Expert Help Needed - pics included
 

I am new to gardening. I had very healthy green plants but in past few weeks they all are turning lighter colors but one in particular is turning purplish. Is this just the heat or is this curly top disease or just a NPK deficiency? I heard low P could cause purple color?

It does look like very low nutrients, especially N.
Did you fertilize with anything? When fruit start growing, the plant needs lots more nutrients.

It looks like fairly extreme nutrient deficiency. Low phosphorous can cause the purplish cast but I think the plants need a good balanced fertilizer. Try an organic like 4-4-3 + CA on the soil and foliar applications with a hose-on sprayer. The sprayer type that you put in the container straight and it blends from the saturated solution at the top(no rubber hose in the container) are relatively safe to use. There shouldn't be any foliage burn if the soil is watered first.

Nutrient deficiency, I don't think so.
You better check the underside of the leaves for mites.

I will stick with nutrient deficiency and heat. If you are growing in containers, I will double down on that assessment.

Yes, looks like they are starving for nutrients.

Thanks all the responses. I am going to fertilize well and maybe add some black cow manure compost a neighbor recommended. These are not in pots but rather a 1ft x 8ft garden box that is 6 inches in the ground. It's natural earth bottom with some potting mix mixed into soil. The wood frame is just to keep the weed eater at bay.

I have looked for insects but cannot locate any. I will google notes pictures and look again. I also will plan a neem oil + seaweed foliage early in morning..

Oh, sad. Looks like you are growing in raised beds? Being a new gardener, what is your
soil like or what was used to get going this year. You have mulched so that's a good
thing.

Sometimes too much and too little looks alike. Difficult to get to a nice well balanced
level of care, being water or ferts/food.

Looks to me like over-fertilizing. And out of balance what was used. If they were very
healthy looking to grow all that foliage, your soil if a bagged variety, may have had all
you needed for a while. If you have not fed at all since planting, ignore me, lol.
(but some bagged soils do have a slow release fert)

*cute blue weim ...i know that look so well :cute:

(we were posting at the same time...)

[QUOTE=RayR;647510]Nutrient deficiency, I don't think so.
You better check the underside of the leaves for mites.[/QUOTE]

Exactly this! I agree 100%. Mites mimic nutrient deficiencies, especially iron, and Phosphorous.

[QUOTE=HoustonHeat;647556]I have looked for insects but cannot locate any. I will google notes pictures and look again. I also will plan a neem oil + seaweed foliage early in morning..[/QUOTE]

I can see some right in the picture of the enlarged purple leaf. You need at least 10 to 14X magnification to see mites fairly well, they don't show to the naked eye.

Pyrethrins or Permethrin is a better treatment for mites.

[QUOTE=HoustonHeat;647556]I have looked for insects but cannot locate any. I will google notes pictures and look again. I also will plan a neem oil + seaweed foliage early in morning..[/QUOTE]

Do you know you can't see mites with your naked eye? Either use a 10X or better magnifier or do the white paper test, put a white sheet of paper under the leaves and slap the leaf with your hand. If you see any tiny specks moving around, you have mites.

Well little doggy..... I did the paper test and while it did not reveal much I did see 2 specs moving around.. I assume where there is 2 there is 200?

One can see adult mites easily with naked eye (I guess it depends on the eyes though). Young ones, well also with some difficulty, but you need to know exactly what you are looking for.
To have such bad deficiency in actual soil is really hard, not sure what to say, I'm fairly certain it's not the common two spotted mite though, at least not the main culprit.

What has happened between the point when the plants looked good till now?

[QUOTE=zipcode;647591]One can see adult mites easily with naked eye (I guess it depends on the eyes though). Young ones, well also with some difficulty, but you need to know exactly what you are looking for.
To have such bad deficiency in actual soil is really hard, not sure what to say, I'm fairly certain it's not the common two spotted mite though, at least not the main culprit.

