Light curl on my leaves

fireman949 · March 5, 2014

We are in 7a / North Mississippi

I started my seeds around January 15 this year. They sprouted almost immediately and now some are near 12" tall. After potting up to 4" round pots, I started feeding with a highly diluted fish emulsion water solution about once a week (aside from keeping them watered with no fert). I use 1 to 1.5 tsp Neptune Harvest 2-4-1 per 32oz water . This is the second year I started from seed and the first year I've had good looking plants. They've been sitting in an upstairs room kept between 56 and 72* depending on outside temps with a 4' 4 lamp shop light, Aqua/Plant tubes and a ceiling fan on low or medium depending on my mood.

I'm about a week from putting them out in the raised beds under a cold frame and wall o waters, but some of the leaves on the taller plants have a light curl and some of the very tips have a slightly yellowish tint seen here :

I think it is because the lower leaves are far from the light, but I've kept the light within about 1" or 2" of the top of the plants - they are just 12" tall now.

I put the 3 plants I want to get in first outside in the open garage to get about an hour of sun, but it was in the lower 50s inside the garage so they came back in quickly.

I don't think I'm over feeding (I could be, never used fish emulsion before), but I'm wondering what is causing the curl and yellow.

I wait to water until the soil is not damp and the pots are lighter weight - am I waiting too long between waterings?

Labradors2 · March 5, 2014

I think they are thirsty and I would water them more frequently.

Linda

dpurdy · March 5, 2014

fireman949,
I use the exact same fertilizer for my young tomato plants and I don't believe that your over fertilizing a 1 1/2 tps. per gal. each week. What might be happening is that some of your larger plants have a good size root ball started and they will need watering every day. I wouldn't let the growing mix to dry out too much at this stage. The three pictured on the car are just showing a little stress from the sun and change of temp.. No big deal, they still look fine. Overall, I think they all look healthy and they should take off like a rocket, once you plant them. I like to plant them when they're that size. Your pepper plants look good also.

dpurdy

fireman949 · March 5, 2014

The car pic is probably just white balance on the iPhone - same plants on the car are in the second picture. Today was the first time outside for my three kids - as my wife refers to them.

I took a guess on the fertilizer ratios, I'm using 1 tsp - 1.5 tsp per pint or ~2 tbsp per gallon. The directions have ratios for house plants (1 tbsp/gal) and outdoor plants (1/8 c/gal) but nothing for young tomato seedlings. That stuff stinks. I keep the room door closed and you can tell immediately when I have fertilized recently.

The leaves do feel a bit dry and so I will not let the soil mix get dry - I intend to get them in the raised beds in the next 5-6 days so it won't be long now.

@dp - this is the first year I will use only peppers and tomatoes from my own seeds and it is the first year I'll have respectable peppers. After the seeds germinated and were big enough, I moved them to the 3" squares with a small bit of blood meal mixed in the soil - I think I used about 3-5 tbsp blood meal for each of the 'flats'. They took off very quickly and look amazing. I haven't tried very hard, but I've tried to keep consistent temps, a little wind from the fan, lights on a timer 1" from the plants, and adequate water and I'm still shocked at how nice my seedling rack looks.

More pics to come as these things start taking hold in the garden!!

I know this is tomatoville, but here is a close up of the peppers:

RayR · March 6, 2014

I agree with dpurdy, they are big enough to plant. The root ball has gotten too big for the size of the pot.

The peppers look great!

fireman949 · March 7, 2014

Hardening off continued today and they should be in the garden by next Tuesday or Wednesday. I put them inside the wall o water which seems to lessen the time it takes to harden off (or so I think).

I'm planting 5 this year, but I have about 18 seedlings - I just couldn't stand not growing them. I intend to give them away to other gardening friends and I assume that I can harden off everything and then just leave the non-planted seedlings outside until they have a good home? In my area (7A), most folks don't put tomatoes in the ground until mid-April so I suspect I will have to pot them up to 6" or bigger if I'm going to keep them for another month.

RootLoops · March 8, 2014

great job! i never expected to see so many people from mississippi on here, let alone north miss, we are probably neighbors

this is also my first year going from seed, last year i spent probably 200 bucks on the bonnie plants they sell at walmart and lowes here. the plants grew fine but i think i've only spent about 40 on seeds and i have more than enough. looking forward to seeing how these all turn out!

fireman949 · March 9, 2014

Here is a quick update - with the nice weather forecast and the aggressive hardening off I did the past 3 days, I decided to pot up what I'm going to give away and plant what I'm going to use. Here are some pics from my adventures:

All the 4" potted tomatoes looked like this:

Here is the German Johnson ready to go in the bed. Peeking out from behind the wall o waters is a Gold Medal and a Mortgage Lifter

Not too deep - according to Charles Wilbur - they know what to do... (don't know if that is true, but it has worked for me).

Happy in the new home - ready for the wall-o-water

The rest of the tomatoes got a potting up

I intend to keep them until early April after I'm sure my transplants took well and give away what I'm not going to use.

In the mix is German Johnson, Gold Medal, Mortgage Lifter, Yellow Pear (cherry), and Matt's Wild Cherry.

Because of the way I grow, I use one of my 16' x 4' raised beds every year for tomatoes. They grew last year to be about 10' tall and 3' wide using concrete reinforcement wire tomato cages so I am limited to about 5 tomatoes. This year, I'm giving the 3 full size tomatoes their own cage and my two cherry tomatoes will share the last cage.

