Sick looking transplant

[jmhammRN]

So this plant has been out about 2 weeks, in an Earthtainer. It has started to look gray, not just a leaf but the whole thing, stem and all. It was bought online at The Tasteful Garden - it's a Super San Marzano. All the plants I bought from them were really tall and floppy. I don't really think it's a problem with their plants as a couple of my seedling transplants look wimpy and a tiny bit grey as well. Whats going on????? Maybe too wet; and between the wind and that it has just taken its toll on the plant??

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This full picture of the plant doesn't make it look grey, but it is.

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Here is the plant next to it, also from The Tasteful Garden - a Italian Red Pear. It seems to be yellowing. I would think this is from being too wet.

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And here they are just a few days after planting.

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I have wanted to treat the plants but it has been raining on and off for the last few days. Before that it had been warm and dry here, so it hasn't been a wet spring


On a side note I found this little guy. I saw the chewed up leaf and thought it was aphids or spider mites munching. I reached down to grab the leaf and a bug fell down. At first glance I thought it was a ladybug that was handling the problem. But upon further investigation I saw it wasn't a lady bug and it was to root of the problem.

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[Vespertino]

I think your yellow-black spotted friend is a cucumber beetle, not a friendly insect to have around. Some soap spray should take care of it, I had some lingering around my plants, one of them got into the leaves and caused some damage.

The purpleish-veins looks like it may be a phosphorous deficiency. I had them on my plants this year too, my soil is phosphorous poor. You may want to look at some pictures and if you think that's what you can add phosphorous fertilizer to the reservoir.

Sorry about all the rain, I know tomatoes don't like to be too soggy, but it looks like you have plastic over the top of your earthtainers so there is hope the roots may be OK.

[jmhammRN]

Ok, the plants I grew and mentioned in the first post don't look very grey anymore, if anything the lower foliage a little yellow. They now look a little better than a couple days ago. They were tall but wimpy. They are both Black Krim.

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Here is the Earthtainer next to my problem plant. Brandywine on the left which has yellowing. And the mystery plant that was suppose to be a Brandywine, it looks great but was the one with the cucumber beetle on it.

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Also is this the result of the mycorrhizal inoculate I used - Mykos from Extreme Gardening? This is picture from the mystery plant.
http://www.amazon.com/Xtreme-Gardeni...ds=mycorrhizae

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[RayR]

The white growth on top of your mix is not the result of the mycorrhizal inoculate. Endomycorrhizae do not grow above ground, only down under attached to roots and are not visible to the naked eye. I suspect you just have a common mold growing in the moist conditions under the plastic.
I can't say for sure why you have the unhealthy coloration of the leaves but they do look like the symptoms of nutrient deficiencies caused possibly by roots being too wet, in other words a lack of oxygen.

[KarenO]

Agree with RayR, they do appear to be drowning. I think the problem lies under the plastic at the root zone with way to much water. Also, were you able to harden them off after you recieved them before they were put outdoors in your containers? I would try to get them out of the rain if you can allow them to drain and then give them an application of a balanced soluble fertilizer. For some of the plants pictured you may be nearing an unrecoverable situation.
Karen

[rnewste]

Agree with Ray and Karen - definitely too wet!

Can you cut a "star" pattern in the white plastic out from the stem, and pull it back 4 inches in all directions to dry out the mix around the stem. Alternatively, just take off the plastic mulch altogether until you start experiencing dry weather.

Raybo

[jmhammRN]

So I guess that I have no ideal how 'wet' the mix should be in my Earthtainers. I might have went overboard when mixing together the mix and putting it in the ETs and even though I waited at least 1 day before planting.......that might not have been long enough. Also, while filling the ETs I got a little messy and some mix got down in the water reservoir. With that and then not getting the covers and lids on until a week later (possible insect breeding ground) when I filled the ETs up I would let water run out the overflow holes for a little bit to 'flush' them out. I'm sure this allowed the water level to get up to the mix level. This probably allowed for over-wicking. The mix I used in this ET was Sunshine Mix #1. I did add in extra perlite per the recommendations, as well as fines.

Should the mix just barely stick together when wet enough or should you be able to squeeze a little water out? I have a moisture meter but should it read 'full' (most wet) or 'half tank' in a ET. I put it down in my Smart Pots after not watering them for 4-5 days with the temps getting into the high 80s and low 90s and it read 'full'. So I have no ideal I guess how to gauge how wet the soil needs to be. Here is some picture of the mix for the ET with the trouble plants.


I dug down to the bottom of the ET to test the soil out. I then siphoned out most all of the water to possibly help dry it out. I also took the moisture cover off. Would a foliar spray be the way to deliver fert at this point???


It would still crumble in my hands but I'm guessing this is probably bc it is a soilless mix.


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I was able to squeeze out some water, one squeeze would get all the water out and another squeeze would get nothing further. Maybe you shouldn't be able to squeeze any water out?

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[rnewste]

Deffinitely too wet if you are able to squeeze water out as per your photo. This will normalize over time - just keep the moisture barrier off for however long it takes to dry out a bit. Don't worry about adding fertilizer at the moment - you have plenty in the strip already.

Raybo

[ricman]

Raybo is the expert where these tainers are concerned, so consider his advice as good as gold. With that said I have 4 of the EarthTainers myself and your mix is definitely to wet. I would only put the cover on if you were expecting rain. Your moisture level should equalize in 2 or 3 days if your mix is correct.

Rick

[jmhammRN]

Thanks guys. I think the rain chances should end today and then maybe things can dry up. We haven't had a monsoon but probably 3-3.5" since Thursday. It's good to get the rain though since we are in a pretty descent drought. I guess the combo of my extremely wet mix to start and then my times where I 'flushed' the reservoir just kept things way too wet. At least I've got a few seedlings left over that I haven't given away so if worse comes to worse I'll just swap out for them.


And yes Karen, forgot to answer you, I did harden then off for, umm, I guess right at a week. They were shipped right about the time I was just starting to harden off my seedling. Now I think they might have missed a few days if direct sunlight but they did get at least 4-5 days of it, think I forgot to set them out with my seedlings on a couple occasions.

So the moisture barrier is off and ET reservoir has been drained.....I'll see how it goes. I might even turn over the soil a few times to see if that helps. When I dug down beside the more troubled plant I did see a good bit of root development around the stem, it was a tall sucker so I buried the root ball almost all the way the the bottoms if the ET. So hopefully with those extra roots it will have a better chance at survival.


Ok, so lesson learned. But I know there will be many more to come. That's why I planted so many tomatoes this year, in anticipation of me killing a few!!!! And the fact that I would love to have so many tomatoes that I'm the guy always giving some away!!!


Thanks again for all the help everyone, TV is truly a great place!!!



Justin

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