HELP! - Possible tomato catastrophe alert...

Hello everyone,

My name it Kat and this is my first year with a greenhouse!!

I'm here because I have some tomatoes in serious need of help and I am unsure of what to do for the best

I grew them from seed so I'm even more keen for them not to die on me!
I don't know if it's the weather just being too hot or possibly they aren't doing so well being in growbags, but my tomatoes look...well... ****.

The bottom leaves are staying nice and green but above they are yellowing and in some places dying.... leading me to think it's maybe a nutrient thing.
At first I thought I may be over watering, but if I water any less they droop and threaten to die.
I though the direct sunlight was doing it so they now live behind a white sheet, but still, they are getting more and more yellow....

I don't know whether to spray them with epsom salts as it may be a Magnesium deficiency, or repot them into buckets rather than their current growbags that don't have any drainage....

I could feed them more, but I don't think that's the issue.
Or I could just chop them back and start again with some new shop bought plants :-(

Can anyone advise? I've googled but that only led me to many many possibilities that a novice like me can't distinguish between....

Here they are:








The bottom foliage is still nice:


But the upper foliage is so very yellow:






Any advice you could hurtle my way would be extremely appreciated as it's making me quite sad :(

 

Hmmm.....21 views and not a sausage. Did I say something wrong? :skp:

 

No. I guess them what know about such things just aren't around at the minute. Knowing this place, you will get an answer before long though.

 

Kat, I would suggest you start feeding with tomato fertiliser.:thumb: What is the variety of tom? Whereabouts in South Wales are you?

 

Hello 0)

I do use tomato fertiliser, once every 7 days as the bottle says - do you think I should up the dose?

Oh, and I'm in Caerphilly

 

Welcome to the forum Chilliecat.
I think the only thing we can agree on is those tomatoes look sick - not many tomatoes for the size of the plants and very yellow leaves.
I can make 3 suggestions - but say nothing for sure.
If they were mine I would :
try to get the temperature in the greenhouse down. Tomatoes really don't want to fry in baking temps. 20 degrees is fine.
I would cut their heads off and try to save what is at the bottom - that way I think you will get some kind of crop.
Looking at the leaves , magnesium deficiency looks like it could be a problem. I would mix 1 tablespoon of Epsom Salts (you can buy it in the chemist) with 1 pint of water and spray it on them everyday for a week. If magnesium deficiency is the problem you will see results straight away. The leaves will green up in front of your eyes.

I never use Growbags. I find them impossible to judge the watering and feeding - but I don't think that's your problem with your toms.

Do let us know how you get on.

 

I agree with Alice.

 

if it was magnesium you`d expect the bottom leaves to be affected first but they are nice and green, no sign of the usual green veins and interveinal yellowing.
Lack of iron yellows the leaf from the stem outwards and affects new growth. If the soil is alkaline,my guess is its probably iron

 

Hello all and thankyou for the advice so far....

I have been "side shooting" though I missed one or two as the plants were so close together in the greenhouse and I didn't spot them. This morning I seperated them, potted them into individual pots with drainage holes and moved them outside where it is cooler. I had to remove some roots, firstly to get them apart but also to be able to get them to fit into the pots! Yet more trauma for my toms...

 

How many plants are growing in one growbag?

Three maximum I would guess.

I think its impossible to overwater when the plants get to that size and the weather is warm when growing in bags.
I just think they are starved plus a bit of scorch and maybe dry also..

I'd give them a couple of feeds of sulphate of ammonia before going back to tom feed.

Of course all these differing opinions are perhaps not what your looking for, but it seems to me the plants have just run out of steam, good at the bottom but very thin looking on top.

 

Oh god, sorry didn't read that.

A bit drastic I think.