So my ol' paul robeson tomato plant is giving me some trouble. The day after i set it outside for hardening off about a week or so ago, its leaves just limped over like old rags, nothing i do perks them up, and it has been this way ever since, even after transplant. BUT on a positive note, the stem, and top leaf are rather sturdy
This message was edited May 5, 2014 1:58 PM
P.S. all of that white stuff on the ground around it are eggshells :)
Please get those eggshells out of there now, since they aren't doing anything at all on top of the soil, and to be honest they wouldn't do anything to prevent BER if they were in the planting hole. ( smile)
The stem hangong down on the left, I see some black critters on that stem which might bear looking into.
The soil looks dry to me, but only you know if it is, or not.
What do your other transplants look like?
There's aways transplant shock, but not for this long IMO.
Carolyn
ahh, that may be a few coffee grounds that got away as i was about to sprinkle some down around it (for the nitrogen content). because i have checked again and there are no little beasts on it at all. the other transplants look pretty good. This one has proven to be the most finicky of the bunch, to be honest, leaf droop with even the slightest of change of temperature or light while i had it in its seedling cup. i did decide to clip off those droopy leaves seeing as that could lead to leaf disease--what with them touching the soil like that. I did give them a morning dose of water today, our soil is that old red Virginia clay soil. I am currently working in organic stuff slowly but surely. it may crust up on top, but i make absolutely sure its moist down below. :)
i have had a suggestion of using shredded up leaves mixed with a little bit of grass clippings to mulch around them that i may consider.
the eggshell thing is really i guess just a folklore thing that got well established into the folks way of doing it around here, lol
I read in an article on DG that coffee grounds are a not adviced for tomatoes, and they don't need a lot of N anyway. If I can find the article I will post a link. If it were me I'd stick to regular old ferilizer.
hmm..guess i should still be posting in the Beginners forum, as ive sure made a bunch of blunders so far, lol ;) So this is the last time they get any coffee grounds anymore, and save it for the things grown for foliage only, like my lettuce.
I think your on the right forum.....I'm not sure how much N coffee grounds even have but I've read CGs and tomatoes don't go together but along with the eggshells they will help keep bugs walking bugs away.
i also have white wonder, green zebra, german johnson, and a mystery variety from volunteer seeds. So far no changes (at least not any bad ones) for any of them except for the german johnson--which has decided to finally take off with growth.
Keeping my fingers crossed and please keep us posted.
well, just when i thought it was going to at least hold steady, we find ourselves in a heat wave of 30 degrees above normal (several days worth of 90F degree temps) which proved to be the tipping point for it, and it wilted down and crisped up. So this evening i took one of the mystery volunteer tomato plants and put it in its place. (dug deep enough to get it out that i didnt come in contact with its root system).
And just for the sport of it, i may as well show the other tomato plants i have. Green Zebra, white wonder, and german johnson, and another of the mystery volunteers. the German johnson being the one that has made the most progress (you can see some nasturtium coming up in between each plant, which will be trained to grow along the garden fencing.)
