Pale tomato leaves..??

[northepaul]

I re-potted some of my tomatoes today (please see pic) and noticed that their leaves are quite pale...if there a reason for this? (dreads to ask!! ) The plants seem quite healthly, other than the pale leaves. The one in the pic is an Aisla Craig and the others are black russians...

[rustylady]

They look OK to me. Some varieties have lighter leaves than others. As you have re-potted any nutrient shortage should now be taken care of. It is not recommended to feed tomatoes until the fruit has set.

[rogesse]

I wish I knew the real answer but my sickly toms have got a lot better for being put outside for a few hours.

I'm having the same effect because of too much heat and humidity.

[Rhona]

Although mine are different varieties - I have this too. First time ever, and I'm none the wiser, so can't help. The varieties I'm growing are ones I've grown before, same time of year etc. so I'm a bit baffled, but as you say, plants look ok, so guess they must be alright.

The only difference is that they are getting far MORE light in our new house than the old one, but I would have thought that was a good thing!

[northepaul]

Thanks for all your comments, I feel a little bit better
Rhona, mine also get loads of sunlight, so its definately not that...

[Paulottie]

Never one to disagree with Rustylady ...yet that looks a bit hungry to me. She is right that you feed a specialized high potash food from flowering (essentially because that is what you need for fruit production...and you want flowers rather than leafy growth) but in the earlier stages of growth. I sometimes give a bonemeal(for roots) and blood (nitrogen for leaves) mixture...my logic is to create a sturdy plant first.

How do you water?...leaving in water causes soggy roots that can rot impeding uptake and conversely draining water through the pots can strip nutrients from the compost....just sit them in long enough to wet the medium....or use capillary matting.

[Snadger]

Tomatoes can suffer from chlorosis, a magnesium defficiancy. Watering with Epsom salts is sometimes recommended.

Maybe a bit early in the season for the compost to have used up its reserves though?

[Paulottie]

Oh blimey...don't want to contradict all the big guns here!!

Magnesium deficiency is very common yes, and Snadger is right about the Epsom salts but it tends to be a yellowing between the veins. you can see the vein structure here but it is a more even yellowing of the leaf that makes me think nitrogen in this case.

I may be wrong and it would be worth using Maxicrop seaweed tonic that has good trace elements including iron and magnesium.

[LolaLou]

Hello, just to dip my toe in...my tomato leaves paled off and looked very sickly (my plants are much smaller than yours though....) a couple of weeks ago and I read on t'internet that it could be a nitrogen deficiency, so I gave them a nitro feed and they've perked right up again and leaves are a lovely dark green again (this may just be coincidence as well though!!).

[northepaul]

Never one to disagree with Rustylady ...yet that looks a bit hungry to me. She is right that you feed a specialized high potash food from flowering (essentially because that is what you need for fruit production...and you want flowers rather than leafy growth) but in the earlier stages of growth. I sometimes give a bonemeal(for roots) and blood (nitrogen for leaves) mixture...my logic is to create a sturdy plant first.

How do you water?...leaving in water causes soggy roots that can rot impeding uptake and conversely draining water through the pots can strip nutrients from the compost....just sit them in long enough to wet the medium....or use capillary matting.

Sounds logical re the sturdy plant, Paul, thanks. Although I dont know how I would get bonemeal and blood in the pots - I was told it is best not to put around the roots as it can burn...?
Watering goes in the top of the pot, or down a bottle with a delayed tip - cant really put matting underneath as they are in growbags

Tomatoes can suffer from chlorosis, a magnesium defficiancy. Watering with Epsom salts is sometimes recommended.

Maybe a bit early in the season for the compost to have used up its reserves though?

Thanks Snadger I did wonder about magnesium. I have some epson salts but no idea how much to dilute them??
I have only just repotted them, so maybe they had used up the reserves on their old compost.

Oh blimey...don't want to contradict all the big guns here!!

Magnesium deficiency is very common yes, and Snadger is right about the Epsom salts but it tends to be a yellowing between the veins. you can see the vein structure here but it is a more even yellowing of the leaf that makes me think nitrogen in this case.

I may be wrong and it would be worth using Maxicrop seaweed tonic that has good trace elements including iron and magnesium.

Thanks again Paul, I dont have any maxicrop, so to be on the safe side, used some miracle grow, which is the only plant food (other than tomato food) I have.

Hello, just to dip my toe in...my tomato leaves paled off and looked very sickly (my plants are much smaller than yours though....) a couple of weeks ago and I read on t'internet that it could be a nitrogen deficiency, so I gave them a nitro feed and they've perked right up again and leaves are a lovely dark green again (this may just be coincidence as well though!!).

Thanks for that Lola, cheered me up no end to hear the plants may survive yet

[womble]

It does look a little dark where they are, are you sure it's not just that, they shouldn't need feeding yet I would have thought, what with being in new growbags and all that.

[northepaul]

It does look a little dark where they are, are you sure it's not just that, they shouldn't need feeding yet I would have thought, what with being in new growbags and all that.

Hi Womble, I took the picture in the evening, the toms are against white wall in my south facing primarily glass lean-to - they get sun from about 8-9 am to when it goes down I usually have the door open or window for ventilation.

I gave them some miracle grow as thats all I had, so fingers x

[Paulottie]

Sounds logical re the sturdy plant, Paul, thanks. Although I dont know how I would get bonemeal and blood in the pots - I was told it is best not to put around the roots as it can burn...?
Watering goes in the top of the pot, or down a bottle with a delayed tip - cant really put matting underneath as they are in growbags

Thanks again Paul, I dont have any maxicrop, so to be on the safe side, used some miracle grow, which is the only plant food (other than tomato food) I have.

Miracle grow will do the same job so that's fine...I normally add a bit of BFB or bonemeal to compost at potting on with toms

Can't help with dilution of Epsom salts...not strong!..try the search button or google on that

Still think maxicrop is an excellent thing to have in your armoury..really picks things up, keeps em growing, healthy and able to fight off infections/bugs