Any Ideas on these please...

[murihikukid]

Hi...I have a couple of questions that has concerned me and shows my inexperience in gardening....Last Night I used MG on all my plants but as it is only to be applied every 7 to 10 days does one just apply water between applications...Then their is perlite...I would like a second opinion on what grade to get...I need to make a decision urgently on this because it has to be freighted down and I would hope to get it by New Year as some of my plants need to be transplanted in my new soil....I now know i can get fine and coarse grade...Now to go and check on what MG has done?? Thanks Ron

[KarenO]

Commercial greenhouse quality premade potting mix and commercial soluble fertilizer used according to directions is a good starting point. And the best way to spend your money.
Once one is successful growing seedlings to full sized and fruiting plants with these then perhaps branch out to making your own soil mix and customizing fertilizer etc.
Reading through these posts and trying to determine what the initial problem was in light of so many "treatments" is really hard to determine.
If you used fertilizer yesterday, there will be no visible effect in one day. Wait and see. Water if dry. do not use fertilizer more than recommended.
KarenO
KarenO

[gorbelly]

Originally Posted by murihikukid

Seeing I have sprayed them with Thiram I am guessing it may not be a good idea to now use MG on the foliage but I will apply to each plant pot.

DO NOT foliar feed MG. Water it into the soil.

Normally, foliar feeding at diluted levels could be OK, but those leaves have been through way too much. Just don't put anything on the leaves at all for a couple of weeks.

Foliar feeding of certain nutrients can be helpful for some things and in some situations, but I would personally not consider it a default. I use the roots, as the plants themselves have evolved to rely more on roots for their nutrient intake.

Originally Posted by murihikukid

Last Night I used MG on all my plants but as it is only to be applied every 7 to 10 days does one just apply water between applications

If the plants need water in between then, yes, give plain water between feedlings. But most beginners overwater their plants. Overwatering will suffocate roots, make it hard for the plants to absorb nutrients, and could lead to root rot.

If the plants are in a larger pot, stick your finger down into the soil about an inch to check moisture levels. If the soil is still moist down there, don't water. If dry, then water well until water is flowing out of the bottom of the pot (or some people bottom-water by placing the bottom of the pot in a container of water and letting the soil wick up the water until the surface of the soil in the pot is moist), and then don't water again until the soil is dry. In starter pots, just wait until the surface of the soil is dry to water again, and water from the bottom if possible.

Originally Posted by murihikukid

Then their is perlite...I would like a second opinion on what grade to get [...]I now know i can get fine and coarse grade.

If your current medium holds water well, then get a coarser grade to aerate the mix. The finer grades of perlite are used to retain water, but if you have a lot of water-retaining materials already, you are looking for something that will keep the mix light and create air pockets in it. Something like what is to the left of the penny in this photo should be fine.

[gorbelly]

Agree with KarenO for the future. Keep things simple. it's hard to diagnose what is wrong or even when something is wrong when you're a beginner.

A lot of the time, beginners post with sickly, wilted seedlings asking about all kinds of different treatments they want to add, and the only thing that needs to happen most of the time is that they need to stop watering their seedlings so much. Or people will panic that their plants are wilting after they pot them in to larger containers, and they just need reassurance that a little sulking after transplanting is totally normal.

If a beginner, it's best to ask for advice before intervening and applying treatments and fertilizers, as a general rule.

[murihikukid]

Hi..I have just picked up my 5 Tasty Toms to go with one previous received the day before Xmas day....These were grown by special order which was then canceled and subsequently arrived at the gardening centre ...Quite expensive but I am sure it will pay off in the long term...

Now I do see what I think is a deficiency in the lower leaves IE yellow spots and I wonder if the pot is actually big enough for these plants but it would certainly be a risk to attempt a transplant on any of them...

I would certainly be very grateful for any advice on the leaf yellowing and the transplant issue ...they were $22 each ...

Thanks Ron

[MissS]

No not a deficiency at all, a disease. I believe that this is Early Blight which is a fungal disease.

You do need to re-pot these into larger pots. Just put them on their side and press on four sides of the pots hard to loosen the dirt ball, then gently remove them by grasping the stem and the support down low by the base and gently pulling them out.

[murihikukid]

Patti...I just cannot win....I was told under no circumstances was I to give them anything apart from water and do not repot them...Surely they must have noticed the leaves??? .I am hoping the manager (of the complete outfit) is on duty tomorrow so as I can discuss this with her.....I know now what the personel in the gardening centre will say ....as I have been through these scenarios before with them ..to them I am a nuisance not a customer....I have no one here that I know with some expertise to give me an opinion... but if its early blight it will have to be treated and quickly....I wonder if Thiram will work...

I actually rang the growers about the earlier plants I bought that came from them,,,asking if they could recommend a spray because obviously they had problems on the leaves....They put it straight back on the gardening centre "they sold them ..its their concern" ......

