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Tomatoes are considered a fairly resistant plant, this culture can withstand both low temperatures and extreme heat, tomatoes can be grown in any region of the country, seedlings can be planted in a greenhouse or on an open garden. But, despite all the advantages, tomatoes are prone to various diseases, and the main enemy of tomatoes - late blight, is known to every gardener. Many people know what are the symptoms of this disease. But there are other "ailments" of tomatoes that are less well known.
What is evidenced by certain spots on the leaves of tomatoes, why the bushes dry or shed their ovaries - this is what this article is about.
Manifestations of diseases in tomatoes
Tomato leaves are a kind of indicator that can tell about the general health of the plant. That is why the bushes of adult tomatoes, as well as their seedlings, need to be regularly examined in order to detect the disease at an early stage.
Most often, it is adult plants that are sick, but tomato seedlings can also turn yellow, wither or become covered with strange spots for some unknown reason. How to diagnose tomato seedling disease?
To understand what is with tomatoes, it is necessary to have a good look at all the plants, and not only their foliage, but also the stem, buds, ovaries and even the ground around the bush.
The most common manifestation of various health problems in tomatoes is leaf drying. The fact that the leaves of tomato seedlings are drying may indicate one of several problems:
- Insufficient watering.
- Excessive soil moisture.
- Too dry air in the room where tomato seedlings are grown.
- Lack of one of the micronutrients.
- Soil acidification.
Lack of moisture in the soil
The first thing that comes to mind when you see yellowed, withering tomato leaves is that the plants do not have enough moisture. However, this does not always turn out to be true.
Indeed, insufficient watering leads to yellowing of tomato leaves. But, besides this indicator, moisture deficiency causes sluggishness of the stem, shedding of inflorescences and fruits.
The ground between the bushes will also tell about insufficient watering: if the soil is cracked, crusty, it must be loosened.
It often happens that only the top layer of the earth erodes and dries up, and under it there is a fairly moist soil.
You need to water the tomatoes correctly:
- do it rarely, but abundantly. Frequent watering with small portions of water will harm the tomatoes - they will become waterlogged. A watering schedule 1-2 times a week is suitable for tomatoes.
- When watering tomatoes, it is very important to ensure that no water gets on the leaves and even the stem of the plants. Tomatoes are watered at the root from a watering can with a thin spout or from a garden hose. While the tomatoes are in the young seedling stage, it is best to water not the sprouts themselves, but the ground between them.
- Water for watering tomato seedlings should be at room temperature - about 23 degrees. Cold water will cause fungal infections in tomatoes and slow growth. It is also better to water adult plants with warm, settled water.
- Fertilizers and fertilizers for tomatoes must be applied along with watering: all substances are first dissolved in warm water.
Excess moisture
Oddly enough, but over-watering also leads to yellowing of tomato leaves. The leaves become lethargic, their edges turn yellow and dry, the bushes can shed their ovaries or inflorescences.
Excessive watering is very dangerous for tomatoes, it often becomes the cause of the disease of the bushes with fungal "ailments", rotting of the roots and stems, and cracking of fruits.
If the seedlings are watered too often, they will certainly turn yellow and disappear. The situation can be saved only at an early stage of the problem:
- seedlings are watered with warm water;
- after a few hours (when the soil is wet), the plants are carefully removed outside;
- examine the roots, trying to identify the decayed areas of the root system;
- if the roots are in order, the seedlings are transferred to new soil;
- water the transplanted tomatoes with a manganese solution;
- normalize the irrigation regime.
In order for tomato seedlings to properly consume moisture, containers with plants should be placed on a well-lit window, monitor the level of humidity and temperature in the room. Indeed, it is often the low temperature that becomes the cause of waterlogging - the water evaporates for too long, the tomatoes dry and turn yellow.
Tomato pots and boxes must be turned regularly, only this way the plants will not stretch out in search of the sun, the tomato seedlings will be powerful and strong.
