Old topic - new thread - My tomatoes

[Feral007]

I have 3 tomato bushes. Two planted near the house, took off well, needed restaking as they got taller and heavier with little tomatoes. One is a grape shaped small tomato - this one died as soon as I tied it up well. The little tomatoes are sundrying for my by themselves.
The other is I think a Russian something. The bush was going well before and after I tied it up. Now it is looking very wilty each evening. Watering doesn't seem to be helping it. It has masses of small but not cherry tomato size tomatoes on it. I'm about to give it a booster feed and really mulch the living daylights out of it tonight. But the lower leaves are dying. The first plant above has NO leaves anymore.

There is another variety of tomato in the middle garden, it's been much slower to get going and seems to be growing well now, now fruit yet (it will be known as the green chutney tomato I'm thinking) but I'm worried it will go the same way as the others very soon.

So what's the diagnosis? Don't say a photo, I'm on daughters little net book (too small for my fingers as you'll notice with all the typo's. And I can't get any photos onto this one yet.

I'm wondering, is it too shallow, so they are growing till they hit the newspaper or the hard ground underneath? Is it just the shocking hot dry weather we've had this year....or is it those bloody black ants that are colonising the chard and comfrey?
Not doing well - tomatoes are cr@p and no cucumbers no matter what I did this year.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Newspaper? The sunday times all the way across the globe ? Didn't realise tomatoes had such strong root systems.

Seriously though. Newspaper? What are you doing with it? A layer of newspaper will restict the ability of the roots to spread and absorb moisture.

[Bigmallly]

If you do think it's the roots, do you have any deep large plastic pots that you can make into collars & fill the collars with compost. I would remove any dying lower leaves & as you say give it a feed. Good luck Feral.

[Feral007]

Just been out to do a big mulch. The grapevine next to it in both cases is going great guns.

Seems weird. Last years tomatoes didn't have a problem with this.

The newspaper/cardboard is on the grass and there is hay, topsoil, and hay on top of that.

This years plants seem to be very hit and miss. The corn is going great guns, and the potatoes and chard. The lettuce also. But many other things are not coping.

Thinking a big feed if I can get round to them all. Then more mulching and hope for the best. Maybe they are missing their manure teas!

[SarzWix]

When you say they were doing great until they needed staking - did you add 'stakes' to the ground right next to the plants? Is there a possibility the stake has gone through and damaged roots? The one which wilts and then revives is probably managing to take up enough to keep it alive, but not enough to cope with the transpiration through the day, which suggests either a small root system, or a damaged root system.

I'd be inclined to go with BM - tomatoes will root from all the way up the stem, so cut the bottoms off some pots, then slit up the side and put them round the stem right up to the first fruit truss and fill them with soil/compost. Keep it moist and let the plant grow itself some new roots I'd also rig up some kind of shade for it until it recovers a bit, so that all it's energy isn't wasted by losing water through the leaves all day.

[Feral007]

Will raise the dirt levels then, I don't think it was damage to the roots in the 2nd plant anyway (maybe the first) because it was great for a while, I think it started to look sad around the fire time, which was very very hot and dry, but I couldn't water then for a week or two. I was surprised they were still going when we got back.

Sounds like a plan anyway

[Aberdeenplotter]

I would give them a good drench as well. The newspaper will be preventing any water you apply getting down.