Yellowing tumbling tom

[Marb67]

I'm no tomato expert, Marb, but I think the colour of the leaves seems too pale. Could it be a deficiency or something?

I don't know. They are in grow bag compost.

[bario1]

My Tumbler's were poor this year too Marb. Yours look like they could do with a feed.

[Marb67]

My Tumbler's were poor this year too Marb. Yours look like they could do with a feed.

Just sprinkled a few chicken manure pellets on the top. They also get comfrey feed.

[bario1]

I'd go with a dedicated tomato feed like T@m@rite, liquid feeds will work much quicker than pellets. The pellets will help long term though. If you're non organic, a dose of Mir@cle Gr@w might green them up a bit.

[Runtpuppy]

I don't have yellow tumblers, but I do have a red tumbling tom. All my bush or semi-determinate tomatoes are in pots. I had some horse manure (which didn't look all rotten to me, coz I keep finding bits of fresh stuff in it) which I put in the bottom third of the pot. I didn't mix it in because, like I said, it doesn't look very well-rotted and I didn't want to risk killing my plants.

The rest of the pot was filled with multipurpose compost. I try to water them every two days, but being the lazy pup that I am, it is often once in 3 days. In spite of the terrible watering schedule in the heat, they seem to be doing fairly well.

I haven't even been feeding them all that regularly. I think I've fed them about 3-4 times in the last couple of months.

Maybe try feeding them and refresh the compost with manure? I am guessing even a 2" mulch on the surface should make some difference.

That is, IF it is a deficiency and not something else.

[Thelma Sanders]

They look just like my small toms.
Watering once a day may be regular, but in this heat not enough to stop them drying out between waterings - and not enough feeding to keep them green. Kept forgetting to pick up tom food in Wilkos or the £1 shop when I ran out *blush*

Good job the greenhouse border toms are beginning to ripen at last so my potted toms will get junked now. I only grow a few potted plants, each year, to get the earliest possible ripe fruits and they've done their job, despite me treating them so badly!

[bramble]

If I can comment without being offensive.
Your tomato plants are dying from lack of proper feeding.
You can see, when you look at the plant, it's given up.
No energy left in it to continue growing.
Tomatoes are hungry plants and need lots of feeding and comfrey being given once a week wouldn't be enough to keep the plant healthy and productive through the growing season.
Goo d luck whatever you decide.

[Runtpuppy]

If I can comment without being offensive.
Your tomato plants are dying from lack of proper feeding.
You can see, when you look at the plant, it's given up.
No energy left in it to continue growing.
Tomatoes are hungry plants and need lots of feeding and comfrey being given once a week wouldn't be enough to keep the plant healthy and productive through the growing season.
Goo d luck whatever you decide.

Oh, yes, Marb, I agree with Bramble. They are very hungry plants. If I wasn't unsure about the manure, I'd have done 50-50 manure to compost. Also, even though I feed them sporadically, it's tomato feed, not comfrey feed.

[Marb67]

Well the ones in the greenhouse in grow bags, fed the same with comfrey are doing very well. Dark green healthy plants with lots of developing fruit. I know a guy who told me he gets great tomatoes, when I asked what he feeds them he said he doesn't feed them.

I will give them some seaweed as well.

Again, I tried to upload an image from my ipad of the greenhouse toms but this infuriating site failed to load.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Spot on Bramble

Comfrey is just not good enough unless fed on a regular daily basis.

With the rate we are having to water pot grown plants at the moment we are washing all goodness from the growing medium any way.

And has to the man who gets great toms and doesn't feed them Marb, why do you believe him and not the people here who are kind enough to give you good advice.....

[Marb67]

Monty Don, Alayce Fowler are two gardeners I can think of who use it to feed their toms.

[Runtpuppy]

In that case, Marb, may I suggest an experiment?

I see two pots in the pic you posted. Why not treat one of them with manure and tomato feed and the other one with daily comfrey feed.

After a week, see if they are doing any better.

This way, you will be able to decide which method works best for YOUR garden.

I say that because I have been reading about people who were watering their potted plants twice a day, while I've been skipping a day or two.

Now, some people may get great results without any feeding.

Maybe they are planting in the ground and have rich, nutritious soil.

Maybe they put in a lot of manure/home-made compost which has everything the plant needs. Maybe they add minerals early on and then don't need to feed anymore.

Some people even like to 'humble brag' where they SAY they didn't put in any effort but still got great results, making you feel like you're doing something wrong when you try and try and yet don't get the same results.

Even if they give you step by step instructions on how they do it, there are loads of variables that can lead to you getting different results.

My recommendation would be that if one method isn't giving you desirable results, even if it is working in another location, maybe try out something different and see if that changes anything.

[Thelma Sanders]

Yes, we can only advise what we think will put things right.
If Marb doesn't want to follow any of our advice, then - unless someone else can give advice he likes the look of and will work - I doubt his tomato plants will live for much longer.

By the way Alys does use comfrey feed but she also uses seaweed pellets, which would make a considerable difference to the plants.https://www.theguardian.com/lifeands...blight-pruning

[Potstubsdustbins]

I seem to remember earlier in this thread you stated you were feeding once a week and then quoted a guy who grows great toms using comfrey the main difference being he feeds EVERY day, that is 7 times more often than you.

[Marb67]

I will feed it with chicken manure, potato fertiliser and seaweed.