Stefani,

Unfortunately, yellowing of tomato leaves can indicate MANY different things. Since we have had a lot of cool weather in April, my best guess is that the roots just aren't taking up a lot of nutrients yet, and that should correct very shortly as warming of the soil and air continues.

If the plants were very small when set out....like from 6-packs, then they are just focusing on root growth right now and the topgrowth should be obvious in the next week or two. If they were larger when set out, say from 4" or 6" pots, they should be growing a little more actively.

I don't know what kind of soil you have, so check it and make sure you aren't overwatering. If you overwater, the roots are so full of water that they can't grow and take up nutrients as well. Overwatering can interfere with plant growth more than underwatering does.

I assume your description of "yellowy" leaves means just that the leaves have a yellowish-green cast. IF the leaves are actually turning a bright yellow and losing most of their green color, something serious is going on and we'd have to run through a whole list of possibilities for that.

If you haven't fed the plants, now would be a good time to do so. Feed them something wonderful like liquid fish emulsion or liquid seaweed, diluted per the instructions on the container, and you should see an improvement in the plants' color within days. Try to avoid a high-nitrogen chemical fertilizer--high nitrogen attracts aphids and other plant pests like crazy.

Let me know if we need to discuss this further!

Dawn

Dawn,

How often do use Garrett Juice in the garden? I was planning on using the seaweed spray weekly. Sheri

Hi Sheri,

Weekly is perfect most of the time.

IF you start developing a spider mite problem, you could do it more often, taking care to spray the undersides of the leaves.

One of the nice things about Garrett Juice is that is is "mild" so it gives the plants a gentle feeding without overdosing them in the way that a standard, chemical water-soluable fertilizer would.

I love Garrett Juice.

Dawn

Do you buy or make your own Garrett Juice. I've found the recipe for it, but I would rather buy it if I knew where to get it. What other things would you recommend I keep on hand as staples for organic gardening. All I have right now is Liquid Fish Emulsion. I've been keeping an eye out for TomatoTone also.

Jill

Jill,

Sometimes I buy it and sometimes I make it. If you buy it, you get it as a concentrate....so even though one bottle sounds real expensive, you can make a lot of gallons from that one botle.

I usually pick it up at any of the amazing nursersies in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that carry organic products when I am down there visiting family (Fort Worth is my home town) or just shopping. You can order it online from various organic suppliers. One of them is Marshall Grain Company in Fort Worth (www.marshallgrain.com).

The basic organic staples I keep on hand are Garrett Juice, Liquid Seaweed, Liquid Fish Emulsion, Tomato Tone and Vegetable Tone (you can google and find an online supplier for all the "Tone" products if you can't find them locally), PURE diatomaceous earth (you have to be REALLY careful because now some companies are adding CHEMICALS to this organic product), Slug-Go for snails, slugs, pillbugs and sowbugs, Bt for Potato Bugs, the other type of Bt in mosquito dunks for the ponds, and orange oil. Oh, and Epsom Salts (buy it at the drugstore or Wal-Mart in the health and beauty section), and a VERY pure liquid soap to make gentle, highly-diluted soap sprays for spring and fall (they burn foliage in summer). My favorite pure and gentle soaps are any of the ones by Dr. Bronner. I get them at a health food store, but I am sure you can find an on-line source as well. I use the Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap to wash the dogs (to repel fleas and ticks) and to confuse ants, use the Dr. Bronner's lavender soap for me (!) and the Dr. Bronner's Castile soap for insecticidal soap sprays. Dr. Bronners liquid soap is HIGHLY concentrated, so you only have to use a little.

And, I like to have Conserve organic fire ant killer on hand to use in the veggie garden whenever I find ants in one of the beds there. The active ingredient is Serenade. And alfalfa is great to have on hand to make alfalfa tea--I've been using it as a plant tonic/fetilizer for years and years. And, if you grow chamomile, snip off and dry/save the flowers for tea. You can drink it yourself, or use it on seedlings to prevent damping off. : ) And, garlic and hot pepper for garlic/pepper tea, which is a great pest repellent.

I keep meaning to post some organic "recipes". I promise to try to get that done this week.

Dawn