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What's wrong with these tomato leaves?

7 years ago

Hello, I'm growing tomatoes in containers. Some plants have dark purple stains and I don't know what might be causing it now. I had them before on the lower leaves which I pruned when it was cold(inability to use phosphorus) but weather conditions are now perfect. The min/max temps have been 60/80 for a while and they are getting 10 hours full sun. I posted some pictures below. Would be grateful if someone help me figure out what am I doing wrong. Thank you in advance.







Comments (12)

  • 7 years ago

    How large are the containers, what container mix are you using, and what are you feeding them?

  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    @edweather 5 gallon containers. I mixed garden soil, potting mix(peat moss, pine bark, perlite), composted manure from sheep and cows. Added small amounts of coffee grounds, wood ash and crushed egg shells at planting. I fertilize every week with manure tea. When fruits started setting I gave them a calcium based fertilizer - right now I have around 50 tomatoes set varying in size out of 20 containers and not a single BER case. The 2nd truss is setting now, 3rd and 4th are flowering. I'm not very experienced to recognize their needs yet but I guess some nutrients are missing. Perhaps the plant is too exhausted and needs more hard fertilizing?

  • 7 years ago
    Purple means your tomatoes are cold, and have problems processing nutrients. It will go away when it's warmer
    Carla in Sac
    John Swift thanked sautesmom Sacramento
  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    @edweather I'd definitely get a proper soil mix without dirt next time. This is my first time and I wanted something cheap to see if it's worth growing in pots.

    Today I did a check on one container which I haven't watered for 4-5 days. Temps been around 80F. The first inch was completely dry but as soon as I started going deeper the soil was well hydrated and bottom being slightly wet. If I water, the top layer of dry soil gets saturated quickly and water escapes in no time. That makes me think the water is retained longer in my case and should be watering less often.

  • 7 years ago

    Google phosphorus deficiency in tomato leaves. You need to give them a liquid fertilizer right away. Preferably one low in nitrogen, but higher in phos. And potassiu. Fish emulsion should work.

  • 7 years ago

    Fish emulsion is mostly nitrogen. That won't help.

  • 7 years ago

    I couldn't find the fertilizer brands you mentioned in the store so I just got a balanced water-soluble 18-18-18 with micronutrients. I gave it at 1/3 strength via a drip irrigation. This morning the purple spots were still there. How long does it usually take for plants to recover the missing nutrients?

  • 7 years ago

    You will see "recovery" in the new growth, not the older leaves already affected.

    John Swift thanked rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
  • 7 years ago

    Can you post a photo of the youngest growth?

  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    @gorbelly I'm actually surprised that after few days of heavy storms (thanks god shade cloth saved them from the hail) and very little fertilizing most seem to be recovering and look better now.





  • 7 years ago

    They look fine. Probably just had a little extra need for feeding since they're getting loaded with fruit. As for fertilizing, light and more frequent is much safer and more effective than heavy and less frequent, especially for container plants, so you did the right thing.

    John Swift thanked gorbelly
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