I've got a dozen tomato plants that over-all are doing as good as I
can remember. Lots of golf-ball or larger green fruit. No pest
problems.

A few of the leaves have turned yellow and shrivaled. Essentially all
are on the lowest part of the largest plants. In the past I'd live
with this, but this is the first year I've been reading
rec.gardens.edible and it occurred to me to ask.

A couple weeks ago I mixed appx 1/2 cup of "tomato fertalizer" next to
each plant, and I've been wetting the plant leaves down with dilute
Miracle-Grow every couple weeks. Sun and rain in NJ have been good.

Is this normal, or a sign of a problem. What should I do about it ?

Thanks

--
Al Dykes
-----------
adykes at p a n i x . c o m

(Al Dykes) wrote in message ...
I've got a dozen tomato plants that over-all are doing as good as I
can remember. Lots of golf-ball or larger green fruit. No pest
problems.

A few of the leaves have turned yellow and shrivaled. Essentially all
are on the lowest part of the largest plants. In the past I'd live
with this, but this is the first year I've been reading
rec.gardens.edible and it occurred to me to ask.

A couple weeks ago I mixed appx 1/2 cup of "tomato fertalizer" next to
each plant, and I've been wetting the plant leaves down with dilute
Miracle-Grow every couple weeks. Sun and rain in NJ have been good.

Is this normal, or a sign of a problem. What should I do about it ?

Thanks

Pinch off the shrivelled leaves ,remove them from the area and stop
wetting the foliage, water the soil instead. Odds are you are
spreading early blight by splashing soil onto the leaves.
Back off on the high nitrogen plant foods unless you would prefer to
have tomato foliage instead of tomato fruit.

(Al Dykes) wrote in message ...
I've got a dozen tomato plants that over-all are doing as good as I
can remember. Lots of golf-ball or larger green fruit. No pest
problems.

A few of the leaves have turned yellow and shrivaled. Essentially all
are on the lowest part of the largest plants. In the past I'd live
with this, but this is the first year I've been reading
rec.gardens.edible and it occurred to me to ask.

A couple weeks ago I mixed appx 1/2 cup of "tomato fertalizer" next to
each plant, and I've been wetting the plant leaves down with dilute
Miracle-Grow every couple weeks. Sun and rain in NJ have been good.

Is this normal, or a sign of a problem. What should I do about it ?

Thanks

There are lots of reasons it could be happening. One reason is wilt
that is very common in tomatos. Some varieties are specifically bred
to resist wilt but many are not. If your varieties are not VFN
resistant, there is not much you can do about it.(Assuming it is a
wilt problem).

Bob S.

There are lots of reasons it could be happening. One reason is wilt
that is very common in tomatos. Some varieties are specifically bred
to resist wilt but many are not. If your varieties are not VFN
resistant, there is not much you can do about it.(Assuming it is a
wilt problem).

Bob S.

Bob, you will find that vascular wilts appear more like the plants
need a drink as the pathogen clogs up the the stems. A simple test is
to make a long slanty cut in the stem and touch them together, when
you pull them apart you see sticky strands and if you look at the
vessels you see discoloration.

What causes the wilt problem ? Is it a fungus or some other sort
of infection ? I have two tomato plants that I have left for a week.

The leaves have all turned brown and dried up, but as I live in
Florida, I am currently assuming that it is the heat that is causing
the brown leaves and I don't think they've been getting enough
water.

I'm finding that Ferry Morse seeds as well as Burpee seeds are
working great. I'm having a little trouble with some American Seed
chive seeds though. There anything in particular that might help
getting some chives started up ?

--
Jim Carlock
http://www.microcosmotalk.com/
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