Can someone please help me to identify the problem with my tomatoes?

Sorry nallah but without details it would be hard to even guess.

What kind of soil did you use? Is that wood mulch on top? Why is the pot less then half full? What did you add to the soil before and at planting? Any fertilizer? How often do you water it? How often do you fertilize it and with what? And any other details you may think of. I have ideas but unwilling speculate without details.

Thank you Kevin9408 for responding. I used Potting Soil that has wood mulch mixed into the soil called Vigoro All-Purpose Potting Mix which is suppose to feed the plant for 9 months the bag says. I did not add anything to the soil when I planted it. I have had the plant for approx 1 month and purchased it as a seedling. After posting this picture I gave the Tomato Plant Nature Care Plant Fertilizer and a little water. I noticed today the plant has black spots on the leaves. I am considering spraying the plant with a mix of few tablespoons of Perixode to a Gallon of water. Also considering giving it some Epson Salt. I am at a loss of what to do as this is my first time doing container gardening. Thank you for any assistance you can provide Kevin9408. I have also planted peppers, cucumbers, and beans in containers. I hope I don't have issues with them as well.

Nallah I have a better idea what is going on. First the plant should be watered every day, pots are notorious for drying out in a day. The wood mulch mixed in the soil is by far the worst soil you could use and don't know why any company would sell it. I just commented on another thread on how to use wood fiber to extract excess nitrogen from the soil using microbes but your mix is removing all the nitrogen your plant needs using high carbon, low nitrogen organic matter in the mix. You could re pot the plant but will likely kill it in the condition its in, So now you will need to feed the microbes AND the plant more nitrogen to compensate and need a fast acting chemical fertilizer now. find any all purpose fertilizer with low numbers 10-10-10, 13-13-13, (they don't need to match as long as the first one, nitrogen is the equal to or bigger than the other two). It doesn't matter as long as it doesn't say "slow release" or organic. Mix in a heaping teaspoosn, wait 5 days and if there is no sign it's greening up add another 1/2 teaspoon and continue until it greens up. Continue with your Nature Care Plant Fertilizer along with 1/2 teaspoon of the all purpose fertilizer every two weeks, or until your sick of eating tomatoes.

The picture shows a classic tell tale case of severe nitrogen deficiency, and when I saw the wood mulch I was certain it was but needed the details to be sure. Epson salt will help for the magnesium and sulfur (required plant nutrients) but not much is needed. A 1/2 teaspoon every couple weeks. But before you do any fertilizing I strongly suggest you cut off the two sets of bottom branches and fill the pot higher with a soil without wood chips in it. It won't kill your plant and the main stem will grow more new roots making it healthier, but don't let the pot ever dry out. Good luck.

Kevin and Beesneeds, thank you both for assistance to save my plant. I am going to the garden store and purchased some of the items you both recommended. I will certainly look for a feeder to bring up the Nitrogen level in my tomato's. I am hoping to keep my garden organic and will try not to get another not natural if possible. I will also purchase another potting soil and begin mixing it in with the wood mulch type. I will never purchase that type again as it was full of wood but I thought that was good to have that much wood mulch. I have cut all the bottom leaves and suckers on the plant. I will keep both of you abreast as to how my plant fair. Thank you again for your help. Nailah

Do you take mulitvitamin/multimineral supplements such as One A Day or Centrum Nallah?

The minerals used in these two and nearly all supplements are chemically created minerals produced by humans and the exact same minerals used in so called non organic fertilizers for plants. Such as potassium chloride, magnesium oxide, dibasic calcium phosphate and many more. We use the same elemental elements as plants do. and extract them only in their pure form known as chemical elements found in the periodic table of elements, if you remember high school science.

Chemically created synthetic fertilizers are simply a combination of two or more organic elements, sometimes using high heat, to extract the pure chemical element plants can take in, along with humans. We can't eat phosphate rock or limestone but we can extract the elements of phosphorus and calcium we can consume, same for plants. Soda drink has phosphoric acid in it along with tooth paste, Phosphoric acid comes from treating organic phosphate containing material with sulfuric acid, Sulfuric acid is a natural organic salt of sulfur and also organic. So where is the danger?

