"Alan Gould" wrote in message
...
snip
Problems with colour, flavour and texture in tomatoes are more often a
result of management rather than species.
snip
A mealy texture in
any variety suggests over watering or over feeding.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

As noted elsewhere - Garden Pearl (oops!)

They are well watered and fed - over watering seems to be happening as I
type :-)

However a couple of pots have been seriously underfed (pale green to
yellow/green foliage) and still produce the same results.

The results are the same for plants on their own in various sizes and styles
of pots, and those in with cucumbers and gherkins.

Thanks
Dave R

In article , David W.E. Roberts
writes
However a couple of pots have been seriously underfed (pale green to
yellow/green foliage) and still produce the same results.

Pale green or yellow/green foliage is often a result of oxygen
deficiency at the root system of the plant - caused by water-logging.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

"Alan Gould" wrote in message
...
In article , David W.E. Roberts
writes
However a couple of pots have been seriously underfed (pale green
to
yellow/green foliage) and still produce the same results.

Pale green or yellow/green foliage is often a result of oxygen
deficiency at the root system of the plant - caused by
water-logging.

I'm lost here. I thought that Oxygen was a plant waste product. What
does the plant do with the Oxygen you say it needs at the root system?

Franz

In article , Franz Heymann notfranz.
writes
I'm lost here. I thought that Oxygen was a plant waste product. What
does the plant do with the Oxygen you say it needs at the root system?

It is one of the minerals taken up by the plant.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

"Alan Gould" wrote in message
...
In article , Franz Heymann
notfranz.
writes
I'm lost here. I thought that Oxygen was a plant waste product.
What
does the plant do with the Oxygen you say it needs at the root
system?

It is one of the minerals taken up by the plant.

I thought that such Oxygen as a plant needs is absorbed as the Ogygen
in Carbon Dioxide through the stomata or as components of molecules or
ions which the plant takes in through the roots. I am probably just
being ignorant, but I have never heard of Oxygen being absorbed
through the roots as gaseous molecules of Ogygen..
I do know that many plants abhor waterlogged conditions, but I did not
think that that was connected with the uptake of gaseous Oxygen
molecules through the roots.

Franz

In article , Franz Heymann
writes
I thought that such Oxygen as a plant needs is absorbed as the Ogygen
in Carbon Dioxide through the stomata or as components of molecules or
ions which the plant takes in through the roots. I am probably just
being ignorant, but I have never heard of Oxygen being absorbed
through the roots as gaseous molecules of Ogygen..
I do know that many plants abhor waterlogged conditions, but I did not
think that that was connected with the uptake of gaseous Oxygen
molecules through the roots.

Oxygen is not absorbed into plant roots as a gas, it converts into an
oxide mineral first, but that cannot happen in waterlogged or over-
compacted soil. That is why lawns need aeration from time to time.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

"Alan Gould" wrote in message
...
In article , Franz Heymann
writes
I thought that such Oxygen as a plant needs is absorbed as the
Ogygen
in Carbon Dioxide through the stomata or as components of molecules
or
ions which the plant takes in through the roots. I am probably
just
being ignorant, but I have never heard of Oxygen being absorbed
through the roots as gaseous molecules of Ogygen..
I do know that many plants abhor waterlogged conditions, but I did
not
think that that was connected with the uptake of gaseous Oxygen
molecules through the roots.

Oxygen is not absorbed into plant roots as a gas, it converts into
an
oxide mineral first, but that cannot happen in waterlogged or over-
compacted soil. That is why lawns need aeration from time to time.

That sounds more like it.

{:-))

Franz

On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 05:50:02 +0100, Alan Gouldwrote:
Franz Heymann writes
I'm lost here. I thought that Oxygen was a plant waste product. What
does the plant do with the Oxygen you say it needs at the root system?

It is one of the minerals taken up by the plant.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

An essential element perhaps, not a mineral, though.
It is a factor in anaerobic/aerobic conditions mediating bacterial
and fungal activity in the root systems and enabling (or otherwise)
the plants ability to take up nutrients.

In article , Corncrake
writes
On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 05:50:02 +0100, Alan Gouldwrote:
Franz Heymann writes
I'm lost here. I thought that Oxygen was a plant waste product. What
does the plant do with the Oxygen you say it needs at the root system?

It is one of the minerals taken up by the plant.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

An essential element perhaps, not a mineral, though.
It is a factor in anaerobic/aerobic conditions mediating bacterial
and fungal activity in the root systems and enabling (or otherwise)
the plants ability to take up nutrients.

I'm sorry, I don't fully understand that. Could you put it another way?
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

In message , Alan Gould
writes
In article , Corncrake
writes
On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 05:50:02 +0100, Alan Gouldwrote:
Franz Heymann writes
I'm lost here. I thought that Oxygen was a plant waste product. What
does the plant do with the Oxygen you say it needs at the root system?

It is a waste product of photosynthesis. But all living cells have to
respire to produce metabolic energy plant cells do this the same way as
all other living things* and need oxygen to do it.

(*) Excluding for the moment the tiny number of extremophiles that live
in exotic environments and derive power from other chemical reactions..

It is one of the minerals taken up by the plant.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

An essential element perhaps, not a mineral, though.
It is a factor in anaerobic/aerobic conditions mediating bacterial
and fungal activity in the root systems and enabling (or otherwise)
the plants ability to take up nutrients.

I'm sorry, I don't fully understand that. Could you put it another way?

Bacteria, fungi and for that matter the cells in the roots that govern
the active uptake of mineral salts require oxygen to power their cells
metabolism. An additional problem is that in anaerobic conditions the
soil chemistry can become very hostile to most plant roots. There are
specialist bacteria that thrive in anaerobic soils and lakes some of
them are very nasty - the organism causing botulism for one example.

A handful of plants have roots that are extremely sensitive to oxygen
starvation and will lose them at the drop of a hat. They are mostly
epiphytes adapted to living in tropical forest tree canopy leaf litter.
Very open coarse composts have to be used and even then they are not
foolproof.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown