Tom plant problems

[JonnyDavidson]

Hello there.

I'm having some problems with my tom plants, and I'm looking for good advice. I'm growing three plants (Marmande) in a mini greenhouse, with the door rolled all the way up in this warm weather. Some of the leaves lower down the plant have dark, purple blotches on them; some are going very yellow - again lower down the plant; and many of the leaves also have brown patches. Here are some photos to illustrate:



Are these things anything to worry about? And if so, what can I do to put things right?

Also, recently there have been small black flies (aphids?) feasting on the plants. I've heard that spraying with water mixed with a little washing-up liquid can do the trick here, so I've been doing that for a week or so - will this help with these pests?

Lastly, the plants are quite confined in the mini greenhouse, with some of the branches/leaves pushed right up against the plastic and curling down - should I take the plants out of the greenhouse now do you think?

Any help here will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time,

J.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Jonny this could be something and nothing but if I am right they are in 6" pots. Therefore the first thing to do is transplant them into suitable sized pots ( something the size of a Morrisons flower bucket).

The problem could be they are just not getting enough nutrients to perform well. If that does not work you may have leaf mould and in this case the first thing to do would be to remove the lower leaves which it attacks first.

Colin

[chris]

I'd say another vote for lack of nutrients - mine were like it before I started to feed them. I've taken the leaves off anyway.

[taff]

^ wot they said.
what are the next set of leaves like?

[Veggie Mackem]

Jonny, I go along with what the other guys are saying, definetly need to be in bigger pots, if the first trusses have set fruit then you could start liquid feeding as another boost on nutrients follow the manufacturers instructions or even increase slightly as these are marmande beefsteak toms which are even more demanding than regular cultivars, another thing to consider is that you may have an overcrowding problem most plants hate close quarter growing which is also the perfect situation to encourage deseases, blights and fungus etc.
Regarding your blackfly problem, washing up liquid is a detergent and not the same thing as liquid soap which is what you really need, yes it does have an effect on the little sods but organic sprays will always do a better job in my opinion, if you want to try the soap diluted in water then the liquid hand soap in plunger type bottles is OK, I managed to rid my aubergines of them by this method. Anyway, good luck with the toms.

[JonnyDavidson]

Thanks for the great advice folks. I'll make some changes and see how I get on - in fact I've already removed most of the bad leaves, and today I started adding Tom feed to the water.

Once again, cheers all for your time and help.

J.

ps Taff: the leaves higher up are in much better shape.

[taff]

ps Taff: the leaves higher up are in much better shape.

then it's not too late to save them nice one

[Two_Sheds]

there have been small black flies (aphids?) feasting on the plants

Do they flit around, near the compost? If so, they're fungus gnats (you're overwatering)

I've not ever had blackfly on tomatoes, it's usually greenfly

[JonnyDavidson]

Do they flit around, near the compost? If so, they're fungus gnats (you're overwatering)

I've not ever had blackfly on tomatoes, it's usually greenfly

No mate, they just sit on the leaves, stalk and branches. Though it's been wet and cooler these past couple of days, and now there aren't any to be seen

Cheers,

J.

[Two_Sheds]

Mmmm, mysterious.

Aphids won't disappear unless something is eating them. What they do is breed, and fast. I wonder what they were?