I noticed no one mentioned that raw crumbled comphrey leave put down in botton of tomatoe hole when planted give you fantasstic healthy tomatoe that produce abundantly and my them superior on resising and blight bugs drought cold weather tolerance and also more drought resistance also when you grow BORAGE in and around your tomatoe patch you have great healthy tomatoe plants and fruit and also horn worm and other bugs stay away try it I did with fantastic results also in damp weather I especially dilute milk with 9 parts water and water the soil around plant and spray it it not only provides calcium for vigorous growth and root and fruit set but it has a tendicy to keep away downy mildew and keep away other problems away especiall in damp weathe this is also critical to use on ziccinni and other squash be careful to keep it 9 parts water to 1 part milk or the plant has difficulty accessing it up the root and up the stem to become available and beneficial to growth vigor and fruit set

I applied about a 1/2 gallon of diluted fish emulsion to each of my tomato plants, when they were at full bloom and producing their first tomatoes. The soil was well taken care of and fertilized with manure and some granular. About 2 weeks later, the tomato plants turned somewhat brown and the tomatoes turned dry. Is this a result of over-fertilizing with fish emulsion or possibly not enough water?

Thanks,

I am a new gardener and Im growing a vegie garden in a raised bed,I bought goodsoil, conditioned it with dolamite,and covered it in suger mulch, I bought young tomatoe seedlings and planted them after watering them in for a week. I have chooks, and Ive been told this is great fertilizer, and have made tea with it and I no I have to dilute it heaps, can I use this and how often should I fertilize.

Hi Linda – It could be a few different things that could cause the spotting on the bottom leaves. Could you take a photo of the leaves in question and email it to me? You can use the contact form on the Contact page. There’s an uploader on the form where you can attach a photo.

A picture of what you are talking about will help me to possibly identify what’s going on.

Thanks!

Hi there, I was searching the web for some answers to some problems I am having with my tomato plants this year and found you. What a great site!
My tomatoes are turning bronw on the bottoms, I found the answer to this in an earlier post and will remove them and add calcuim. The other problem I am seeing is some of the leaves at the bottom (are still green) but have a lighter tone green spotting to them. What causes this and how can I correct it?

Hi John – the mushrooms are sprouting up due to moist soil conditions. They don’t pose any harm to the plants, just a sign that your soil is very damp. Just keep in mind that overly damp soil can possibly lead to fungal diseases, like blight. Removing the lower limbs is highly recommended. These are usually the first to contract a disease due to coming in contact with the soil. You did the right thing removing them.

Try to allow your soil to dry out some. I know that depends on rainfall, but hold off on watering until things have dried a bit.

Thanks for your responses Tee!

Another thing……In the last few days, I have seen some very small and thin, almost transparent mushrooms growing in the soil of 2 plants. I pulled them out, but expect them back. Do you know what this is?

I also removed stems from the lower halfs of my plants because they were either laying in the soil, or the leaves were dying. I guess I was pruning. Any idea on the mushrooms and if me removing the lower stems is ok? Thanks in advance!

John

Hi John – If the leaves on the bottom branches of the plant are curling it is probably just a sign of stress. Most of the time this is not detrimental to the production of the plants. It doesn’t look all that great, but the plant should still produce just fine.

If the curled leaves have purple coloration in the veins of the leaf, it could be a sign of curly top virus. More than likely, your are just stress.

You may want to feed your plants once or twice a week with fish emulsion. Mix two capfuls of fish emulsion to every one gallon of water, and feed the plants with the mixture. This will supply some very good nutrients to the plant which should perk them up. If the yellowing is bad, give the plants some every day for 10 – 14 days.

Bone meal and blood meal is OK to add in small quantities if there is a nutrient deficiency in your soil. Try to skip the Miracle-Gro all together and just stick with fish emulsion, compost, and compost tea.

The flowers are dropping off due to the very warm temperatures more than likely. Tomato fruit set will slow down, or stop, when temperatures get above 90°F. There’s not much you can do about it except wait until it cools back down some.

Hi Tee,

I just started my tomato plants in pots a month ago and im getting curled leaves, another will full yellow leaves here and there (but their not dead), and a couple with spotting and yellow around the edges of the leaf. Also, some of the flowers are dying off before they produce, but some produce just fine. I mixed in compost with my soil, have treated them recently with bone meal, blood meal, fish emulsion, and epsom salt to try and hit all areas of the problem. I just added the epsom salt today (a very light dusting), and thats when I noticed these problems. My plants get a minimum 8 hrs a day sun, but it has been in the 90s lately. Im watering every other day, but not too much, just enough to keep the soil moist.

I have to admit, about 3 days ago, I added too much blood meal to my plants, but the next evening, I flushed all of the plants out throughly with water to get rid of some of the excess. I dont have access to Tomato Tone or anything else you have mentioned, so can you tell me if what I have used is ok? And, how should I use the stuff. I also have Miracle Gro granular fertilizer that I use every 2 weeks. Can you give me an easy way to feed my plants with none of these problems and very good results? Its driving me crazy!!! Please help!

Hi Rigel – You can add a handful of fertilizer around each plant now if you like. I would recommend either the Tomato-tone or Gardener’s Supply Organic Tomato Fertilizer.