what's up with this plant?

[wormgirl]

Didn't get any response in disease forum, let's try here with better pictures.

I have been keeping some tomato plants on my unheated sunporch prior to plant out and they are all doing well except this one, the SunSugar. It seems stunted, and the growth is twisted.

It was a purchased plant. It was in a 1 gallon container when I got it, and I potted it up to a 3.3 gallon in a well-draining bark based mix. It's had some Neptune's and some Miracle Gro, always low strength. It's only watered when it's been needed. I have been taking it outside on nice days.

The other two plants treated similarly exploded with growth. They are set out now and are 3-4 feet tall, and bushy. This plant has grown, but barely. It has put on several trusses of blossoms, and has set one fruit. But I am concerned that it's so short and the growth is so twisted.

What do you think is wrong with it? Should I keep or discard this plant? Thanks in advance for your help!

[Worth1]

It will jump out of it soon I had two do it to me this year and they are in competition with the rest of the plants now.
I would also remove the support stick so the trunk can get stocky.

Worth

[JohnJones]

Stem looks nice and thick and the plant looks reasonably healthy.

I have a Brandywine that is over 6 feet tall and a German Johnson right next to it that is half the size. The Brandywine has set 5 toms and the German Johnson didn't look like it was going to do anything until the last 2 weeks. The weather has warmed a bit and dried out and it is going nuts. Blossoms and small fruit everywhere.

Just give it some time. Certainly don't pull it.

[wormgirl]

Okay. I've been worried it had a virus that might be transmitted to other plants because the leaves are growing straight up, sideways, etc! But I will leave it for now.

[Al@NC]

Ya, these guys are right, the plat looks healthy. Depending on whether or not your trying to stay organic or not, you could use Miracle Grow Bloom booster to try and get it to grow more fruit. I myself would wait and let it get a little bigger to support more fruit first though.

However having it in a small pot like this, you may want to use Bloom Booster now instead of letting it grow more foliage as the more green it grows the less fruit it will probably grow in a smaller pot.

Using smaller pots like this one will require you to feed it more often. I would have probably used a slow release feed such as osmocote and fertilize more frequently with other fertilizer (not knowing what you used or fertilized with)but you have to be careful not to over fertilize also.

For example, look at what MikeBiondo was able to do with just a juice container (Below). Of course the plant get lots of sun down in Florida but it shows that you can grow big plants in small containers...

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=34178&page=5

That George Detsikas seed offer by Tam91 is great by the way in the link above. I'm waiting to see how well the fruit output is here in Tacoma but the plants are vigorous.

[wormgirl]

Hi Al, thanks. I should have mentioned this pot is not its final home - it just didn't get out yet. All the others are outside in big pots now except for this one (and Big Rainbow which was puny, so I'm growing it taller so I can plant it down.)

I do use dry fertilizer in the pots as well as feeding with solubles (both organic and not) about every 2 weeks. (Just got some Dyna Gro yesterday, I will feed with it tonight.)

I still can't exactly agree that the plant is *healthy* since it's 1/4 the size of the two others treated the same way. Since it's a hybrid cherry, I would expect the growth to be rampant. It seems clear to me the growth has been stunted by something (perhaps before I had posession of it).

Normally I don't worry about the lower leaves but the twisting and distortion of the leaves (which are also kind of thick and leathery) made me worry.

Al, I will be curious to see how those seeds do here in Tacoma!

[Gardeneer]

Plants are in a way like us humans : Not everybody is tall beautiful/handsome.
This does not mean that the short guys are not healthy.

[JohnJones]

Honestly, that description sounds to me like a plant that has been in too small a pot and hasn't had room to spread it's wings.

I have nurtured along two Old German seedlings I bought about 3 inches tall and finally got them to a point where I was comfortable transplanting them to a large container. They have literally exploded in their new home. They grew so fast I came home one afternoon and they where laid over because the new growth had outpaced the ability of the stem to hold it up. I got them caged and they are going nuts again.

It's up to you, but I'll tell you what I would do with that plant if it were mine to transplant. I would take off the bottom two leaves near the stem. Let them heal up for a day or so then I would move it to a container like this...

http://southernpatio.com/products/de...725&LineId=194

Put a thin layer of container mix in the bottom of the new container. Place the transplant in the bottom of the container. I usually gently loosen the roots, especially if it is rootbound. I also usually wet the roots with a simple diluted Miracle Grow Tomato mix. I'm sure there are better options but it works for me. Now fill in around the plant with mix up to the desired level on the stem. In this case, within a few inches of the lowest remaining leaf.

This gets the strong roots to the bottom of the container and more roots will develop on the newly buried stem.

This may be more info than you needed, but that process usually works for me when I am dealing with a purchased plant that seems a bit stunted.

[Al@NC]

Wormgirl, I have only one George D. plant growing but it's been vigorous so far and had buds on it that haven't open up yet. I'll take some pictures and post them over the weekend maybe.

Al

[Tall Tier]

I have noticed the sunsugar does not like it to cool, it does take more time to establish itself compared to other varieties. My sunsugar last year would wrap it's leaves downwards around the tomato cage as to support itself in the wind, smart plant, hah. For sure am upgrade to at least a five gal pail is needed.

[wormgirl]

Thanks everyone for the input. I agree, the plant looks stunted by a small pot, but I don't think that's actually the case here. I should have posted comparison pics right from the start, to show you why I think that.

I have a bunch of plants, all bought at different places/times and sizes, but I treated three the same in terms of repotting. When I got these three, they were all approximately the same size, in 1-gallon pots and showing roots at the drainage holes. I potted them all up to 3.3 gallons about 6 weeks ago.

Here is the Black Krim on the left. It was only put in the big pot 6 days ago - up till then, it was in the same size pot as the stunted SunSugar on the right.

[jbond007]

Originally Posted by wormgirl

Here is the Black Krim on the left. It was only put in the big pot 6 days ago - up till then, it was in the same size pot as the stunted SunSugar.

Were you meaning to post a pic?

[wormgirl]

Yes jbond, I fixed it, I am still learning the ins and outs of posting pictures

Here is the Cherokee Purple, it's a bit hard to see since it's in a wrap, but it stands 4 feet tall now. It went out on May 3 into a 20 gallon pot, and yes, it has grown significantly since it went out -- but it was still huge when I put it out. At least as big as the Black Krim.

The SunSugar just hadn't gotten potted up yet since it was my low priority plant, since it seemed like there was something wrong with it.

Of the plants I held in my sunporch for plantout, some I chose to pot up and some I chose not to. And I had much more growth on the plants that I did pot up in all cases. So yes, you have to give them room. But I hope these pictures show you why I am puzzled at the slow growth of this particular SunSugar plant. Because as you can see, the others are doing pretty well compared to it.

[wormgirl]

One more view of Cherokee Purple in its "Individual tunnel" (LOL)
If you look through the plastic you can see the height of the plant inside.

[Tracydr]

I would repot it and add some pine bark fines or something to keep the soil from being too wet. Could just be the roots can't get strong enough because of compacted potting soil.