Wednesday, June 10, 2009

More Tomato Problems, Magnesium Deficiency

Rooftop Garden Vegetable Disease
Now that the tomatoes have recovered from their phosphorus deficiency they have moved onto magnesium deficiency. The celebrity tomatoes are fine, it's just the orange paruche cherry that's affected. Purple leaves have been replaced with yellow leaves. From Wikipedia:
Symptoms include, yellowing between leaf veins, which stay green, giving a marbled appearance. This begins with older leaves and spreads to younger growth. Can be confused with virus, or natural aging in the case of tomato plants. Fruits are small and woody.
I found a simple epsom salt recipe online, 2 tablespoons of epsom salt in 1 gallon of water, and applied it to my plant about a week ago. It seems to have done the trick, the yellow is not as pronounced as before, but just to be safe I'll continue to apply the epsom salt solution every 2 weeks. I'm actually quite thankful that this is the problem. For several days I was worried that the plant had a virus and that I wouldn't be able to eat any homegrown cherries this year. They're my 2nd most favorite thing to grow.

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7 comments:

  1. With a series of deficiencies it's a good idea to increase your watering schedule and perhaps include some emulsion in it.
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  2. Hi Ann, thanks for the advice. I've been using seaweed as a foliar spray, but I'll try your suggestion and add it directly to the water supply to see if that makes a difference.
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  3. I have a purple cherokee that is doing the same thing and I didn't know why. Thanks for the information I'll have to try out your tip. -Jackie
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  4. I have a purple cherokee that is doing the same thing and I didn't know why. Thanks for the information I'll have to try out your tip. -Jackie
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  5. its amazing to me how the celebrity tomatoes always seem to do well no matter what the other tomatoes are doing. good luck with the epson salt- we use it too.
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  6. My nemesis has been calcium deficiency, which results in blossom-end rot. I put some crushed up eggshells into the little pots I started the tomatoes in, so hopefully that will help.
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  7. Hi Jackie - hopefully it will work for you too.

    Hi Josie - I can see why they're so popular, they're such troopers. I'm amazed at their growth.

    Hi graduallygreener - Given the way this plants has been behaving I wouldn't be surprised if it developed calcium deficiency too. I should start saving my eggshells.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

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