This should be a fun year !! (sorry for all the pics)

March 5, 2014	#1
fireman949 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Mississippi Posts: 12	Light curl on my leaves We are in 7a / North Mississippi I started my seeds around January 15 this year. They sprouted almost immediately and now some are near 12" tall. After potting up to 4" round pots, I started feeding with a highly diluted fish emulsion water solution about once a week (aside from keeping them watered with no fert). I use 1 to 1.5 tsp Neptune Harvest 2-4-1 per 32oz water . This is the second year I started from seed and the first year I've had good looking plants. They've been sitting in an upstairs room kept between 56 and 72* depending on outside temps with a 4' 4 lamp shop light, Aqua/Plant tubes and a ceiling fan on low or medium depending on my mood. I'm about a week from putting them out in the raised beds under a cold frame and wall o waters, but some of the leaves on the taller plants have a light curl and some of the very tips have a slightly yellowish tint seen here : I think it is because the lower leaves are far from the light, but I've kept the light within about 1" or 2" of the top of the plants - they are just 12" tall now. I put the 3 plants I want to get in first outside in the open garage to get about an hour of sun, but it was in the lower 50s inside the garage so they came back in quickly. I don't think I'm over feeding (I could be, never used fish emulsion before), but I'm wondering what is causing the curl and yellow. I wait to water until the soil is not damp and the pots are lighter weight - am I waiting too long between waterings?

March 5, 2014	#4
fireman949 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Mississippi Posts: 12	The car pic is probably just white balance on the iPhone - same plants on the car are in the second picture. Today was the first time outside for my three kids - as my wife refers to them. I took a guess on the fertilizer ratios, I'm using 1 tsp - 1.5 tsp per pint or ~2 tbsp per gallon. The directions have ratios for house plants (1 tbsp/gal) and outdoor plants (1/8 c/gal) but nothing for young tomato seedlings. That stuff stinks. I keep the room door closed and you can tell immediately when I have fertilized recently. The leaves do feel a bit dry and so I will not let the soil mix get dry - I intend to get them in the raised beds in the next 5-6 days so it won't be long now. @dp - this is the first year I will use only peppers and tomatoes from my own seeds and it is the first year I'll have respectable peppers. After the seeds germinated and were big enough, I moved them to the 3" squares with a small bit of blood meal mixed in the soil - I think I used about 3-5 tbsp blood meal for each of the 'flats'. They took off very quickly and look amazing. I haven't tried very hard, but I've tried to keep consistent temps, a little wind from the fan, lights on a timer 1" from the plants, and adequate water and I'm still shocked at how nice my seedling rack looks. More pics to come as these things start taking hold in the garden!! I know this is tomatoville, but here is a close up of the peppers: Last edited by fireman949; March 6, 2014 at 12:03 AM. Reason: can't spell

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March 5, 2014	#2
Labradors2 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Ontario Posts: 3,886	I think they are thirsty and I would water them more frequently. Linda

March 5, 2014	#3
dpurdy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Norwich, New York Posts: 255	fireman949, I use the exact same fertilizer for my young tomato plants and I don't believe that your over fertilizing a 1 1/2 tps. per gal. each week. What might be happening is that some of your larger plants have a good size root ball started and they will need watering every day. I wouldn't let the growing mix to dry out too much at this stage. The three pictured on the car are just showing a little stress from the sun and change of temp.. No big deal, they still look fine. Overall, I think they all look healthy and they should take off like a rocket, once you plant them. I like to plant them when they're that size. Your pepper plants look good also. dpurdy

March 6, 2014	#5
RayR Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Cheektowaga, NY Posts: 2,464	I agree with dpurdy, they are big enough to plant. The root ball has gotten too big for the size of the pot. The peppers look great!

March 7, 2014	#6
fireman949 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Mississippi Posts: 12	Hardening off continued today and they should be in the garden by next Tuesday or Wednesday. I put them inside the wall o water which seems to lessen the time it takes to harden off (or so I think). I'm planting 5 this year, but I have about 18 seedlings - I just couldn't stand not growing them. I intend to give them away to other gardening friends and I assume that I can harden off everything and then just leave the non-planted seedlings outside until they have a good home? In my area (7A), most folks don't put tomatoes in the ground until mid-April so I suspect I will have to pot them up to 6" or bigger if I'm going to keep them for another month.

March 8, 2014	#7
RootLoops Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: rienzi, ms Posts: 470	great job! i never expected to see so many people from mississippi on here, let alone north miss, we are probably neighbors this is also my first year going from seed, last year i spent probably 200 bucks on the bonnie plants they sell at walmart and lowes here. the plants grew fine but i think i've only spent about 40 on seeds and i have more than enough. looking forward to seeing how these all turn out!

March 9, 2014	#8
fireman949 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Mississippi Posts: 12	Here is a quick update - with the nice weather forecast and the aggressive hardening off I did the past 3 days, I decided to pot up what I'm going to give away and plant what I'm going to use. Here are some pics from my adventures: All the 4" potted tomatoes looked like this: Here is the German Johnson ready to go in the bed. Peeking out from behind the wall o waters is a Gold Medal and a Mortgage Lifter Not too deep - according to Charles Wilbur - they know what to do... (don't know if that is true, but it has worked for me). Happy in the new home - ready for the wall-o-water The rest of the tomatoes got a potting up I intend to keep them until early April after I'm sure my transplants took well and give away what I'm not going to use. In the mix is German Johnson, Gold Medal, Mortgage Lifter, Yellow Pear (cherry), and Matt's Wild Cherry. Because of the way I grow, I use one of my 16' x 4' raised beds every year for tomatoes. They grew last year to be about 10' tall and 3' wide using concrete reinforcement wire tomato cages so I am limited to about 5 tomatoes. This year, I'm giving the 3 full size tomatoes their own cage and my two cherry tomatoes will share the last cage. This should be a fun year !! (sorry for all the pics)