diagnosis help: heirloom tomato seedlings have yellowing leaves

16 years ago

I'm growing peppers and tomatoes in Jakarta, Indonesia. I received some tomato seeds a few weeks ago and they've sprouted nicely. This is my first time growing tomatoes and I deliberately picked heat-resistant cultivars (at least from notes on the internet). I am growing the Arkansas Traveller and Costoluto Fiorentino cultivars. I will be heading back to the US in a couple weeks and can pick up some nutrients and pesticides and such if there are good recommendations. Fertilizers here tend to run 20-20-20 or worse, so I don't even touch them. They don't label what's in the pesticides either! :)

First, the garden layout. I'm growing peppers and a few tomatoes in 6 square yards of space in my driveway underneath a transparent plastic roof with open net sides (keeps air circulation but protects from torrential rains). I am getting a drip irrigation system set up, but it's not quite in place yet. Before I was watering the soil via pop bottles submerged in the pots with pin holes (to avoid flooding on the surface and discourage weed growth). My soil seems quite good. Friable, well-draining, moist, etc. I have added compost to the tomatoes and I have spread less than a handful of goat poop around some of the larger plants. They're about 4-6 weeks old now.

Now, the problems:

1. The plants are still growing and producing leaves, but some of the lower leaves are showing signs of yellowing, almost like a scorch. The color moves in from the edges of the leaf and often affects older leaves lower on the plant, although some of the costoluto's are showing yellowing on all leaves. I've been good with watering, but perhaps not good enough?

2. Also, my Arkansas Traveller leaves are sort of curly instead of being straight and flat. Is this normal?

Any advice? Thanks in advance...

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Comments (3)

coolbythecoast
16 years ago
Tomatoes that are under-watered tend to have leaves that droop, if you see this, water and the leaves perk up immediately then I think no harm has been done.

Plants do tend to drop leaves when under-watered, but if leaves have not been drooping the I suspect that this is not the problem.

It has been explained to me that tomato plants have the ability to move nitrogen around in the plant if it is in short supply, moving the nitrogen upwards to the growing tips. Even yellowing of the lower leaves is a symptom of this condition.
digdirt2
16 years ago
Yellowing of the older leaves can also a common symptom of excessive watering. This is especially true if the plants are in containers where the nutrients leach out with each watering.

As to the 20-20-20, if it is a liquid form, you can use it just dilute it to half strength with water. ;)

Dave
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jackarta
15 years ago
Hi doubleji,

As it happens, I also am growing tomatos and peppers in Jakarta. As this appears to be a rare past time in this town, I thought it would be good for us to compare notes from time to time.

I'm in Menteng and have some fruit developing on a smaller cherry variety called something like Masohkta. I have some larger plants which are growing very vigorously (about four foot tall now - planted about 6 weeks ago) and they are flowering but no sign of fruiting yet. I mention this because I harbour a secret concern that Jakarta is probably too hot for most tomatos and I keep expecting the flowers to drop without fruiting. Do you happen to know if anyone's grown many tomatos in Jakarta successfully before? I've never actually seen ANYONE growing tomatos in Indonesia though obviously that happens in the hills somewhere cos that's where those tasteless examples in the supermarket come from.

I haven't planted any heirlooms yet - though i now have seeds for a few and have a membership with a seed savers club in Australia. I am a new gardener so I only discovered the whole heirloom thing after planting my garden unfortunately.

Do you happen to know of any heirloom varieties which are suited to tropical climates? Or indeed, which vegetables, apart from eggplant, corn and peppers, which would suit?

I have planted rocket (arugula) too and silverbeet and both are growing well (had rocket salad as part of a french cheese tasting night last night) but I expect all leaves have to be harvested young so they don't get too peppery in this heat.

Anyway, touch base if you'd like to.

cheers