pointer80
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Joined: Sun Mar 24, 2013 1:50 pm
Location: northern Michigan

Help with struggling tomatoes

Hello everyone, It's been a while since I have been on here and hope everyone is doing well. I wanted to get some advice on my tomato and pepper plant's that seem to be having some issues. I started these from seed like I always do and they grew fine until I up potted them into solo cups then they seem they took a turn for the worst. I used the brand garden safe organic garden soil to up pot into. they make a potting mix but it is exactly the same as the garden soil but with the addition of perlite which I added myself. I have had them under t-12 lights. They seem to be struggling and not a good color and also some brown spots which could be from the lights being to close maybe? I did water with some organic 4-3-3 fertilizer today on some plants just to see if that helps. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
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applestar
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Welcome back! Good to see you here. :D

Yellowing makes me think overwatered. What kind of drainage holes did you make in those cups? Are they sufficient? ...only on the bottom?

T12s shouldn’t burn even with sustained contact but maybe combined with root damage?

pointer80
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Posts: 233
Joined: Sun Mar 24, 2013 1:50 pm
Location: northern Michigan

applestar wrote:Welcome back! Good to see you here. :D

Yellowing makes me think overwatered. What kind of drainage holes did you make in those cups? Are they sufficient? ...only on the bottom?

T12s shouldn’t burn even with sustained contact but maybe combined with root damage?
I have three long holes in the bottom of each cup which is what I have used in previous years with no problems. I have been letting them go to dry if anything I believe. Here is a picture of the roots, They seem fine I think? Thanks.
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Gary350
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I have noticed plants that I grow inside always turn yellow potting seems to never have all the minerals real garden soil has. I put about 1/2 gallon of garden soil in a 5 gallon bucket then fill the bucket with water an stir well. I water my plants with dirty water & they start looking better. What are the chances your potting soil is low nitrogen? Once I plant tomatoes outside I use low nitrogen fertilizer 4-4-10 fertilizer. If you can get plants in a window with full sun that might help.

pointer80
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Location: northern Michigan

Gary350 wrote:I have noticed plants that I grow inside always turn yellow potting seems to never have all the minerals real garden soil has. I put about 1/2 gallon of garden soil in a 5 gallon bucket then fill the bucket with water an stir well. I water my plants with dirty water & they start looking better. What are the chances your potting soil is low nitrogen? Once I plant tomatoes outside I use low nitrogen fertilizer 4-4-10 fertilizer. If you can get plants in a window with full sun that might help.
Thank you, I am starting to use fish emulsion fertilizer and starting to put them out in the sun as weather permits. I also might give them a dose of Epsom salt for some magnesium

imafan26
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I find plants struggle in organic potting mixes. I planted peppers over 3 months ago and they have peppers but are barely 5 inches tall. They should be well over a foot by now. I also had some yellowing tomatoes. The organic mixes do stay wet longer, but when I pulled the plant out of the pot, the roots were not rotting. They were very under developed. The seedlings I planted later in miracle grow potting mix have done much better with a more robust plant and root system.

I do not supplement my seedlings except for adding osmocote to the soil mix. If I mix my own soil, I will do the same.
Lately, I have not wanted to drag around a 3.8 cu ft bale of peat moss to the back yard so I got bags of MG potting soil and because it was cheaper, I got Nature made organic raised bed garden mix and Kellogg's organic raised bed garden mix. They are supposed to be ready to use.

The organic mixes are fir bark based and not peat based. They also do not contain wetting agents and the Kellogg's mix especially dries out on the surface. Organic mixes do stay wet longer than a peat based mix, but wetness was not an issue this time. Supposedly the organic mixes also had fertilizer added to them.

My seedlings are started in 4 inch compots and the smaller transplants are in 3.5 inch pots. The older peppers, bay leaves are in bigger pots. Some of the seedlings did turn yellow and the growth was definitely retarded with poor root development. I don't usually supplement seedlings but I had give them MG water soluble a couple of times. I usually never have to do this. I did get more MG soil and repotted the older plants into it and the newer seeds were started in MG soil and they are doing much better. The tomatoes I replaced the soil on are finally growing and I don't have any yellow plants now. I have side dressed everything now with additional fertilizer
I suggest you check the root system of your plants. If they are under developed but there is no white fungus, then it is probably the soil that is the issue. Overwatering can cause the yellowing as well, and so can using an organic soil in pots without supplementing fertilizer on a weekly or biweekly basis.

I would try repotting some of the seedlings, remove most of the organic soil and repot in a peatlite mix with osmocote and you probably will still need to supplement with additional feedings. Fish emulsion or synthetic fertilizer to stimulate the root growth.

Some of my seedlings had been planted over two months ago and they were just too old to try to save, so I just replanted in MG soil and peatlite with osmocote and they are growing the way they should now.

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kayjay
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Location: Southern Ontario

Hi. I don't have much to add, but I had the same experience this year. Most of my tomatoes just looked sickly - almost identical to your pics, with the yellowing and light burn marks.

The exceptions: my micro-dwarf Tiny Tim and Red Robin, plus the San Marzanos, for whatever reason. The other big tomatoes looked like junk. Not sure if this helps, but I think these were my mistakes:
- I was lazy with making sure they shared the light properly.
- I think I used the wrong fertilizer - I have higher N and lower N for flowering plants/veggies... and I think I used the latter.
- I think my potting soil was too wet and/or I should have made more holes in the bottom of the cups. It seems like I only had to water every 2-3 days. The crappy-looking ones didn't develop nice roots.

My peppers, started under identical conditions, looked awesome and had prolific root development.

Our weather has been lousy, but everything is out now and they look like they'll bounce back. I buried the tomatoes up to their eyeballs. Are you putting yours out this weekend? I'd love to hear about how yours end up.

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TomatoNut95
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Hello! Please stay away from Sta-Green soils. Talk about low nutrition!

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rainbowgardener
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Yes, they look nutrient deprived. The fertilizer should help, but it will take a little time. Unfortunately organic fertilizers are often not as concentrated as synthetic ones. To a certain extent that is good, the plants won't get burned by them. But it also means you need to work a little harder at fertilizing.



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