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Seedlings with spots/curl

9 years ago

I would appreciate if someone can help me identify a couple issues I have with my seedlings this year. They are growing indoors at 75f and I am growing 5 varieties. 3 of the 5 look very healthy and are ready to go out to the garden. As I pulled out trays to place outside to start the hardening off process I noticed a couple leaf problems.

The Red Brandywine have these yellow spots forming on the older leaves. The young ones seem to be green.
The Amish Paste tomatoes leaves have all curled up and stems are drooping. They also seem to be a bluish green color. This is my first year growing these though so don't know if that color is normal?

All my tomatoes are being watered the same- every other day- and getting the same light- 12 hours now.

I have been looking through all the nutrient deficiencies I can find and have only come up with possible Mag deficiency on the Amish tomatoes? Maybe just not enough water? Hoping the spots on the Brandywine are not a disease. It sure looks like the late blight I see at the end of the season with these- not when they are seedlings!

Everything was planted in Johnny's seed starting mix, and everything is in 4" round pots now. Last week I applied Neptunes fish and seaweed to everything (tablespoon per gallon).

Appreciate any help!

Comments (6)

  • 9 years ago

    I think you might be overwatering them. The spots on the leaf don't look too bad, but the Amish ones look pretty sad. I would hold off on watering them. Every other day is an awful lot of water for such small plants. I usually wait till the soil is almost bone dry and the plants almost wilt before I water. Also they look pretty old, when do you plan on planting them out? The sooner the better I think. Then hopefully they might come out of that funk. You definitely have some kind of issue. Some of the more experienced will probably be able to tell you a lil more. Good luck.

  • 9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Those plants look awfully big for a 4-inch pot. Might explain why you have to water every other day (I hope you are watching the plants and feeling the moisture in the soil before watering them). Having them in seed starting mix is also a problem. Either pot them up into a good potting mix and hope for the best, or get them in the ground and hope for the best. They look pretty far gone at this point.

    Rodney

  • 9 years ago

    You might still be able to salvage them, but like Rodney said....They are too big for those 4in pots. They need room to grow.

  • 9 years ago

    Thanks for all the suggestions! Makes sense that they outgrew the pots. Last year they really outgrew them so I started the seeds two weeks later this year. Still too long I guess. It has only been 5 weeks since I planted the seeds. I water them only when they are dried out but that ends up every other day. The peppers next to them go 4 days or so before drying out.

    Well, after watering and then letting them sit outside for the day the Amish tomato leaves flattened back out and the stems perked up mostly. Everything going in next weekend so hopefully they make it. I hate to plant things out this weekend with the temperatures forecast to drop again this week.

    Oh, and the soil i am using is Johnny's 512 mix- says it is good for starting, transplanting and container growing.

  • 9 years ago

    Those Amish paste tomatoes turned out to be a pretty finicky bunch! Clearly had outgrown pot, but other tomatoes did as well and were healthier. I found when hardening them off that if I didn't water one day, the stems would droop and leaves would curl. After watering they sprung right back up and uncurled most leaves in a few hours. So i just watered every day while in the pot outside. Planted out in the garden a week ago and now they look just as healthy as the other tomatoes. No drooping or curling- guess they were just dying to get outside and play in the dirt!

  • 9 years ago

    Those are pretty huge for 5 weeks from sowing!