I have two cherry tomato plants one in a 5 gallon and one in a 3 gallon container. I'm using store-bought planting soil and fertilize them with slow release pellets and I spray diluted Miracle-Gro on the leaves once a week. They have been growing fine since Memorial Day, but just this week some tomatoes have started to turn red. At the same time, especially in the 3 gallon (which I know is a little small), the bottom leaves have all started to turn yellow. I was told that some yellowing is normal, but almost the entire bottom is turning yellow and it looks like the middle to upper leaves are starting to wilt. We have been getting alot of rain, so much so that I hardly have to water them but the container have drainage holes at the bottom, so they should be draining fine.
I didn't put the slow release pellets in until about 3 weeks ago, before that I was just using the liquid Miracle-Gro. I just put about a tablespoon of the pellets on the top of the soil and water them when needed.
My question is, is this yellowing normal or am I over/under feeding the plants? Thanks in advance.
Thanks for the reply. My fertilizing has been out of whack, since I started with the liquid fertilizer, then moved to the slow-release. I thought it was either they were getting too much water, or too much fertilizer. I'm going to stop spraying the leaves every week and water them more, if I am over fertilizing. Thanks again.