Soft/mushy spots on tomatoes?

[Cranraspberry]

I thought I’d update - just harvested a bunch of tomatoes and fortunately no soft spots. The plant however is kind of stressed and showing some yellowing/purpling at the top. These are new beds that were filled with bagged soil, peat moss and leaf compost so I suspect it’s a nutrient or pH issue of some sort. It is continuing to set fruit though

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[MissS]

Yes that is nutrient deficiency and more than one nutrient is lacking. Give your plant a nice cocktail of your favorite complete fertilizer.

[Cranraspberry]

@MissS thank you! I’m a little surprised because I’ve been doing weekly feedings with Texas Tomato Food and they looked pretty green and happy till just recently, but I guess the culprit is the bagged soil that those beds are filled with. I had added quite a lot at planting time (worm castings, Coast of Maine slow release, and even a bit of Osmocote in the planting hole), by now that has likely been depleted and the TTF just wasn’t enough on its own. I did a shot of MG last week with no change, so this week I’ll try a high phosphorus liquid fertilizer and add more Osmocote to see if that makes a difference.

[MissS]

I think that it is a lack of nitrogen and a phosphorus deficiency.

Check the Haifa site out, they have some great images of deficiencies. https://www.haifa-group.com/crop-guide/ ... -nutrition

[Seven Bends]

I’m a little surprised because I’ve been doing weekly feedings with Texas Tomato Food and they looked pretty green and happy till just recently, but I guess the culprit is the bagged soil that those beds are filled with. I had added quite a lot at planting time (worm castings, Coast of Maine slow release, and even a bit of Osmocote in the planting hole), by now that has likely been depleted and the TTF just wasn’t enough on its own. I did a shot of MG last week with no change, so this week I’ll try a high phosphorus liquid fertilizer and add more Osmocote to see if that makes a difference.

I’ve been feeding the plants every 7-10 days with Texas Tomato Food (maybe 1/3-1/2 gallon per plant or so of the 1Tbsp/gallon dilution?) and have side dressed with Tomato Tone a few times when we had rainy stretches.

I agree that the leaf pictures you posted on 7/24 at 9:46 don't look good, and they do look like the problem could be nutrient-related. However, given how much fertilizing you've done, I'm hesitant to say the problem is too little fertilizer. That's A LOT of fertilization, if you applied all of those things at their recommended rates. Is there any possibility you've over-fertilized? Over-fertilizing can damage roots, causing the plants to be unable to take up nutrients, causing symptoms that look like under-fertilizing.

I grow in-ground, and this is my total fertilization so far this year:
Garden A, hybrid red slicers: a) composted leaf mulch worked into soil pre-planting (probably not much nutrient value, mainly done for soil health), b) 5-10-5 granular fertilizer sprinkled lightly on surface of bed and worked into top several inches of soil pre-planting, c) about a cup of home-made compost in bottom of planting hole, mixed with soil from hole, at planting, d) some Miracle Gro solution poured over plant roots in the planting hole at planting, prior to filling the hole with soil, e) one side-dressing with 5-10-5 fertilizer (a tablespoon or so per plant) about a week ago.

Garden B, heirlooms: a) composted leaf mulch as above, b) 5-10-5 granular on beds as above pre-planting, c) Tomato Tone mixed with soil in hole at planting (at recommended rate on bag). Nothing else since planting.

Of course, in-ground growing is very different from growing in raised beds with bagged soil that is mainly wood products/peat/etc. Maybe I'm unaware how much fertilizer is required for that kind of growing.

In early June, you posted:

I walked around the garden today and found a few plots that had tomatoes that looked similar to mine a week ago - same curl and purple veining. I don’t know the plot owners but will be keeping an eye on them to see how the condition progresses.

That sounds like what is shown in your Moreton leaf pictures from 7/24. How are your neighbors' plants doing at this point?

You also posted about problems with a Beauty King plant which you thought possibly had Curly Top or TSWV, and you mentioned a Brandywine with similar problems last year. Were the symptoms on those plants similar to the symptoms on your Moreton this year? Were all of these problem plants located in the same bed?

Have you checked your pH? I'd do that sooner rather than later, to rule it out. I'd also stop the hydrogen peroxide for awhile, just in case it's stressing out the plant.

Last question: are some of your tomato plants looking really healthy, with lush green foliage? If so, can you identify any differences between the healthy and unhealthy ones? Different soil, different amount of sunlight, different drainage, adjacent to different things, different spraying regime?

Maybe post a question on the "Ask an Extension Agent" site, with pictures? U-MD handles DC and MD questions.

[Cranraspberry]

@Seven Bends thank you for always being so thorough in your responses. To answer your questions:

- I do think that overfertilization could be an issue. However I have several other beds that have been receiving the exact same fertilizer and the plants there are happy (both beans and tomatoes), so that makes me think it’s probably not the culprit. The biggest difference is the soil. Unhappy plants are in two new beds that were filled with brand new bagged soil (for fusarium reasons). Happy plants are in beds where I mixed Leafgro and peat moss with existing heavy clay soil. The tomatoes are all different varieties, but beans are the same and the “unhappy” ones are much smaller, more yellow and less productive than the ones in the old soil beds.