Dry indoor air
Due to too dry air in the room where the tomato seedlings are located, the plants can also be seriously damaged. The fact is that the homeland of tomatoes is warm countries with a humid climate. This culture simply needs warm air with droplets of moisture, tomatoes absorb it through their leaves.
In an effort to provide tomato seedlings with the temperature they need (24-26 degrees), gardeners often forget about humidifying the air. Indeed, at such a temperature, the moisture in the room will evaporate very quickly, the air will become dry, which will lead to drying and yellowing of the tomato leaves.
You can correct the situation with a conventional spray bottle. Several times a day, spray the area around the seedling containers, being careful not to direct the wet stream directly onto the tomato bushes.
Another way is to place containers with a wide neck around the room and fill them with water, from such containers the water will evaporate faster, saturating the air and seedlings with moist warm steam, which they need so much.
Lack of micronutrients
For the normal development of tomatoes throughout their "life" need a whole range of minerals: nitrogen, potassium, copper, manganese, boron and phosphorus. Without these components, seedlings and adult tomato bushes will begin to die, and tomato leaves will signal this. Moreover, the manifestations of a lack of trace elements in each case look different:
- If the lower leaves dry and crumble on the tomato bushes, while the plant becomes lethargic, the color of the foliage is faded, and the newly appearing leaves are small and inconspicuous, this indicates a lack of the most important component for tomatoes - nitrogen... When introducing nitrogen-containing fertilizers, it is very important not to overdo it, because an excess of this trace element is also detrimental to tomatoes. Due to too abundant nitrogenous fertilizing, the stem of the seedlings becomes thick, the leaves are powerful. Such a tomato seedling looks attractive, but it will bloom and bear fruit very badly, all the forces of the plants will go to building up the green mass.
- If, when examining the bushes, a red vein is revealed on the outside of a tomato leaf, then the plant signals a lack of soil phosphorus... It is necessary to take care of replenishing the deficiency of this component and fertilizing the tomatoes.
- When the lower leaves turn yellow and their edges turn outward, this indicates a lack of potassium... In this case, young seedlings can be fertilized with powdered dried banana peels, or a special fertilizer can be used.
- The gradual and slow yellowing of the entire tomato bush indicates that the tomato is lacking gland.
- Marble spots on the leaves of seedlings indicate that she needs magnesium.
Soil acidification
The yellowed edges of tomato leaves can also speak of the so-called souring or salting of the soil. Outwardly, this problem manifests itself in the form of a white or yellow coating on the soil surface.
Plants cannot consume the substances and water they need from such soil, so the tomato draws out all the nutrition from its own trunk and leaves, saturating the roots. As a result, the bush disappears simply by "eating" itself.
The reason for this unusual disease may be too hard water that the gardener uses for watering. After all, it is recommended to water tomato seedlings only with settled and boiled water precisely in order to ensure softness of the liquid, to remove heavy impurities and chlorine from the water.
The same thing happens with tomato seedlings, when the soil contains too much mineral fertilizers - the soil is "salted".
You can correct the situation in this way:
- the top layer of soil between the plants is carefully removed - a centimeter depth is enough;
- instead of spoiled soil, a layer of fresh soil is applied;
- tomatoes are watered only with settled or filtered water, keeping an eye on its softness;
- for two weeks, in order to prevent seedlings, no fertilizers are applied.
Therefore, if it is possible to collect such moisture, it is imperative to use it. Tomatoes watered with melt or rainwater develop faster than their counterparts, grow stronger, and give a good harvest.
Outcomes
The problem of drying tomato seedlings must be approached comprehensively. Before taking any measures, you need to analyze the situation, carefully examine all the plants and the soil under them, and based on the data obtained, make specific conclusions. After all, instead of helping, affected tomatoes can get even more harm.
It is also very important to identify the problem at an early stage, this is the only way to save the seedlings. Otherwise, the tomatoes will simply have to be thrown away, and it may be too late for planting new seedlings.
