Let's Talk Tomatoes...

Most of my tomatoes look like this first picture. Healthy and with green tomatoes. I have several plants that are less than perfect. They have been fruitful, multiplied and now are getting older. Their leaves are yellowing or turning brown.

We have over 50 tomato plants in our garden. All kinds, shapes, colors and sizes. Some are determinate and some are indeterminate.  This also determines how long the tomatoes will produce. 

I'll be the first to admit that I'm still a novice when it comes to gardening. I know what I know and what I don't know I try to learn.  When plants have given their all and the some lower leaves are starting to yellow, I prune them. Prune the plant. Get rid of the dead leaves. Free it up to concentrate on new growth. I'm not talking about pruning suckers. I'm talking about the dead leaves in the undergrowth of the plant. 

Another thing to do is to give it extra food. The fertilizer strip has been working, but these plants grow so big and fast, that they may need a little extra food to energize themselves and keep producing. Epsom salts and/or liquid fertilizer might help. You can put liquid fertilizer or fish emulsion down the watering tube or in the watering system if you have one. 

The third option is...pull the plant. If it's obvious that the plant has stopped producing, it's time to do the hard thing. Free up the box for fall planting. Pull up the old plants, take off the plastic, add dolomite, more potting mix to make a crown on top of the box, new strip of fertilizer and new plastic. Ready for the next growing season.
The first one has given us a lot of tomatoes, but there are no more tomatoes being produced.  It is time to pull the plant. 

 These tomato plants in the pictures below have some yellowing and brown leaves, but are still producing a good amount of tomatoes. I'll try to keep the yellowing and dead leaves picked and keep them going a while longer.










 

The tomatoes is this picture above were about 7 feet tall until a recent rain. The cages collapsed and the plants are sprawling. It is easier to get to some of the tomatoes that I could not reach before, but now I have a new area that will be harder to reach. Too many tomatoes. It's a good problem to have. :)