New tomato plant problem I've never seen before

[Francis Barnswallow]

This season was full of new surprises.....and it has not been fun/rewarding at all this year. Had it not been for my peppers doing unexpectedly awesome this season, I would have taken a year off from gardening. *End rant*


Now to the new plant problem.

I've now noticed the 5 ft tall tomato plants I planted around 2 months ago have 90% of their leaves turning dark green on the outer edges and then curling inward then dying. Both tomato plants are doing the same thing. Oiy!! Any suggestions?

On a side note, I joined this board exactly one year ago today. Time sure flies.

[Avonnow]

Hey Francis - Sherry over on the coast - you said it, I have more peppers then I know what to do with, hot and regular going like crazy - the one thing I can't can. Anyhow I had the same thing with my tomatoes and I thought it was a calcium def., then a iron problem and i tried to add some calcium/iron and nothing, they never really got better. Is this plant in the ground or a pot. Mine were in pots and I thought there just wasn't enough space for the roots to take off and not enough to feed it. But if it is in the ground I would love to hear what some of the others have to say.

[Francis Barnswallow]

It's in a large pot (about 2ft wide). These two plants have the same soil as the other remaining tomato plants. And those other tomato plants are in large pots as well and are growing just fine, they're dropping a ton of blossoms though I'm guessing because of the heat.

As for the peppers, I've got 5 large ziplock bags filled with peppers in my freezer.

Avonnow what kind of peppers are you growing? Mine are rainbow bell peppers, when ripe they're all kinds of mixed colors...pretty cool looking.

[Avonnow]

Hey how do you freeze yours, I need to do that instead to trying to cook them all. I have five different hot peppers, cayenne, cherry bomb, jalapenos, one called lipstick ? and another type of jalapeno, and a ornamental that has tiny hot peppers all over it that are white, purple orange and red - they look like Xmas lights. That plant is huge, I have already cut it back once. ( they never stop). I have some Green Bell, some Red Ace (look like a bell just smaller) some Red Marconi Patio peppers - these truly are my favorite this plant produces over and over and they turn red so fast. I have cubanella I got from ACE Hardware - the best $1.99 I ever spent - ACE gives you 6 plants for $1.99. The one bush outside is about 5 foot tall and still loaded - I have some others I honestly have no idea what they are. They produce green peppers that turn red, but they are small. I really want to find one that is a LARGE green pepper - I have some seeded for fall right now. Tomatos, I got some from doing some studying online for Florida Tomatos, (Floradade, Solar Set, Tropic) I grew them too late, even those that were bred for florida heat did horrible during the summer, so I am trying again. I did get a tomato called Talladega (?) from Home Depot that actually produced into late June - I cut it back and will try it again, it is supposed to handle the heat well. Let me know how you freeze them peppers?

[Francis Barnswallow]

Hey how do you freeze yours, I need to do that instead to trying to cook them all.

Once I pick them I cut them in half to check for pests and mold (mold is usually on the seeds). Then I cut out the seeds and same them (I recently planted them). After that I just put the pepper halves in a ziplock bag, try to get as much air out of the bag as possible, and then plop them in the freezer. I honestly have way too many peppers because I never expected to see this amount of peppers. Before this year I've always had hard times trying to grow peppers.

As for tomatoes, I picked up all Florida heat tolerant tomatoes. They're still in their "Bonnie" pots and already have blossoms growing. I have to plant them real soon.