I am dealing with a reputable NZ wide business here similar to Home Depot and I know they will see me right ....But its not the money ...its the disappointment thats hard to swallow...

meantime I am wondering if you have an opinion on fine or coarse perlite....You maybe surprised but some of my early plants are doing really well...I cannot believe how "Stump of the World" is looking as it was a very sick plant early on in its life....They are all loving the new greenhouse and are at the stage for transplanting into my new super soil but I need to get perlite to mix with it...

Regards Ron

[MissS]

Well, I thought that you were done with me and my advise... but I would choose the large sized perlite.

[Cole_Robbie]

The yellow dots are a magnesium deficiency. But the bigger problem is that those plants have gotten much too large for their pots. They need to be transplanted into bigger containers or the ground. When plants get root-bound, they will show all sorts of nutrient issues.

[murihikukid]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

The yellow dots are a magnesium deficiency. But the bigger problem is that those plants have gotten much too large for their pots. They need to be transplanted into bigger containers or the ground. When plants get root-bound, they will show all sorts of nutrient issues.

Hi...that sounds better than early blight and its what I thought when I first noticed the lower leaves ....I have only had them for a day cause I had to find a way to get them home ...I take your point about repotting ..i fully agree about repotting but if it turned out it was early blight and I had repotted them after being explicitly told not to I would have no recourse against the seller....
I can only go up and tell them that I am concerned about the plants after receiving advice....of course its Xmas time and I am having trouble getting Perlite which I presume will be required for the soil mix if and when they are repotted..

I presume a copper spray would do no harm ...

Thanks Ron

[KarenO]

$22.00 per plant is very expensive. I hope they give you amazing tomatoes.
KarenO

[murihikukid]

KarrenO....Yes but will they?...and after a night when I hardly slept thinking about what my options are I am wondering if its worth it....I certainly never noticed the yellowing lower leaves ..If it is early blight all my other tomatoes will get affected and many of these have allready been "nursed" back to health at a cost....it has not been easy especially trying to tend to them and finish a greenhouse at the same time battling the terrible weather we have been having.......and seeing some fully developed plants with no fruit has been a real blow to my tomato growing ...

It seems to me that here in New Zealand commercial growers have access to special chemicals to protect their crops while home growers have very little ....EG Serenade ....I believe it is available here ...its a Bayer product and there is a Bayer NZ...whom i contacted but their Serenade may not be the same and is only available in "commercial " quantity....Thanks Ron

[murihikukid]

Hi.I contacted the manager and then on her advice emailed the photos I posted earlier on the thread......These plants were bought into my greenhouse at round midday yesterday and I took the photos from memory about 4 hours later when i spotted the yellow spots on the leaves..is it possible in 4 hours to pick up what is the problem....At this point of time I feel that they are treating me like a fool...
Cheers Ron

Hi Ron

Thanks for sending the email photos in. Dawn and I looked at those photos.

From our perspective we believe that the plants were in exceptional condition from our supplier when we received them. This includes the one I dropped off to you which I personally know was in good condition and Dawn had been watering the ones you put aside, that were delivered yesterday.

We believe that there could be something on your property/in your gardens that has caused the problem to spot the leaves

Dawn firmly believes that this is not blight. Our advice from here is to keep them in the pots the came in. Water them in the morning only, watering the base of the plant and not the leaves.

[gorbelly]

I think you misunderstood. If those are new plants that you have not been messing with at all, then you should go ahead and repot them.

When some of us were advising you to be more hands off, we were referring to the old plants that you had been killing with too much love.

My advice is:

With the new plants, repot them in larger pots in a good, well-draining potting mix. Preferably one that you purchase at a gardening center rather than one you are making yourself. Make sure it's a mix for containers and NOT labeled "garden soil". Water well after you repot, then stand back for a couple of days. If they wilt a little, this is normal. Don't freak out or spray them with anything or give them any additives or drown them. Just let them recover. After a couple of days, they should be perking back up, at which point, you should feed them some Miracle Gro at half strength. If the plants don't look like they're recovering after 5 days, feed them again.

The yellowing does not look like EB to me. I agree with Cole_Robbie that it looks like nutritional deficiency, probably unhappiness from not being fed recently and/or getting too crowded in the pot.

The second and third pics in your last batch of photos concerns me. It could be nutrient deficiency, but it could also be signs of mites or other sap-sucking pests, which are actually pretty common in greenhouse grown plants. Get a strong magnifying glass (10x or more) and carefully examine the undersides of your leaves. Look for tiny pests. You may not find any and the yellowing could be nutrient related. But better to check now, as these kinds of small sap-sucking pests can get out of hand very quickly. If it's mites, they often cannot be seen well with the naked eye, so you must use a magnifying glass to rule them out.

[Cole_Robbie]

Our advice from here is to keep them in the pots the came in.

That's ridiculous. No one on this web site is growing plants that big in a pot that small. The people you are talking to are either woefully ignorant or deliberately trying to rip you off.

I sell plants in the spring. Two months out of the year, I make a meager living that way. I would be mortified to have a customer complaint, and I would replace the product immediately without hesitation, even if the problem was the customer's fault.