Tomato growing issues.

13 years ago

Balcony tomato grower. Every year I start off strong and then my plants flizzle. They get yellow and then they get crispy and the plants just don't produce much. What is going on? I am in NYC. I charged up soil this year with vermiculite and compost. Then i did monthly feeding with garden lime and Fox Farm Happy Frog Tomato food. Now it is happening again.

I have a water meter to make sure I don't over water. It has been hot and humid.

Plants are wilting or yellowing and growing. Please give advice. I am tired of putting this huge investment to get one small tomato.

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Comments (4)

User
13 years ago
Those hanging containers don't have the best reputation for production around these parts.

One option is to use much larger containers, ~15-20 gallon container for each plant and mix your compost and fertilizers into the mix before planting.

See the pictures in these two threads: 1, 2.

It looks like that fertilizer is organic. While organic methods are great, it can be more challenging to grow organically in small containers or at least not as simple or foolproof as using chemical fertilizer. You can try following the container recipe found on the container gardening forums - using mostly small pine bark for the growing medium and watering frequently with ~1/4 strength liquid fertilizer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Container Gardening
fireduck
13 years ago
OK....ic these threads are one-in-same. My guess again is compacted/waterlogged soil/mix. Fast-draining mix with weak/regular feedings is key. Roots are key to growing problems. Get to the root...
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digdirt2
13 years ago
Agree with all the above.

I charged up soil this year with vermiculite and compost. Then i did monthly feeding with garden lime and Fox Farm Happy Frog Tomato food. Now it is happening again. I have a water meter to make sure I don't over water. It has been hot and humid.

Contributing factors to your problems are:

1) the container you are using both size and shape and that it is upside down
2) the vermiculite and compost in the container
3) monthly feeding with lime really skews the soil pH so nutrients can't be used by the plants even if there were any in there
4) only feeding the Happy Frog monthly rather than at least weekly
5)trying to use organics in a container when there is no soil bacteria, no active micro-herd to decompose the organics and make the nutrients in them available to the plants
6) depending on a moisture meter for watering info - notoriously unreliable and especially so for containers so most likely way over-watering.

Sorry for the failure and the expense but a bit of research on the Container gardening forum should get you off to a much better start next year.

Dave
User
13 years ago
Also, if you are using self watering containers, Raybo has done an excellent job documenting how to get great results with EarthTainers.

Here is a link that might be useful: EarthTainer Construction Guide