Tomato Problems

Chances are, if you are having problems with your tomato plants it will probably be because they are receiving too much water at this time of the season when temperatures at night are quite low.

The combination of wet soil/compost and cold temperatures overnight, will give tomato plants a hard time.

Here are a few tips:

• Water in the morning so plants can use most of the water they are sitting in before the temperature drops at night.
• Don't sit tomato plants that are in pots, in a tray of water for more than 15 minutes or so, otherwise the soil will become sodden.
• Roots need air as well as water, so a root ball that is constantly wet will not grow to its full potential.
• Tomato plants do not like wet leaves for more than a short time ... wet leaves overnight can trigger tomato blight and other fungal disease.
• Keep plants indoors or under cover at night until all danger of frost has past. In the UK that will be around the end of May.

It is normal for the lower leaves of plants to show some signs of marks and blemishes with purple under leaves, these are just the leaves that struggled through the colder temperatures of early spring.

New growth should show a good leaf colour and eventually the lower leaves can be removed. Most of the plants energy goes into the new growth and the old leaves get left behind - as it were.