The idea that man made chemical fertilizers are dangerous is a myth and this is where the danger is.

I say a dangerous myth because without man made synthesized fertilizers over half to three quarters of the world population would starve. Not may but would without a doubt. People who think only organic is fine only if they know the facts and not try to force everyone to do the same. it would take 30 tons of cow manure to fertilize 1 acre of crop land to produce half the yield they do now. 30 tons of cow poo requires about 4 cows. 4 cows require 8 acres of good forage land per year. Removing the manure to fertilize your crop land would then reduce the forage available next year. The next year even less, and so on until your 4 cows starve. If you did the same with alfalfa each year the source land would become depleted, and any organic source would quickly become depleted. The world would starve, and organic vs chemica is a major rant of mine because people don't know how sensitive the world food supply is and could easily collapse with the wrong laws by the wrong people.

2,7 billion acres are used to feed the world population and people are starving now, this doesn't include land used for livestock. 2.7 billion acres would require manure from 11 billion cows to support the land by ORGANIC means, but wouldn't last long.

You can use organic fertilizers as a personal choice but please be aware most of the worlds population would die without man made synthetic fertilizers made from natural elements that are perfectly safe.

My Plants are looking so much healthier overnight after their One feeding. I purchased Miracle-Gro® Performance Organics- All Purpose Plant Food and purchased Miracle-Gro Garden Soil for my lack of nitrogen plants. Overnight the plant perked up and appeared healthier. I have since added the new garden soil to the plants. I understand that I was informed it would be best to plant the tomatoes in larger pots but the largest bucket I could find was a 5 gallon. I will continue to add dirt to the 5-gallon buckets as needed and see how my plants thrive. I purchase stakes for the tomatoes and plan to secure the tomato cages in the ground deeper instead of the pot. I am unsure if the stakes and cages will work but it is the best I can do for this year's planting. Thank you, Kevin and Bees for all your help. I will post pictures over the next day.

Nailah

Zone 6 (MO)

Nice to hear your plants are doing better Nallah and hope you get more tomatoes than you can eat. I also appreciate the updates, I really do. Thank you.

Kevin and Bees I am posting my plants since feeding and adding new dirt.

I must say you achieved drastic improvements in less then a week, Looking good Nallah!

Kevin thank you but guess I spoke too soon. One of my plants us turning yellow and I need to give food nitrogen. I noticed this the day after I posted.

posted. Am very pleased with how plants are improving. You and Bees are amazing, thank you for guidance to improve plants.

Well Kevin9408 and Beesneeds I went from being really happy to be really sad lol. This gardening is up and down in less than 1 week. I went outside and this is what I saw today. I fertilize them and gave more water today in hopes that tomorrow will be better. I only have 1 cucumber and it is dying, my pepper plant leaves are spotting up and turning brown, my tomato that was doing good is now turning yellow on the top only. Not sure what is going on with this garden. I will try to look on Youtube and see if I can find a video that tells me the problem. Do you know what it can be? I wonder if I don't need to give it some Epson Salt and Spray with Perixoide? I stated I was going to do it before but I did not because they got better but now I wish I would have.

when you water your plants to you get the leaves wet? Do you water mornings or evenings? It’s always better to water morning but not always possible. If you water evenings it’s especially important to not get the leaves wet. Getting hot leaves wet Will blister the leaves can cause so of the problems I see in your picture. Epsom salts is a great product to use on tomatoes. I also grind egg shells to a powder to work in the soil around my tomatoes. This year I started using fish emulsion fertilize also on my tomatoes. This has been I best year ever for growing tomatoes. I have 81 plants and have had only one tomato with blossom end rot using the above mentioned items as my fertilizers. I'm About 90% organic In my garden but use liquid 7 on my tomato plants.