hcem
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Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 12:54 pm

Indoor Tomato Problems

Hey hello people,

I'm new to gardening. What do you think the problem of my tomatoes?

I try to grow them indoors under artificial light and this forum looks like the right place to ask questions. These are different cherry varieties planted on 01.11.17

Regards,
Cem
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PaulF
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Joined: Tue Nov 09, 2010 5:34 pm
Location: Brownville, Ne

What is your lighting set up? It looks like incandescent lights. Most will use fluorescent lights. Mine are shop lights with two four foot bulbs, one warm white and one cool white. To keep the seedlings from getting "leggy" the bulbs need to be no more than one inch from the top of the leaves. This will force the plant to grow a stronger stem and healthier roots. As the plant grows move the light up (or the plant down) to maintain the 1 inch spacing.

These seedlings look like they could be re-planted now into soil if you are in a location where it is warm enough. Bury the roots up to about the first branch and I think you will be OK.

A little more information might be helpful. Where you are, where they will be planted, what you think is wrong...details help.

hcem
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Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 12:54 pm

Hi Hello Paul. Thanks for the quick reply.

The light setup consists of 1 dedicated fluorescent growing light + 2 cool white shop fluorescent. I measured the light with a light-meter and it was between 40.000 - 70.000 lux in different levels of the seedlings.

Like you said some of them looks really leggy but one reason might be that some of their bottom leaves got all yellow in the last 10 days, and fell down.

Soil is standart flower growing soil ordered online.

I was actually planning to plant them in bigger containers (the ones in the photos) and hopefully continue growing them indoors until the harvest.

I'm in Istanbul, so the winter is not really warm enough, but the temperature in the room is steady around 25-30 celsius.

They're growing kind of slow with strange leaf colors &shapes, so I was thinking maybe they could have some kind of disease, or I'm doing something wrong since I'm a beginner.

Any suggestion would be really helpful. Thanks again.

Best Regards,
Cem

hcem
Newly Registered
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 12:54 pm

Hi Hello Paul. Thanks for the quick reply.

The light setup consists of 1 dedicated fluorescent growing light + 2 cool white shop fluorescent. I measured the light with a light-meter and it was between 40.000 - 70.000 lux in different levels of the seedlings.

Like you said some of them looks really leggy but one reason might be that some of their bottom leaves got all yellow in the last 10 days, and fell down.

Soil is standart flower growing soil ordered online.

I was actually planning to plant them in bigger containers (the ones in the photos) and hopefully continue growing them indoors until the harvest.

I'm in Istanbul, so the winter is not really warm enough, but the temperature in the room is steady around 25-30 celsius.

They're growing kind of slow with strange leaf colors &shapes, so I was thinking maybe they could have some kind of disease, or I'm doing something wrong since I'm a beginner.

Any suggestion would be really helpful. Thanks again.

Best Regards,
Cem

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MoonShadows
Senior Member
Posts: 149
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 4:50 am
Location: Stroudsburg, PA - Zone 6a

Looks like it could be a magnesium deficiency. this is what it looks like...
Chlorosis-Magnesium-Deficiency-Tomato.jpg
Bookmark this page. It's a good nutrient deficiency guide: https://www.haifa-group.com/knowledge_ce ... _symptoms/

You also didn't mention how many hours a day you have the lights on. How many hours of darkness are you giving them each day? Tomato plants should have six to eight hours of darkness to grow properly.

fromlawntofood
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Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2017 5:05 pm
Location: Alabama

Following to see if it is in fact Magnesium. I'm growing plants straight through winter, and I know growing indoors is a far different ball game. I have struggled keeping herbs alive in winter LOL.

imafan26
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Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

It looks like nutritional deficiencies. Tomatoes are heavy feeders, they will need to be supplemented weekly with some kind of water soluble fertilizer or fish emulsion. They are big enough to pot up.
If these are indeterminate containers you will need to pot up anywhere between 25-65 liter containers. 25 liters for a small determinate tomato that will not grow more than 5 ft and 65 liters for tomatoes that are taller than 6 ft.
I use one part peat moss, one part perlite. You can throw in a couple of handfuls of vermicast. 1/2 cup of a general purpose fertilizer for vegetables should be mixed in with the potting soil before you plant. Supplement weekly with a water soluble fertilizer or monthly with a slow Nitrogen granular fertilizer. Unless you are using pots bigger than 27 gallons, it will be difficult to get your tomatoes to grow organically. Organic fertilizer requires soil organisms to convert it into minerals that the plants can absorb. There is not a big enough population in small pots to feed both the organisms and the plant. Be careful with indoor plants, they are easy to over water if they have inadequate drainage or are allowed to sit in water for a long time. Overwatering is a common reason for the plant leaves to turn yellow and fall.



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