Looks like a touch of sunscald to me. Did you put them outside on a sunny day several days ago? I hope that's all it is and notice that the new growth is unaffected.

Linda

Linda is right. When you transplant I'd be sure to remove the affected lower leaves and transplant them deep.

Cheers

PC

Yep, a little sun damage, but not too bad, they should do fine.

Thank you guys ^_^ Would you recommend I add some fertiliser? And if so, how much should I be adding when they are this young?

Thanasis, it is usually a good time to get some nutrients in now, especially to help recover from the small setback on the injured leaves. Since your soil medium is of an unknown content, and the type of fertilizer determines how it is applied you need to provide complete information on what is in the pots regarding fertilizer, the manufacturer's description of the fertilizer, and when you plan to transplant and what the situation will be after transplant (in ground, pot, etc).

Also, are you in Athens? If you are there, I think you are over a month late, so transplanting sooner than later is a good idea in my opinion, as soon as you can keep the plants hydrated and strong enough in their transplant location. Please take some time to harden them off further ... more gradually!

Cheers

PC

I'm trying to find out what type of soil I used for the seeds but until then I can tell you the fertiliser I have is NPK 9-3-3 (9% total nitrogen Ν of which 9% organic nitrogen, 3% phosphorous pentoxide P2O5 soluble in water, 3% potassium oxide Κ2Ο soluble in water, 65% organic matter). On the package it says it's meant for vegetables and advises 1 -2 soup-spoons in small plants every 20-30 days.

I've started putting them in bigger pots to separate them because there were more than one seed in each. But when they are stronger will go in the ground.

Yeah, I am near Athens. I know I'm late but thought I'd still give it a try. Hoping to get some tomatoes. And it's warm enough until mid September. I put the seeds down on Easter Sunday (April 16th I believe). I'm currently in the UK until end of June so I'm coordinating with people back home haha. I was thinking to leave them in the bigger pots until I'm back in end of June when they'll have hardened and matured and would be ready to go in the ground.

Hope this helps. Thanks for all your help so far!

Welcome back, that's an exciting traveling life you have! It is wonderful to have you as a forum member and I hope you keep us posted on how things are going, everyone is so helpful here!

Ok, regarding the fertilizer which you found out more information, are you translating "vegetable" from another language that is intended to refer to green leafy growth? Just a comment because 9-3-3 is going to go a long way to fertilize green leaves like cabbage, lettuce, spinach, roquette, and other plants we want to promote leaves for harvest. Tomatoes of course we don't eat the leaves but rather the fruits, so a more equally balanced N-P2O5-K2O (NPK) is what you wanted instead of this one. Furthermore, this seems to be providing nitrogen strictly through decomposing organic sources meant for being released over time, while the P & K is instantly available. This fertilizer can work at this time, but I still do not recommend you use this fertilizer as the high nitrogen is not available, or may be available, or may be released in a rush, depending on the conditions it is exposed to in the pots. Most likely it will remain locked up, but the uncertainty of that makes this interesting fertilizer better for your cabbage patch.

Your new pots are still small, what? Perhaps 10 cm (4 inches) in diameter across the top? Can they get you this fertilizer (click on link)?:

20-20-20 with micros

Cheers

PC

Hey PC

Thanks for getting back so fast. It is isn't it? Studying in the UK but originally from Greece! Complicated I know.

Yeah I was actually. It says fertiliser for vegetables basically. For having done Biology and Chemistry I am ashamed to say I didn't notice that problem with nitrogen! I'll keep it for some other use instead.

I can't believe you went through the effort to find me a greek equivalent. I don't know how to thank you. I actually found that specific one online. I'll have them buy it as soon as I can. How would you recommend I apply it? On the site it says it can be sort of sprinkled on top or dissolved on water?

I'd say about 10 - 15 cm diameter and maybe 30cm deep.

Thanks

Thanasis

Hey Thanasis, Actually it is my pleasure to have a connection to Greece and Tomatoes! I have three varieties of tomatoes from Greece I've grown and love making Greek food with them. Here are some pictures to get you excited about your country's breeding and selection efforts with tomatoes. Greece was the last place in Europe to get tomatoes, it seems strange but they are only there for about 150 years. Yet who will eat a country salad without them?

My Thessalonian Tomato (seeds from New Mexico USA!)

My Cycladian Tomato (seeds from Nebraska USA!)

My Cycladian Tomato Salad

OK fertilizer. Great!!!

