Absolute beginner seeks tomato advice

[JonnyDavidson]

Hello there everyone.

Recently I was given three tomato plants by a friend. They are all different varieties and came with no names. Apart from one bedraggled houseplant I have never grew anything before, but as soon as I re-potted the toms (about two weeks ago) and got my hands in the muck I knew this was something I was to enjoy.
The toms are out in the back yard, near a wall and getting plenty of sun. I've been watering them daily, and pinching off those dastardly little shoots which appear between the main- and side stalks.
I have three queries:

1: The other day, after reading somewhere that around seven trusses is the ideal amount, I 'pruned' off a few of the side stalks in a bit of a panic. Have I done the right thing here?? I'm a bit anxious and now I wish I'd found this site first.

2: One of the plants has some white spots on a few of the leaves, which are only small and completely white/cream (unfortunately I have no camera handy to snap it). Should I be worried?

3: Another plant has several leaves which curl, and at the top of the plant they curl a lot and the undersides (the 'veins', not the leaves themselves) are a purplish colour. Is this also something I should be worried about (as, in fact, I am!)?

Any advice and help would put my mind at ease and be greatly appreciated


Jonny.

ps the people on this site seem very friendly and helpful

[Bigmallly]

Until someone comes along with some answers, take a look through this thread plus there is a further excellent thread within it regarding sideshoots or armpits as is the new name. Welcome to the vine & try not to panic.

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...tal_49356.html

[lfnfan]

Hi JohnnyD

I started my gardening exploits with tomatoes last year - such fun and very rewarding. Bearing in mind I only have 1 season's experience, and that older and wiser grapes may be along shortly to better advise you, I would comment as follows re. your questions (and i am assuming you have the cordon variety of tomato plant, not the bush variety):

1. side stalks do not equal 'trusses'. There are a couple of pics of my trusses from last year (!) in the following link. They look totally different than side shoots, and it's from these lil' things that the flowers flower and then eventually turn to fruits:

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...tml#post432309

edit: Here's a link to a pic of a maturing truss:
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...uit_32762.html

The idea is to stop the plant giving its energy to further upward growth and instead direct it to producing and ripening fruit by pinching off the top growing tip (and any others that subsequently appear lower down the plant - keep an eye out!) when a plant has six or seven trusses. Some people pinch off after more trusses have appeared and some less - don't think there is any hard-and-fast rule.

2. see the last two pics on the link above - my leaves also got white spots - they turned out to be nothing at all (possibly caused by drops of water on the leaves then being sun-shine'd on, and blasting the clorophyl in that particular point - or that may just be nonsense). As the plants matured the lower leaves went very curly, a bit dead in places and generally were manky - I gently took them off, and it didn't harm the general health of the plant (or it didn't appear to!)

3. I also had curling leaves at the top, but they looked generally green and healthy and eventually flattened out.

The purple veins may be due to your plants getting a bit cold? That's what happened with mine last year, and I ended up taking them in over cold nights until they'd acclimatised. As we are nearly in July, I dunno, perhaps it's not a cold thing? Whereabouts in the country are you?

Or it could be a potassium deficiency (epsom salts may help with that).

[taff]

I've got some ferline/shirley [can't remember offhand which row it was] in the ground outside, the tops of the leaves have curled up and are purple underneath.

[Tomatoking]

Hi ifnfan and welcome.

There has been some really good advise so far and it does get confusing when you are starting out.

Curling leaves can be a sign of over watering but in hot weather i would not worry too much.

Purple leaves is usually a sign on deficiencies, on old leaves at the bottom it is not really a problem, but on younger leaves it could be a sign of a problem

A good healty plant have dark green leaves as apposed to yellowing ones. If the head of the plant is very pale than it is a good sign of lack of nutrients.
It also depends on what your plants are grown in, the soil or a pot.
The soil gives you more margin for error, and pot or bags you need to take more care when watering or feeding.

Plants can have 20 trusses or more, but outside grown they are best stopped at about 5 to 6 feet, just nip the head off at this height.

Never remove trusses, but shoots have to be removed if it is a cordon type plant, and like has been said, you can replant side shoots to give you more plants, look at the armpit thread, it is exellent.

Regards Mr TK

[JonnyDavidson]

Many thanks folks.

Thanks for all the advice and links folks, much appreciated.

One more thing I could mention about the tom plant with curly leaves and purple 'veins' is that it is VERY DROOPY. lfnfan recommended epsom salts (for potassium deficiency); do you think this might fix the problem folks, or is something else required?

Many thanks, Jonny.

[zazen999]

I always recommend taking droopy plants out of the sun until they have recovered. And check the compost - if it is dry [and the pot will be light] then give it a good drenching. If it is wet then let it dry out until the pot is light and then water again.

Best way to water is to put a saucer or tray under the pots and put half an inch of water in the tray. If it soaks up in half an hour then refill and keep going until it decides it's had enough.

Best way to fertilise tomatoes is to put either comfrey juice or tomato food on once a week, but water this on the top of the soil - don't add it to the bottom tray. Toms have light feeding roots and deep water roots.....if you have baby toms this fertilising regime needs to start now!

[JonnyDavidson]

Hey zazen999. Thanks for the help.

Regarding your feeding advice, I've heard that feeding the plants before the flowers/fruits appear is a mistake. Is this advice unsound then - should I really be feeding the toms now, as you suggest?

[mrscorpio]

Hi
just a quick thing to note.
If you water with tomato feed, then water directly onto the soil, not on to the leaves. ( I think it does normally state this on the bottle of feed )

PS welcome to the vine, the people on here are really helpful and as I have found, are willing to help even with the most trivial problems.

[zazen999]

Hey zazen999. Thanks for the help.

Regarding your feeding advice, I've heard that feeding the plants before the flowers/fruits appear is a mistake. Is this advice unsound then - should I really be feeding the toms now, as you suggest?

Toms have light feeding roots and deep water roots.....if you have baby toms this fertilising regime needs to start now!

That's what I said

[JonnyDavidson]

Heh heh

I guess I've got the message now.

[JonnyDavidson]

Cheers mrscorpio

[lfnfan]

i think when zazen999 says start the feeding routine when you have "baby toms", the meaning is as in lil' tomatoes are forming on the trusses, not as in the tomato plants are small/young.

I am missing my tomato plants this year - for one reason and another we didn't get around to growing any. I am enjoying the sunny weather this week, and am thinking that the tom plants would be enjoying them even more