- Surprisingly, the neighbor’s plant recovered and is bearing fruit. The Beauty King was in a different bed on the far edge from the Moreton and the Pineapple in its spot is pretty happy and green, albeit a little lanky and not as lush because it’s being shaded by the plant next to it.

- However, another data point - we have another neighbor, we call him the Tomato Czar. He always has the most amazing looking tomatoes, and he’s been at the garden for over 30 years and every year brings in hundreds of pounds of good compost (the same stuff they use at Hillwood in DC). Well this year his tomatoes are doing terribly and have the same purpling I’m seeing on mine. It’s very odd because our plots aren’t close and I know for a fact we have very different gardening styles (he doesn’t spray or fertilize beyond the compost).

- Getting some pH strips is on my list!

- Interestingly the Moreton is continuing to set fruit while a few of the happier looking plants have slowed down quite a bit.

- Final data point - I took out the Jaune Flammee (same bed as Moreton) today and found the first signs of fusarium at the base. The Brandy Boy next to it has some suspicious yellowing and I think it might be next. Very disappointing, I was hoping we’d get a break this year with the new soil, but looks like there’s no avoiding it.

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[Cranraspberry]

And I just realized I didn’t respond to the question about any similarities with the plant I yanked out due to a suspected virus. I’m not seeing any more curling and the plant growth isn’t stunted. The Moreton caught up nicely with the others.
Here’s a picture from last week:

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[Seven Bends]

- I do think that overfertilization could be an issue. However I have several other beds that have been receiving the exact same fertilizer and the plants there are happy (both beans and tomatoes), so that makes me think it’s probably not the culprit. The biggest difference is the soil. Unhappy plants are in two new beds that were filled with brand new bagged soil (for fusarium reasons). Happy plants are in beds where I mixed Leafgro and peat moss with existing heavy clay soil. The tomatoes are all different varieties, but beans are the same and the “unhappy” ones are much smaller, more yellow and less productive than the ones in the old soil beds.

- However, another data point - we have another neighbor, we call him the Tomato Czar. He always has the most amazing looking tomatoes, and he’s been at the garden for over 30 years and every year brings in hundreds of pounds of good compost (the same stuff they use at Hillwood in DC). Well this year his tomatoes are doing terribly and have the same purpling I’m seeing on mine. It’s very odd because our plots aren’t close and I know for a fact we have very different gardening styles (he doesn’t spray or fertilize beyond the compost).

Sounds like you've identified the source of your problem (the soil product) and just need to figure out how to solve it. Earlier in the year, you linked to a product called Harvest Organics Garden Soil. Is that what you ended up using in your new beds? I see from the reviews of this product and the same company's raised bed mix that maybe 15-20% of the reviewers complain that the product is basically finely shredded mulch and in some cases it caused yellowing and stunting or even death of their vegetable plants.

At our community garden, the park service drops off large piles of partially decayed leaf mulch. Every year, new gardeners enthusiastically pile up several inches of this all over their gardens in the spring and plant directly in it, or mix it into the top inch or two of soil and plant in that. The result is stunted, unhappy, yellowish plants. Eventually by late summer the plants recover and begin to produce once the mulch has fully decayed. We've always blamed it on the decaying leaf mulch tying up the nitrogen, not sure. I think you have a similar issue with the bark and ground wood in your bagged product. If so, you and @MissS are right, the solution is more fertilizer, not less.

At this point, I'd get a small bag of 10-10-10 granular fertilizer and apply that instead of more TTF or Tomato Tone. Then give it a chance to work before doing anything else. I might also top dress with Bumper Crop if you don't mind the expense.

Have you asked the Tomato Czar what he thinks is wrong with his plants this year, or asked him his thoughts about yours?

Good luck. Honestly, it looks like your garden is doing very well, so try not to worry too much!

[Cranraspberry]

@Seven Bends since I was filling the beds up a few bags at a time it’s quite a mix. I have that Harvest Organics in there (from multiple batches), Leafgro, peat moss, and even a few bags of pricey Coast of Maine products (their Quoddy lobster compost is one I remember).
As a somewhat interesting aside, we had someone from the USDA collecting samples at the gardens yesterday, and he mentioned that our soil was significantly drier than the other samples he had collected (and that was after the 1” of rain we got in the early morning). Last year everything was drowning in waterlogged clay, so I focused on making the soil the opposite of that - very aerated. I wonder if I took it too far in the other direction and now with all this rain nutrients are washing out faster than optimal? I’m guessing it will probably be better in upcoming years as we add more organic matter to the soil.

I went looking for Mr Czar today but unfortunately learned that he was going to be away for a while due to some health issues.

And another rambling aside, I recently visited another community garden slightly farther out and I absolutely could not believe the size of the plots and the health of the plants there. They are bordering Rock Creek Park and I assume the soil they are on is decades/centuries or healthy forest floor vs the pile of construction dirt that is the foundation of our location.

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[Seven Bends]

As a somewhat interesting aside, we had someone from the USDA collecting samples at the gardens yesterday

I'm curious, why was the USDA collecting samples?

[Cranraspberry]

@Seven Bends they are doing a study on nematodes in urban soil in the DC/Baltimore region. The person taking samples was an actual nematologist and he promised to email me the results of our sample when they are ready, I’m fairly curious!