles filled with water into the soil. They slowly released the water throughout the heat of the day and it seemed to help keep the plants cooler.

As for my husband, there will be no standing in the sun. We are all redheads so after about 5 minutes I wouldn't be able to tell him apart from the tomatoes. However, I am not above a good guilt trip that will (hopefully) result in a trip to the nursery with the credit card.

[soil]

have you thought of using a flood tray. you put it under the pots. and when you leave you fill them up. this will keep the pots wet for a good few days at least even at 100 degrees. its so much easier for someone else to take care of the plants this way, so basically when the tray is empty give it another inch of water. its not ideal because of the sitting water, but its far better than not enough water.

[ButterflyGarden]

I've never seen such a thing here. I'll have to ask at the nursery when I go. I wounder if it would work with these pots though. They have feet and are raised up a bit from the ground.

[ButterflyGarden]

So after lots of water, fertilizer and love about half of the plants look like they are making a come back.





So the question is: Since they are in containers, should I give up on the ones that look completely dead and have not shown any sign of new growth? If I pull them up shouldn't that leave more room for the other plants to grow and hopefully make them healthier? Or is there still a chance they will rise from the dead (this is the wholly land after all )?

[rainbowgardener]

Since your tomato plants are VERY crowded in those small containers anyway, I would get rid of the ones that are still not looking healthy. To avoid disturbing the roots of the ones that you want to keep, just cut the other ones off at the soil line.