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Most gardeners are engaged in growing tomatoes. This vegetable has entered the diet of almost every Russian, and as you know, self-grown tomatoes are much tastier than purchased ones. However, a common problem that gardeners face when growing tomatoes is the presence of yellowish foliage.
Why do tomato leaves turn yellow outdoors? You will get the answer to this question by reading this article. It will also feature a video that will also highlight this topic. To get rid of the yellowness of the leaves, you need to determine the original cause of this phenomenon, to understand the peculiarities of the soil and the climatic conditions in which tomatoes grow.
Causes of yellowing tomato leaves
Lack of space to form the root system
The most common reason for the appearance of yellowness on the leaves is the lack of space for the development of the root system. Although it may seem that this problem only concerns disembarkation tomato in greenhouses, but it was not there. If you plant the bushes in the open field too close to each other in order to save space, then you will quite face the fact that the leaves of the tomatoes will turn yellow.
In addition, the leaves may turn yellow if tomato seedlings have been growing in pots for longer than necessary. The root system will also be weak if the seedlings are not thinned out after the first shoots appear. The fact is that the roots develop intensively in tomatoes already at the stage of growing seedlings, which is why it is important that there is enough space between the sprouts.
This is due to the fact that tomatoes spend all their energy on restoring the root system, and not on the growth and development of a healthy bush.
To avoid yellowing of tomato leaves outdoors, it is important to sow seeds for seedlings in spacious containers. In addition, you should transplant seedlings into open ground on time.
If you still did not have time to complete the transplant in a timely manner and the roots have already grown a lot, then after planting the seedlings, you need to feed it immediately. To do this, you can use salt fertilizers with the addition of chlorides, phosphates and nitrates. Fertilizer concentration should be no more than 1%. In this case, the leaves should not start to turn yellow.
If you do not have information about the fertilizer concentrate, then you need to make a weaker solution so as not to overdo it. So, for 1 liter of water there are 10 ml of liquid fertilizers. If you make a very strong concentrate, then there is a high probability that you will burn the tomato bushes and, besides the fact that the leaves do not stop turning yellow, they may even die.
Scarcity of soil
One of the equally common reasons why the leaves of tomatoes turn yellow is the scarcity of soil. So, nitrogen deficiency may appear. If this problem is not eliminated, then over time, the stem of the plant will become weak and thin, as the bush will be intensively stretched upward. In this case, the color of the leaves will be pale and there will be few of them on the bush. Initially, small yellow-brown spots will appear at the tip of the leaf, combining over time into one line.The end of all this will be the slow dying off and falling of the leaves, which will lead to the complete death of the tomato bush.
If the soil is low in magnesium, then the leaves will begin to turn yellow between the veins. Subsequently, they will start curl up and bulge up... The lack of molybdenum is also manifested, however, the lack of this trace element is extremely rare. The poorly saturated color of young green leaves may indicate a lack of sulfur in the soil. In this case, adult leaves begin to turn yellow, and their veins acquire a red tint. If the problem is not solved, then over time, not only the leaves will suffer, but the stem will also become fragile and weak.
Lack of iron leads to iron chlorosis. The leaves acquire a pale yellowish color with green veins. In this case, the growth of the bush stops and, if inactive, even the apical leaves become pale.
When lack of calcium light yellow spots appear on the leaves, and the fruits deteriorate due to apical rot. Even worse, rot is transmitted from fruit to fruit. So, the top of the tomato fruit turns brown and is pressed inward. These tomatoes are unsuitable for human consumption. They should be destroyed.
What to do?
If the soil lacks any trace elements, then, of course, you need to add fertilizers to it, which contains the missing chemical element. For example, nitrogen starvation can be eliminated by spraying with urea. To do this, prepare a solution in the proportion - 1 tbsp. l. urea per 10 liters of water.
To replenish nitrogen, you can also add a solution from the infusion of cow dung to the soil. To do this, soak the mullein in water at a rate of 1: 4 for 3 days. Then dilute the mullein infusion in a ratio of 1: 3. Under each bush you need to add 1 liter of solution.
The lack of potassium is compensated by the introduction of potassium nitrate into the soil. To spray the leaves of the plant, you need to dilute 1 tsp. fertilizers per 1 liter of water. To water the bush, you should dilute 1 tbsp. l. potassium nitrate in 10 liters of water. Lack of potassium can also be replenished with wood ash.
Water scarcity
Another reason that the leaves turn yellow ahead of time is the lack of water in the soil. Corruptly improperly organized watering can lead to the leaves of the tomato bush turning yellow. Although tomato bushes are very resistant to drought, they will turn yellow if they are not in moisture for a long time.
It is better to water the tomatoes infrequently, but abundantly. The root of the bush, with normal development of the root system, reaches a depth of 1 m. This means that the plant is provided with water and nutrients from a sufficiently deep depth that many other crops cannot reach. The conclusion is simple, if the tomatoes lack water, then they just need to be well watered so that the leaves stop turning yellow.
Damage to seedlings during transplanting
The appearance of a painful yellow color after transplanting tomatoes into open ground may indicate that the seedlings were damaged during transplanting. In addition, adult bushes can suffer from sloppy loosening, which can also lead to yellow leaves.
In this case, the lower leaves turn yellow. All that is needed to fix the problem is to give the plant time to recover. With decent care and the absence of other negative factors, soon tomato leaves themselves will acquire a healthy color.
Fungal infection
Due to the spread of the fungus, tomato leaves may begin to turn yellow. Such infections usually hide in the ground, which means that it will take a lot of effort to fix the problem. If there is a suspicion that the soil is contaminated, then you should dig the earth in the fall. In this case, you need to dig up the earth as deep as possible. In this case, the chance of infecting plants next year will be much lower.
Not only the soil can be infected, but also the seeds, and even the garden tools used to cultivate the land. If we are talking about infection of inventory, then you can not use tools from an infected place of the earth on a healthy one. These precautions are intended to stop the spread of infection throughout the site. In addition, the entire instrument may need to be thoroughly sanitized.
Fungal infections of tomatoes can occur at any stage of their growth. A rapidly developing fungal infection can lead to yellow leaves, weakening of the bush and poor harvest. Fighting the fungus is very difficult, even, one might say, unrealistic. Therefore, the gardener needs to monitor the condition of the soil almost all year round. The seeds should be kept clean and the instrument should be disinfected from time to time.
The most common fungal infection is fusarium. When a bush is affected by this fungus, the leaves turn yellow and wither, as if after a drought. Spraying tomato leaves with special preparations every 1-12 days (depending on the severity of the disease), you can get rid of the infection. The most effective agents in the fight against fungal infections are currently considered "Fitosporin" and "Phytocide".
Hypothermia when planting seedlings in open ground
When transplanting seedlings into open ground, yellow leaves may appear on it. Hypothermia can be one of the reasons. Tomatoes can be transplanted into open ground if the temperature does not drop below + 12 ° C at night.
The impact of low temperatures on tomatoes leads to negative consequences:
- Root depletion.
- Underdevelopment of the root system.
- Lack of nutrition for the bush.
- Slowing down the growth and development of the bush.
If the bushes are frozen over, the leaves will turn yellow with a blue tint. The harvest of such tomatoes will be later, the fruits will be small in size and will not have a pronounced taste. To avoid this, do not rush to transplant seedlings in open ground.
Outcomes
So, if the leaves of tomatoes in your beds began to turn yellow, then determine the cause of this phenomenon. Then remove it and over time the leaves will turn green again. The tips provided in this article will help you identify the problem and neutralize its consequences.
We bring to your attention a video that also mentions common causes of yellow leaves and gives tips on how to eliminate them:
