Help! I have a couple questions.

[nassrif90]

Hello,

This is my first year gardening, so I am just getting to know how to take care of things. I raised 2 tomato plants from seed indoors and have now planted them into containers outside after hardening them off. They have been outside for a couple weeks and doing ok. But, I did plant them into a Miracle Gro organic potting soil that had compost in it. But about a week later I used a fish hydrolysate fertilizer and did a foliar feeding. I am wondering if I completely messed up as far as over fertilizing them and caused nitrogen burn.

Below are pictures of the leafs and what they look like now. Also I have a Serrano pepper plant that has leafs that are looking like this after the foliar spray also.

Questions are,

1. Should I have not fertilized them because I put them in soil that had compost in it?
2. Is this Nitrogen burn or something else? (Because this didn't start until after I did the foliar spray).
3. Is this reversible if it is nitrogen burn?

Thank you.

Fawaz Nassri


rn.

 

[Chuck]

It could be fertilizer burn although normally it also shows on the leaf tips. If it is fertilizer burn the plant will probably grow through it. Tomatoes like it on the dry side, in just barely moist soils. Foliar feed them in the AM hours. Do not foliar feed them if wilted or in the PM heat. What time of day did you foliar feed and with what fertilizer?

 

[nassrif90]

It could be fertilizer burn although normally it also shows on the leaf tips. If it is fertilizer burn the plant will probably grow through it. Tomatoes like it on the dry side, in just barely moist soils. Foliar feed them in the AM hours. Do not foliar feed them if wilted or in the PM heat. What time of day did you foliar feed and with what fertilizer?

Hey, thanks for responding.

I Foliar fed them around 630pm the sun was getting ready to set. I used a Fish Hydrolysate fertilizer.

 

[Chuck]

Hey, thanks for responding.

I Foliar fed them around 630pm the sun was getting ready to set. I used a Fish Hydrolysate fertilizer.

If you used quite a bit more of the fish hydrolysate than directions calls for you very well might have burned the leaves but the burning of leaves isn't near as bad as the burning of roots. I really don't think it is fertilizer burn nor do I think it is a watering issue. The first picture shows what could be burn but fertilizer burn doesn't skeletonize leaves on young plants and this damage happened some time ago, not in the past few days. I have to say that at this time I just don't know what the problem is. Just wait and see I guess. Please keep us informed of any changes.

 

[nassrif90]

If you used quite a bit more of the fish hydrolysate than directions calls for you very well might have burned the leaves but the burning of leaves isn't near as bad as the burning of roots. I really don't think it is fertilizer burn nor do I think it is a watering issue. The first picture shows what could be burn but fertilizer burn doesn't skeletonize leaves on young plants and this damage happened some time ago, not in the past few days. I have to say that at this time I just don't know what the problem is. Just wait and see I guess. Please keep us informed of any changes.

The leaves looked very healthy the day I did the foliar spray. Then the next morning they started to look like that, then the whole week it has been raining. I Did the exact measurements that the bottle told me to do also.

 

[Tjohn]

Sometimes we tend to kill them with kindness....

 

[Chuck]

The leaves looked very healthy the day I did the foliar spray. Then the next morning they started to look like that, then the whole week it has been raining. I Did the exact measurements that the bottle told me to do also.

On the last picture I have just noticed something that is very very small and a whiteish color. It is on a leaf stem and also on some leaves. This very well could be a mite infestation (not spider mites). If it were me I would spray with Neem Oil, just to be safe. It won't hurt anything and Neem is a miticide plus being a fungicide and insecticide.

 

[nassrif90]

On the last picture I have just noticed something that is very very small and a whiteish color. It is on a leaf stem and also on some leaves. This very well could be a mite infestation (not spider mites). If it were me I would spray with Neem Oil, just to be safe. It won't hurt anything and Neem is a miticide plus being a fungicide and insecticide.

Hey there,

Update time. I bought some neem oil and used it on almost all of my plants. Those tomatoes are looking petty good and are doing great, but one of them had a full branch at the bottom where the leaves turned dark and the branch fell off. But it is continuting to grow, but slowly.

I had another question, I bought bulk soil at a local nursery, it was 60% topsoil 30% compost and 10% woodchips. All the transplants i put in the soil seem to be growing very slow if at all.
I am fertilizing every 2 weeks with a 2-4-2 fish hydrolysate.

My question is, is there anything I should add to the soil to help the plants grow? Or anything else i could do?

 

[Chuck]

Hey there,

Update time. I bought some neem oil and used it on almost all of my plants. Those tomatoes are looking petty good and are doing great, but one of them had a full branch at the bottom where the leaves turned dark and the branch fell off. But it is continuting to grow, but slowly.

I had another question, I bought bulk soil at a local nursery, it was 60% topsoil 30% compost and 10% woodchips. All the transplants i put in the soil seem to be growing very slow if at all.
I am fertilizing every 2 weeks with a 2-4-2 fish hydrolysate.

My question is, is there anything I should add to the soil to help the plants grow? Or anything else i could do?

The 2-4-2 is a good organic fertilizer but I think that your growing medium is causing your nitrogen levels to be minimal. Wood chips as they decompose lesson the amount of available nitrogen, not much, but enough to scientifically measure. Wood chips on the soil surface is a different matter. I think your plants need a little nitrogen boost to speed up growth. You can use a soil additive like bloodmeal for a fast acting source of nitrogen or (preferably) use an organic pelleted form of fertilizer such as what Espoma and others make. Keep using the hydrolysate but I would stop the foliar feeding. Use the hydrolysate as a soil drench.

 

[nassrif90]

The 2-4-2 is a good organic fertilizer but I think that your growing medium is causing your nitrogen levels to be minimal. Wood chips as they decompose lesson the amount of available nitrogen, not much, but enough to scientifically measure. Wood chips on the soil surface is a different matter. I think your plants need a little nitrogen boost to speed up growth. You can use a soil additive like bloodmeal for a fast acting source of nitrogen or (preferably) use an organic pelleted form of fertilizer such as what Espoma and others make. Keep using the hydrolysate but I would stop the foliar feeding. Use the hydrolysate as a soil drench.

Thank you for the response. I have seen significant growth from using the 2 4 2 hydrolysate in my potted plants as a root drench. If i geta pelleted fertilizer, do i use it alongside the liquid one, or in subsitute of? And that will add to the soil, instead if runoff from the liquid one?

 

[nassrif90]

Thank you for the response. I have seen significant growth from using the 2 4 2 hydrolysate in my potted plants as a root drench. If i geta pelleted fertilizer, do i use it alongside the liquid one, or in subsitute of? And that will add to the soil, instead if runoff from the liquid one?

Which of the pelleted ones do you reccommend?

 

[Chuck]

Thank you for the response. I have seen significant growth from using the 2 4 2 hydrolysate in my potted plants as a root drench. If i geta pelleted fertilizer, do i use it alongside the liquid one, or in subsitute of? And that will add to the soil, instead if runoff from the liquid one?

Put a couple of handfuls or so of the pelleted all over the soil in the container and then pour the hydrolysate over it. Don't worry, you won't burn the roots. I'll wager that in 2 weeks time your plants will show a substantial rate of growth increase.

 

[Chuck]

Which of the pelleted ones do you reccommend?

Any and all of them are excellent just as long as they have the OMRI label on the bag. I am a little partial to Tomato Tone but really any of them are great.

 

[nassrif90]

Any and all of them are excellent just as long as they have the OMRI label on the bag. I am a little partial to Tomato Tone but really any of them are great.

I ended up buying that Espoma Tomato Tone. I will let you know if I see any results. I also bought some worm castings and top dresses with that also along with my hydrolysate.

 

[headfullofbees]

Chuck is right.
Woodchip is great as a mulch, on top of the soil, as it suppresses weed by two methods; 1) by denying light so fewer seeds germinate, 2) by nitrogen sequestration, which means that annual weed seeds germinate & starve due to nitrogen deficiency. As a mulch that's great, because the sequestration is only over a very thin layer where the soil and woodchips interface, & your plant roots will be out of that range, so fine, but if it is mixed in, the nitrogen shortage can go deeper and cause problems.
Add some nettle tea or urine diluted 10 water to 1 urine & some hen's blood, in order to help the nitrogen levels. Either of the first two will give you a quick fix, whilst the hen's blood will help in the longer term.
The woodchip uses the nitrogen in the decomposition process.