first time growing toms and in need of some advice please!!
I sowed two each of six different varieties in B&Q peat-free compost and they all germinated. I potted them on and put them all on my kitchen windowsill and they were all doing fine. then I noticed the start of white fluffy mould on the surface of the compost, but not on the seedlings which continued to grow. then one by one the leaves started to go pale at the edges, curl up and drop off. I repotted the survivors into fresh new compost and most have carried on growing well but I have lost a couple more. the windowsill was not in direct sunlight but they were between the window and the vertical blind so I'm wondering if it was lack of ventilation? they're now all on another east-facing windowsill and most have flourished, but one or two are still showing signs of wilting.
could it be sun scorch??
is it normal for the bottom leaves to eventually wither and die and fall off?
or have they got a disease?
here's a pic:
oops, this probably should have gone in 'Pests and Diseases' – sorry folks :-[
QuoteI noticed the start of white fluffy
I have been using compost for years and I must admit that this year I too have seen bits of this ???
I am wondering if it something to do with the wetting agent some suppliers add to the compost because I have only seen it on quite wet pots, drier pots seem free of it.
So if I am correct then watering particularly over watering may be causing this.
Quote
between the window and the vertical blind
I think you have inadvertently set up a 'micro climate' thats giving extremes of temperature over short periods of time, i.e. they are very warm during the day and quite cold at night.
I appreciate you are trying to give your plants maximum light but I think giving them a more uniform temperature at the expense of a bit of light might be better.
thanks TeeGee, I'll find another spot for them that the cat can't reach ::) and see if they improve.
here are a couple more close-ups, you can see it spreading up the leaves until it reaches the stems:
I cant say I have seen such a condition before ??? How often do you water them? and are you feeding?
they get watered when the compost has nearly dried out – I don't think I'm over watering but I haven't grown toms before :-[
they haven't been fed yet either. was going to wait until they were planted out. I thought that they'd have enough nutrients in the compost to keep them going for a few weeks...
I'm stumped ???
Just one more question;
Are they pot bound?
The symptoms seem that they are lacking in something but what I have no idea.
As I said previously I have never witnessed symptoms such as these before so I am trying to eliminate the obvious.
When you finally plant them out will they be under glass or outdoors?
they shouldn't be pot-bound, the two biggest (Jap Black Trifele) were potted on again only a couple of days ago.
they are all outdoors varieties and will be in the garden rather than the allotment, to try and avoid blight.
you can see the difference in sizes here (nearly dead tom on far right, then 2 peppers):
I have sown some more seeds using different compost, so I'll see if these do any better. I had a look at this site, too, to see if any of the pics matched: http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/min-def/tomatoes.htm