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Friday, April 8, 2011

Saving the Tomatoes


So this blog post is about what not to do with your tomatoes, overwater.  I have noticed my tomato seedlings have become yellower and yellower, and some are shriveling up, this has been going on ever since I repotted them into the 4 inch pots.  None of the other plants is having an issue.  I googled it, and there were several possibilities, most of them diseases which I don’t think is the case, or soil nutrients, since they are going indoors and the other plants are doing well I don’t think either of these are the cause.  Overwatering was also frequently mentioned as a possible cause.  I honestly didn’t think I was overwatering, I was letting the top get dry to the touch, and was bottom watering, and only watering enough that would be absorbed by the next day.  I read about how to save overwatered tomatoes, one of the ideas was to remove them from the pots and lay them out on newspaper to absorb the extra liquid.  I wasn’t thrilled with this idea, but I had been trying to dry them out for days and they were still quite moist.  So I went ahead and dumped out onto some newspaper, it was sopping wet toward the bottom.  I think what was happening is the top was drying out, but the bottom wasn’t, so it was just staying wet.   I so I did it, I dumped each one out, except for the 4 that were beyond saving.  It’s quite the mess!  I kept the different varieties on separate papers, and will repot them when they dry out pretty well.  I was hoping to save leftover seeds for next year, but decided to plant more in case these don’t make it.  I highly recommend you avoid this problem, and don’t overwater! 


1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the tip. I am going to go check mine, as soon as I am off the computer. Then again, they could die by then, so I better go now. lol

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