What's wrong with my tomatoes?

[Balconygardener]

I've attached some photos of my beloved tomatoes, which I am just a bit worried about!

While they generally look healthy, and I think they have some teeny-tiny buds starting to form, nearly all the plants have at least some lower leaves which are shrivelling.

Have I done something wrong, and if so, can I fix it? Or is this to be expected?

They are tumbling tom, and they are now starting to tumble!

Thanks, Fiona

[Capsid]

They are very leggy but that's always the problem with windowsill grown toms. Are you going to plant them outside? Otherwise they look fine to me. The shrivelled leaves may be because they touched the glass and got burnt?

[OllieMartin]

I've attached some photos of my beloved tomatoes, which I am just a bit worried about!

While they generally look healthy, and I think they have some teeny-tiny buds starting to form, nearly all the plants have at least some lower leaves which are shrivelling.

Have I done something wrong, and if so, can I fix it? Or is this to be expected?

They are tumbling tom, and they are now starting to tumble!

Thanks, Fiona

I pinched the third picture as an example of a leggy tomato for the troubles section of the tomatoes page on WikiGardener.
Hope that's okay.
Tomato - WikiGardener Wiki

[womble]

Are you sure they are tumblers? They don't look like them at all to me. They look more like a leggy Gardeners Delight.
I don't think they can go outside like that, they will be ripped apart by the wind.
They need more light and probably a bit less heat, not sure how you'd do that though.

[Balconygardener]

Well, the packet definitely said Tumbling Tom, but I suppose there could have been a mistake.

The plan was that they would go outside - on to my very sheltered, covered balcony, so they will not be particularly exposed. I was planning to put them into a larger pot to do this, and I was waiting for them to flower before I did so. I have no idea at all if that is right, so if anyone would like to propose an alternative plan, I would grateful of suggestions!

How do you stop tomatoes being leggy? Is it just the light? If so, I think I will be doomed to failure, as I don't have outside space at all other than my balcony, and with that being covered, there really isn't much more light there than there is on the windowsill. How very depressing!

Still, if they come to absolutely nothing, at least they will have found fame as a perfect example of leggy tomatoes, so thanks, Ollie, for ensuring that my efforts have not being in vain

[womble]

In all honesty, apart from putting them outside to harden off in very good weather tied up very securely to a strong cane, I wouldn't know what to advise.
Maybe someone else has other ideas.

I think you started them off too early. Maybe think about buying some tumbling plants from somewhere.

[Balconygardener]

Oh dear! That bad, eh?

Should I give up on them as a bad job?

[PrideRavyn]

Mine were at least as leggy as that if not worse and I thought they were going to keel over when I first put them out into the greenhouse, I wouldn't give up them because mine are now going great and have got their first truss! What I did was go and buy two other plants from the garden centre as back up - they were only 99p each so no big deal and meant I had a backup - as fate would have it, one of those plants has ended up on deaths door for no reason, the other is fine, and mine are going fine so I didn't need them anyway!

Mine were grown too early too, on a windowsill and had the same issue as yours - I would get them supported with some canes, I supported mine from quite early on with short canes and they were fine, not sure about your wonky stemmed one but mine looked like your others and are doing fine now they are outside. Try supporting them and get them outside if your balcony is sheltered - you've got nothing to lose trying that, and maybe get a couple of back up plants just to make sure that you'll have tons of tomatoes

[OllieMartin]

My chillies weren't getting enough light earlier in the year, so I put an old set of shelves up against the window to sit them in and lined the back of the shelves with tinfoil to help reflect light onto the obverse side of them. It seemed to help a little and I'm sure it wouldn't harm your tomatoes to try it.

[Balconygardener]

OK, short canes, hardening off, possibly some tinfoil and back-up plants it is!

Thanks, everyone!

[Capsid]

As others have said I would sow them later when the day length has increased and you can put them on the balcony in preference to the windowsill.For the plants you have, you can pinch out the growing tip back to the first two leaf branches and you will get sideshoots which you can then grow as a bush rather than a cordon. I think tumbling tom is a bush variety anyway.

[Balconygardener]

Thanks, Capsid.

I have 6 plants, so enough to have a go both at staking and pinching out. I'm actually quite excited about this now!

But please excuse my ignorance, I am not quite sure where you mean by 'back to first two growing branches'. I've attached a picture with a line drawn where I think you mean - can you let me know if (as I expect) I have it horribly wrong?

[Alison]

Yes your plants are a bit leggy but they're not that bad - have seen far worse produce a decent crop. I'd not be pinching anything out, especially as radically as back to the first two branches but I would be starting to get the plants hardened off.

[Capsid]

Thanks, Capsid.

I have 6 plants, so enough to have a go both at staking and pinching out. I'm actually quite excited about this now!

But please excuse my ignorance, I am not quite sure where you mean by 'back to first two growing branches'. I've attached a picture with a line drawn where I think you mean - can you let me know if (as I expect) I have it horribly wrong?

Yes that is where I would pinch. You should get two new shoots appearing from the leaf axils.

[Balconygardener]

As a matter of interest - does anyone have a photo of what my tumbling toms should look like now? Just so I know for future reference.

I planted them Easter weekend, so that are 6 and a half weeks old now.