Lime Brown Salad!?!?

[dcarch]

My LGS is having brown leaves. Is there a tomato doctor in the house?

I used commercial potting soil to grow this one on a windowsill.

dcarch

[landarc]

There appears to be a noticeable yellowing of the veins in the most severely affected leaves. Also, the yellwoing/browning appears to be starting either at the leaf edge, or in the areas of foliar tissue between the veins. Is this true? If so, I wonder if you are looking at some form of nutrient deficiency? Also, I assume the temperature from the plant to the window is reasonably warm? In colder areas, unless the windows are insulated, temperature near glass can be lower than ambient temperature and cause a decrease in plant nutrient uptake. Of course, I am guessing wildly hear.

[carolyn137]

it's not a disease, it's a physiological problem.

What mix are you using in the pots and what amendments have you added and how often and how strong?

And how much water, for that's a biggie when one sees leaf margin necrosis, along with too much possible N.

[dcarch]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

it's not a disease, it's a physiological problem.
What mix are you using in the pots and what amendments have you added and how often and how strong?
And how much water, for that's a biggie when one sees leaf margin necrosis, along with too much possible N.

Carolyn,
I forgot what brand of potting soil I am using. It's the kind with time release (3 months) pre-mixed in. Suspecting that this kind of potting soil tend to have more N in it, I have been adding some K & P to help balance it out.

I am playing with the idea of trying to grow things indoors in the smallest possible pots, so I do have to water at least once a day.

In checking FAQ info, it kind of looks a little like fusarium wilt.

dcarch

[carolyn137]

No, it shows none of the symptoms of Fusarium Wilt and you aren't going to get Fusariun from commercial potting soil with a plant grown on a windowsill. Fusarium is soilborne.

My sense is that it's a combo of too cold on the windowsill plus the mix being too damp.

Move it elsewhere if you can and see if any new leaves develop margin necrosis after about a week or so.

[Suze]

Originally Posted by dcarch

I forgot what brand of potting soil I am using. It's the kind with time release (3 months) pre-mixed in. Suspecting that this kind of potting soil tend to have more N in it, I have been adding some K & P to help balance it out.

d, you can't really balance out too much N by adding more K and P.

I think a major contributor is the extremely small size (1/2 gallon-you mentioned this in another post) container being used. Any overwatering, overfertilizing, etc. will be magnified greatly in such a small container. It also appears that the container doesn't have drain holes, so any excess ferts/salts will not be flushed out and will tend to build up.

In short, I agree w/Carolyn that what you're seeing is likely physiological. In addition to her suggestions, I would also recommend that you carefully repot to a larger container with drain holes. Use tin snips or something similar to cut the existing container away.

How are your other windowsill plants doing, like the SFT?

[dcarch]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

----------My sense is that it's a combo of too cold on the windowsill plus the mix being too damp.------

It's not too cold on the windowsill because it has been warn outside so far and i have insulated windows. Too damp? Yes. I have been giving it lots of water because of small pot.

Originally Posted by Suze

-----
d, you can't really balance out too much N by adding more K and P.
I think a major contributor is the extremely small size (1/2 gallon-you mentioned this in another post) container being used. Any overwatering, overfertilizing, etc. will be magnified greatly in such a small container. It also appears that the container doesn't have drain holes, so any excess ferts/salts will not be flushed out and will tend to build up.
----------
How are your other windowsill plants doing, like the SFT?

I didn't mean "balance" I meant "suppliment".
My other SFT also has some brown leaves. I will post some pictures in the other thread.

dcarch

[landarc]

If it is the typical time release fertilizer, it isn;t going to help by supplementing with P and K, as they are also bieng released in the fertilizer mix. These kinds of potting mizes are often slgihtly balanced towrds nitrogen to push foliar growth. I would, taking C and S advice cut back on the watering and see what happens.

Back when we had the nursery, checking the moisture in the beds was pretty important to prevent drowning the plants.