What is a soup spoon? You are a chem/bio guy...here we call a tablespoon 15 milliliters and a teaspoon 5 milliliters. The density of the crystalline 20-20-20 + micros you are buying is approximately 0.8 gram/milliliter. Let's talk in grams. We only apply this fertilizer by preparing an aqueous dilution of the these 100% soluble fertilizer crystals. One gram of fertilizer dissolved into 2L of water is a nice concentration to begin. Use this once a week as the irrigation for all the plants. It may be hard to mix such a small amount, as that is a quarter of a 5 mL teaspoon. So one teaspoon can be used in 8L, for example (or a half teaspoon in 4L, et cetera). You will have so much left over. This can be stored but keep the solution in the dark, and better also not transparent container, storing is not always a good thing as you can lose the essential mineral iron, for example. This will be an excellent fertilizer that will make these plants growth accelerate. But don't give them too much, there are optimal needs. As the plants get larger and flower you shall increase to between 1 - 3 g/L... but the large increase in fertilizer is not till flowering is underway (and the plants are larger).

Cheers!

PC

That is exciting PC!!

I've got two varieties ( Ace 55VF and a "heart shaped" one?) I bought the seeds online and the third one is my granddad's. I don't know exactly where it has come from but he just says it's a local variety. He's been growing it since I can remember. Half the reason I'm doing this is for him.

Sorry about that. I was just translating the instructions without doing any research. After a little googling it seems that what in greek is "soup spoon" is the table spoon". Go figure!

So I'll do 1g per 2L for the time being and probably until I'm back home myself. And go from there. So I just water them normally and once a week I water them with the fertiliser solution? Just trying to understand it 100%.

Thanks

Thanasis

Thanasis, It really is so much fun, and you better watch out or you will become an agronomist when all is over! Now you got me excited about your Grandpa's tomato :-) Those are the very best kinds! 'Ace' is a solid performing American tomato variety that produces well and should be great.

The question on getting more clarity with fertilizer application. I purposely did not add more information, because I do not know how much irrigation the plants require - this depends on the evaporation rate in their growing area. As they are transplanted into larger pots the new medium (light soil) should be irrigated using the diluted fertilizer solution we discussed above for all the watering need, and then it should be used weekly once, and the next time again to begin this reasonable weekly cycle. The plants at the moment need a little fertilizer so don't delay or they won't develop well.

If you use it twice a week nothing bad will happen in these next weeks because it a weak concentration. At issue is how much evaporation your specific situation causes. Do you require twice a week, or more frequent, like irrigation on every second day? I don't know. If you require more than twice a week, at this time, use plain water the extra times. When the plants begin their fifth petiole (link), use the solution twice a week, so you don't have to increase the concentration yet since that is what you prefer. These plants should grow quickly as the weather is quite pleasant for growing there in these weeks.

If something is still unclear don't feel bad to ask. The end result is to match the growth rate of the plant with its needs for fertilizer, too little or too much will cause problems. The "good" range is not so precise so you don't worry about that, because this solution is too dilute to make over-fertilization a problem in for the next 2-4 weeks.

Cheers

PC

Hey PC

Sorry for my late reply. Was in the middle of exams and didn't have anytime. There's been a few updates. So turns out the tomatoes ended up to granddad's garden already. I'm hoping they will be OK as they are still very young.

In terms of fertiliser they couldn't go get that specific one you told me but they found this one instead (Plantafol?). I don't know if it's good because it says it is mean't for foliar application. I'm not sure whether it is only meant to be applied through the leaves or not. You think I could use it the same as the one you suggested?

Here's a few pictures. I've been send one of most of the garden which got me excited haha. (Got a bit of everything - tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, aubergines, courgette)

Hi Thanasis, glad to have you back and hope the exams went well! Yes, this fertilizer is close enough to consider as an equivalent to the Gemma product though it might be a little lower in nitrate nitrogen if I recall correctly. Same application dissolved in liquid, but now things have changed in the ground, use 1 g/L each alternate watering occasion for now, whether manual or automatic watering, please hurry and feed those plants as they seriously need it for their healthy development. Pappous has a great setup! Sorry not to monitor the thread, it has been a tough weekend for me too! Thanks for the pictures and great to hear you're not lost in cyberland!! -- keep in communication, it's fun!

Kindest wishes

PC

Thanks for the help PC!! I'm not going anywhere. I really enjoy this forum!

Will hopefully get to apply it tomorrow. I'll keep you update it on how they're doing :)

Best wishes

Thanasis

Finally have an update!!

So I've come back home this week! The bad news is dad haven't had any time to do much let alone give the tomatoes any fertiliser. The good news is everything is growing just fine and quite fast I might say.

Took some photos for you to see. I need to work out I convenient way to put some supporting for the tomatoes before they grow out of hand. The ones on the left have started growing into one another so don't know what to do with them but I'm sure I'll find a solution.

Also came back to a surprise melon plant haha. Never grown any mellon though. See how that goes!

In terms of fertiliser any ideas what I should do? Basically in regards to everything I'm accepting any ideas really!

All I know I'll do so far is put some calcium (+magnesium I think) I've got as I noticed last year we had quite a big problem of blossom-end rot.