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Old December 23, 2022   #1
Master Shake
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Default HELP ME, PLEASE.... i'm so fed up....

Hello tomato lovers....

As the title says HELP ME, PLEASE....

Every- Single- Year- my tomatoes start out fine and then just fizzle out.... is this just something i'm supposed to expect?

I have tried to troubleshoot EVERYTHING for YEARS.... is it overwatering, underwatering, overfeeding, underfeeding, poor soil etc. etc. etc.

No matter what i do i end up with the same result- it is driving me insane.... i'm basically at the point of giving up for good, but I DON'T WANT TO.
Every season, i have a fresh state of mind and am sure it won't happen again but it always does.... turning what should be a fruitful endevour into misery.

I have to think there's some kind of disease but i just have ZERO idea what's wrong, as i mentioned before it happens EVERY- SINGLE- YEAR- in one way or another, for one reason or another.

I have some in a raised bed on the other side of my yard but it's going the same way.

Here's a few photos of my tomatoes in pots (pretty small pots), which i have used coco coir mixed with some soil and perlite and been feeding them every second water.
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Old December 23, 2022   #2
Master Shake
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Maybe it's not smart to grow 20+ heirloom varieties together.... i just thought they can't be THAT prone to disease, can they??
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Old December 23, 2022   #3
Whwoz
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How much air movement are they getting? Looks to me to be a bit crowded and close to a building that may restrict airflow. You need good clear space between plants to allow for airflow, I work on 600 mm between plants and that's not always enough to particularly in a humid season like this one would be with the amount of water about.
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Old December 23, 2022   #4
Master Shake
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Hey Whwoz,

I have no clue if they have enough air circulation.... i can't really see how they haven't, but i don't know?

I was just getting excited for the big harvest and now it's happened again.

Have a look how they were just a few weeks ago-
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Old December 23, 2022   #5
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I have to say- it feels like i do come on here to vent roughly once a year.

I do wish i had some decent success stories.
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Old December 23, 2022   #6
Tormato
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The small black pots aren't going to help either, if you have intense sunshine and hot weather.
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Old December 23, 2022   #7
PaulF
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I agree with the assessment that the pots are way too small and very much too crowded together. My opinion is that your growing medium is conducive to poor growth. Do you have access to potting soil? Potting soil in a large container (26.5 liters) and fed every week to ten days with liquid plant food will help. About a meter between plants will allow for air flow and reduce diseases from traveling from plant to plant. Water when the soilless mix gets dry to the touch.

If you have to reduce the number of plants, that actually may increase production and make up for the difference. I have gotten away from growing tomatoes in containers because of the reduced harvest and reduced size of the fruit. If you are unable to grow tomatoes except in containers expect smaller and fewer tomatoes. At least the flavor will still be there.

Intense heat and sunshine may require shading to keep the plants from burning up. Setting up shade cloth is fairly easy and cheap.

It may take a while to switch over but I think it may help. Good luck!
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Old December 23, 2022   #8
Labradors2
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Can you grow them in the ground? That would be easiest.

If you have to grow in pots, choose varieties that do well in containers. Some of the Artisan Seeds varieties like Maglia Rosa and Taste can manage in 3-gallon size containers. There's also Russian Cherry, Pipo, House and others that do ok in smaller pots. You could also consider the micro varieties.

I wouldn't use Coir as I've heard bad things about it. It can be salty for example. I use a good potting mix containing peat moss.

I keep my 3-gallon containers on my deck, and I water them twice a day when the weather is hot. Ideally, water until the water comes out of the bottom of the pot, after that you can gauge how much to give without wasting water and flushing out nutrients.

Don't forget the fertilizer!

Good luck!

Linda
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Old December 23, 2022   #9
Fusion_power
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The minimum size pot for growing and producing fruit in your climate is 20 gallons.

Water is crucial to tomatoes in a hot climate. Either give them water daily or set up an auto watering system. A large part of the damage your plants show is from water stress!

