Tomato Help Please

TexasTracy 4/26/2012, 9:14 am

Can anyone tell me what might be going wrong with my tomato plants? This is pretty much happening with all 10 of my plants.

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Here is a pic of a couple of the plants themselves (well, the bottom of the plants).
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They all have a bunch of tomatoes growing on them, they are growing out of the cages and look good except for the bottom parts of the plants. My first thought was that I have too many in one box and they aren't getting enough light..but they took off like crazy so I just don't know. What started out as a neat idea kind of seems like maybe it wasn't now after them getting so tall, so quick (I haven't had ANY luck with tomatoes so that's why I planted 10), diagonally (not smart at all). These were all starters from two different places, planted on March 14th. I water at the base, right above soil level only when the MM is dry.

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Thanks for any help you can give me!

Tracy

curio 4/26/2012, 10:10 am

That "could" be early blight.
You're watering correctly, but keep in mind that if it rains, the water will cause "splash-up" from the soil onto the leaves.

Too Tall Tomatoes 4/26/2012, 10:17 am

I think that if you're going to put that many tomatoes in one area, you really should prune them and allow for airflow.

littlesapphire 4/26/2012, 11:42 am

I agree with Too Tall; tomatoes really benefit from airflow, so you should prune them regularly (because they're usually pretty quick growers). Make sure to trim off the discolored leaves just in case they're diseased, and throw them away rather than composting them. Otherwise, I honestly wouldn't worry about it.

I had a very similar problem last year on my tomatoes and I could have sworn it was some kind of blight that was going to wipe out my plants! But it didn't, and the plants and their fruit were just fine.

Too Tall Tomatoes 4/26/2012, 12:58 pm

Here's an excellent video on tomato plant pruning.....

jillintx 4/26/2012, 1:10 pm

Should you prune all tomatoes, or just indeterminants? For suckers and "main leaders"? The main leader pruning seems like it would reduce what a determinant will produce.

TexasTracy 4/26/2012, 2:05 pm

Well honestly, after the luck I had with 2 seasons of tomatoes I really didn't think all of them would make it. I figured if half of them made it I'd be okay lol.

I will get out there and prune them this weekend. Thanks for the video, Too Tall!

Tracy

Too Tall Tomatoes 4/26/2012, 2:11 pm

TexasTracy wrote:Well honestly, after the luck I had with 2 seasons of tomatoes I really didn't think all of them would make it. I figured if half of them made it I'd be okay lol.

I will get out there and prune them this weekend. Thanks for the video, Too Tall!

Tracy

You're welcome Tracy What a Face

You should only prune indeterminate tomatoes, not determinates.

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