Yellowing tumbling tom

[Marb67]

Well yet again I have bought a nursery tumbling tom in hanging planter and in only 4 weeks it has started to yellow. I am treating it no different to my other home grown toms by watering from the bottom and feeding from the top. This exact thing happened a few years ago from a different nursery bought tumbling tom. I get it over the threshold and it starts to yellow and eventually gets worse and worse and dies for absolutely no logical reason.

[ameno]

Usually when tomatoes start yellowing at this time of year it's a nutrient problem (most often nitrogen, but it can also be iron or magnesium).
What are you feeding it with, exactly?

[mrsbusy]

I think it's optimistic to grow a tomato plant in a hanging container.
and after 4 weeks it will be feeling hungry and cramped. Do you take the plant down and give it a good soak? I find hanging baskets drain easily and dry out in a flash. Really good compost with lots of vermiculite to hold water or a water holding liner might help.

[Marb67]

I think it's optimistic to grow a tomato plant in a hanging container.
and after 4 weeks it will be feeling hungry and cramped. Do you take the plant down and give it a good soak? I find hanging baskets drain easily and dry out in a flash. Really good compost with lots of vermiculite to hold water or a water holding liner might help.

I stand it in a large bowl of water to hydrate it but it always seems to be wilting. Any container weather hanging or on the ground is going to have the exact same conditions so the fact it is hanging shouldn't be the issue. I can't vouch for the compost they used but I have fed with Comfrey, al;so mixed a little bfb and Vitax Q4 in some compost and top dressed. Also dilute chicken manure in water. Surely that should do it ? If not, I really don't know what.

[mrsbusy]

The container needs to be of a size appropriate for the plant growing in it. I find tomatoes do best in large pots. As you have tried feeding and watering you could try a larger pot with some fresh potting compost preferably 50/50 MPC and topsoil or John innes 2 or 3 which will help retain water. The plant should get enough nutrients from the fresh compost for a while so just give water.

[Marb67]

The container needs to be of a size appropriate for the plant growing in it. I find tomatoes do best in large pots. As you have tried feeding and watering you could try a larger pot with some fresh potting compost preferably 50/50 MPC and topsoil or John innes 2 or 3 which will help retain water. The plant should get enough nutrients from the fresh compost for a while so just give water.

The container is large enough otherwise the nursery would not sell it ready to hang like that. I have toms doing well enough in containers smaller than this so I think the issue might be nutrients.

[Jungle Jane]

Seems like you’ve given a lot of fertiliser. Have you picked the red tomato? I wouldn’t worry I’d just remove the yellow leaves,they’re a sugar drain on the plant. The lower leaves often go yellow as they provide nutrient to the top growth,I wouldn’t add any more fertiliser they seem to have enough,they didn’t really need chicken pellets in water,the vitax q4 is good on its own for the small amount of nitrogen needed,they need a high potassium feed now for the tomato growth. Have you eaten the red tomato

[It never rains..it pours]

Beechgrove garden, best tv garden programme in my book, is doing trial on various toms in pots so maybe worth looking how they do

[Marb67]

Getting nice toms but don't like the sickly foliage. Went back to the nursery I bought it from today and they are still selling them for £4.99 a basket in the polytunnel. The only difference is theirs are huge, green healthy plants now and even though mine is in the exact same compost and container, it has to go downhill. I just don't get it

[ameno]

I imagine they feed theirs a lot more.
For a hungry plant like a tomato in a small pot like that, your combination of homemade liquid feeds and a bit of blood fish and bone just won't cut it.

[Marb67]

Comfrey is the best thing to feed Tom's if you go organic. Ask Monty Don. Tommorite isn't organic unfortunately. I will feed more comfrey and nettle more frequently. Besides, my Alicante Tom's in the soil are very green and healthy with large fruit.

[ameno]

That's because they are in the soil. They have more root space, and soil has better nutrient holding ability in the first place.

[Marb67]

That's because they are in the soil. They have more root space, and soil has better nutrient holding ability in the first place.

So how do you account for my other home grown toms in smaller pots that look green and healthy ?

When I bought that plant home, I knew in my head as soon as it went over the threshold of my garden this would happen. And it did exactly as I feared. There is no logical reason why this should happen when all the other plants at that nursery are healthy and green.

[Jungle Jane]

I have fed with Comfrey, al;so mixed a little bfb and Vitax Q4 in some compost and top dressed. Also dilute chicken manure in water.

The only difference between your plant & the nursery plants is the fertiliser used. The nursery would not be using all that lot in one go. Too much fertiliser can have a bad affect on plants. When a plant gets too much of one nutrient it can’t absorb other nutrients. Once the feeding is sorted the leaves will be green like the nursery,your plants in the ground aren’t as suffocated by the feed as it’s dispersed through the soil uncontained.

[mrsbusy]

So how do you account for my other home grown toms in smaller pots that look green and healthy ?

When I bought that plant home, I knew in my head as soon as it went over the threshold of my garden this would happen. And it did exactly as I feared. There is no logical reason why this should happen when all the other plants at that nursery are healthy and green.

Too many negative vibes.