Disease is causing some of your woes, in this case, Septoria and possibly late blight. If you want to do this right, learn what to spray to prevent damage. Options include copper, daconil, Azoxystrobin, Quadris, etc. As others said, they need to be spread out more so air circulation can help reduce disease spread.

Variety is also important. A few I would suggest growing include: Lynnwood, Cherokee Purple, Eva Purple Ball, Heidi (paste), and Burgundy Traveler. There are others that work, but these will make you happy with a combination of disease tolerance and high production.
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Old December 23, 2022   #10
VirginiaClay
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I agree with all of PaulF's points -- pots much too small, plants much too close together, and use a quality potting soil. I think people typically use pots or grow bags ranging in size from 5 to 15 gallons for a single tomato plant. Even a 3-gallon grow bag is too small for most non-dwarf tomato plants.

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the problem doesn't really look like disease to me; it just looks like the plants are root-bound. Have you checked to see if that's the case? If the pots are basically just a mass of roots, and there's not much growing medium left in there, it's going to be hard for the plants to take up nutrients, and extremely hard for you to maintain appropriate moisture levels.

You say you're feeding them "every second water." How often do you water? And how do you water? Does water sit in those trays under the pots?

But it's interesting that you're having the same problem in a raised bed, too. Can you post pictures of those plants and give some information about the bed -- what soil or planting medium, how much sun the bed gets, what you fertilize with, whether you've checked your pH and fertility, etc.? Do you spray with anything? What fertilizer do you use, how much and how often? How hot it is where you are?

First thing I would try is to re-pot one or two of your healthiest plants into much larger pots or grow bags using a good quality potting soil, and move those test plants further away from the wall. If you have enough season left, you also could root some cuttings from your current plants and start again, potting them up into much larger pots as they get bigger.
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Old December 23, 2022   #11
Master Shake
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Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.

Some points i will take on board others not so much.... i won't go into detail about which but thanks for all of the input.

Being fed and being watered consistantly isn't the problem for the plants in the pots but being rootbound may well be.... also, as Whwoz mentioned- the airflow being so close to the house 'may' be an issue.

As for my plants in the ground also being miserable, now that i am thinking clearer, the only real issue i can see (if not disease) could be from uneven moisture.

I am going to up-pot some of those plants in the smaller pots and move them away from the wall as much as i can and try to revive this season.

I WON'T be giving up, and again, i do appreciate the comments and recommendations but probably most of all the helpful, positive community here.... hopefully i can update after the new year some time with better news.

Happy Holidays.
PEACE.
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Old December 24, 2022   #12
uno
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I agree with the comments about planting them in the ground rather than in pots. That was my first thought when seeing your photos.


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Old December 24, 2022   #13
eyolf
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A while back, visiting with an acquaintance I was given my first glimpse of an "earth box".

She swore by it; I looked it over and decided I could make something that worked about as well without spending much money.
And I found that the earth box plastic seems to be well-supplied with plasticizers and UV-blockers. Most cheap (or free) plastic pails crumble in the sun after a year or two.

But the idea is a great one in that it provides a self-contained system, a water store, and a 5-gallon pail can be pretty portable...works well to get a few more ripe Habanero peppers in a cool climate as you can hide them in the garage if cold nights threaten.

I would research the concept.


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Old December 25, 2022   #14
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I agree with what was said so far and will add one: The heat reflecting off of the wall onto the plants may be adding to the stress. I wonder if in your location if they wouldn't benefit from being grown in a location where not only to they not have the reflected heat but also maybe some more shade (shorter time in the sun).
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Old December 26, 2022   #15
Master Shake
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Thanks again guys. Appreciate the ideas and the morale boost....

I'm going to do a little up-potting and moving those plants shown away from the house as much as possible.... hopefully a positive update in the coming weeks, if i can save a few of them.

I might share a few photos of the meagre harvest that i've already taken before they started to have problems, to give the thread a little bit of positive reinforcement.
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