Care of Tomato Plants

[lynnaespafford]

Hello y'all,
I had a couple quick questions about indoor planting. I have already started out tomatoes, broccoli, and peppers inside, and they are planted in the tiny peat pots. At present, some of them are looking a little wilted, and the tomato leaves are turning a sort of purplish color (some of the tomatoes are the Cherokee tomatoes, so that could be the reason?). Being the amateur that I am at all of this, I had just a couple quick questions... How often should I be watering these plants? And is there anything else that I should be giving them? Thank you!

[gumbo2176]

Usually wilted is a sign of needing watering. Peat pots have a tendency to dry out real fast.

I'd put them in a tray and place some water in the tray for the pots so soak up the water instead of spraying them with a hose. Or you could just direct the water to the soil in the pot and not wet the plants too much.

Make sure they are getting enough light to continue growing. If you can give them a few hours of sunlight a day or maybe a grow light to help them along, that would be a good thing.

Not sure what to make of the purple colored leaves.

[rainbowgardener]

Hello y'all,
I had a couple quick questions about indoor planting. I have already started out tomatoes, broccoli, and peppers inside, and they are planted in the tiny peat pots. At present, some of them are looking a little wilted, and the tomato leaves are turning a sort of purplish color (some of the tomatoes are the Cherokee tomatoes, so that could be the reason?). Being the amateur that I am at all of this, I had just a couple quick questions... How often should I be watering these plants? And is there anything else that I should be giving them? Thank you!

It's a little tricky. I hate the peat pots because of that. Plastic works much better, even plastic drink cups or something, with drainage holes. The peat pots can stay too wet and hold too much water and then dry out and suck all the water away from the plants. Bottom watering as gumbo suggested is generally a better way to water, except then your peat pots will get all soggy and moldy. Plants can look wilty from too little water OR from too much. You can tell the difference by putting a finger in your soil. If they are really wilting from too little water, the soil will feel dry. If the soil feels wet, it is too much water.

It is very hard to tell you how often to water them, because it depends on so many variables, soil conditions, air conditions, temps etc. But the goal for little seedlings is keeping it just barely damp as much of the time as possible - not wet, not dry. So you just need to keep monitoring your soil and after awhile you will figure out what schedule works for you. For my seedlings in plastic pots in trays, I put a little bit of water in the bottom of the tray, until it just touches the pot for wicking up, most mornings. If there's any trace of yesterday's water left that didn't get sucked up, I don't add more.

You didn't say anything about where you are. To me, it is odd to be starting broccoli, peppers, tomatoes at the same time. Broccoli is a cold weather crop, very hardy and frost tolerant, but does not like heat, tends to fizzle out once it gets hot. Tomatoes and peppers are summer crops that can't stand any frost. Unless you are in the frozen north, it is probably too late to be starting broccoli and peppers from seed. Broccoli because the started transplants go in the garden a month or more before your average last frost date. I planted my broccoli seeds indoors in late Jan., transplanted them into the garden the first week in March (but your climate may be very different, not suggesting those are the appropriate times for you, just giving a sample of how this works).

The peppers go out a lot later, but they are very slow growing. I start my pepper seeds indoors in late Jan to be transplanted in to the garden some time after mid-April. That could be rushed a bit, if you didn't mind transplanting smaller plants. I like to have good sized transplants.

If you are in a cold climate, now may be appropriate for the tomatoes, which don't go out until after danger of frost is past and are quicker growing. I am repotting my tomato plants again, because they are outgrowing the space under my lights. Oh and it is common for indoor tomato plants to get a purplish color on the underside of the leaves. I don't know what causes it, not enough light or some nutrient deficiency or what. But it doesn't seem to harm them and disappears once they go outside.

It might be good for you to buy some well started plants from a good nursery and try the indoor seed starting thing again next year, with more experience and a lot of browsing our seed starting section.

PS re "is there anything else I should be giving them?" That also depends, on what they are planted in. If they are planted in seed starting mix, that is sterile without nutrients. Once they have their first true leaves you would need to start fertilizing regularly (weekly, weakly they say, using very dilute fertilizer). If they are in potting soil with Miracle Gro that is enough until they go in the garden.