What has happened between the point when the plants looked good till now?[/QUOTE]

You must have super vision or some really big mites in Europe. The only type of mites I've had to deal with in the north are Two Spotted Spider Mites. In the Southern US they have an assortment of mites that feed on tomato plants, Two Spotted Spider Mites, Red Spider Mites, Broad Mites, Tomato Russet Mites and God knows what else.
What looks like a nutrient deficiency at the soil to some people here except Marsha and I. :P is a nutrient deficiency in a round about way if you consider that mites suck the life out of leaf cells and dead cells can't transport nutrients.

In between it's reached 90+ degrees and very humid. I may have failed to fertilize enough?

[QUOTE=HoustonHeat;647586]Well little doggy..... I did the paper test and while it did not reveal much I did see 2 specs moving around.. I assume where there is 2 there is 200?[/QUOTE]

And 2 days later 2000, etc.:panic:

Update: I have soaked every leaf top and bottom and tomatoes with neem oil mixed with some soap and water. My moisture meter indicated good levels at about 3 inches down (green). My PH is above 7 so not as good as I would like. (3 in 1 probe that has read as low as 6 before). I have added tomato tone into the soil but not watered it in yet. I plan to add some manure on top in the morning and then water it in. I do not want to use a pesticide yet and will neem oil every other day for the next week..

[QUOTE=HoustonHeat;647642]Update: I have soaked every leaf top and bottom and tomatoes with neem oil mixed with some soap and water. My moisture meter indicated good levels at about 3 inches down (green). My PH is above 7 so not as good as I would like. (3 in 1 probe that has read as low as 6 before). I have added tomato tone into the soil but not watered it in yet. I plan to add some manure on top in the morning and then water it in. I do not want to use a pesticide yet and will neem oil every other day for the next week..[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't put much faith in that 3 in 1 probe for measuring PH. There's no way the soil PH is going to swing between 6 and over 7.
I wouldn't be worrying about fertilizing much because fertilizing dead tissue on a stressed plant doesn't work, so keep after those mites!

Ok thanks... to summarize we have a mites verses possible nutrient (phosphorous) consideration considering purple leaves. I have fertilizer so I will double down and do both. Everyone thanks so much!!!! This website rocks......

Don't go overboard with treatments. You can end up killing your plants with kindness. Neem ever other day sounds excessive to me.

[QUOTE=HoustonHeat;647721]Ok thanks... to summarize we have a mites verses possible nutrient (phosphorous) consideration considering purple leaves. I have fertilizer so I will double down and do both. Everyone thanks so much!!!! This website rocks......[/QUOTE]

I think you misunderstand, Marsha said earlier "Mites mimic nutrient deficiencies". Just because there is some purple color to your leaves doesn't mean you have a P deficiency, What first gave me an indication that you have mites is the grayish purple cast under the leaves. The cells on the underside of the leaf have been killed by the mites, one of the responses of the plant to being wounded and under stress is a buildup of antioxidant compounds including the purple anthocyanin pigments.

[QUOTE=brownrexx;647741]Don't go overboard with treatments. You can end up killing your plants with kindness. Neem ever other day sounds excessive to me.[/QUOTE]

I agree but since mites reproduce so rapidly (eggs hatch every 3-5 days) you've got to do something to kill the eggs and the new nymphs. Neem oil and soap sprays are pretty harmless to the plant in normal concentrations.
Some other insecticidal mixtures I would be more careful with. Alternating with different treatments seems to be a better approach.

I did buy some Bonide or Jacks concentrate that said it kills mites, but before I use it I am going to try and drown them with neem oil. Has anyone ever tried the Organocide 3 in 1 that uses Sesame Oil? I love my good bugs too much to kill them. I just learned this year what an assasin bug is and these soilders are in my garden and I am short on lady bugs... but I hate those lady bug coat wearing Mexican bean beetles. That's cheating...��

For the nutrients it has been a while since I fertilized so it's time anyway.
However it's now hit 90 degrees in Houston and I read bloom set may be over for a while. I figure I still need to feed the tomatoes fruits to grow large.

Lesson learned - I transplanted some tray fall seedlings and the Heat shriveled several up. I hope they will grow back. Also in March I drowned my tomatoes with topsoil mix and now using potting mix I can't water enough. I am thinking a potting soil (middle of road) will be better next year.

Man I have a whole new respect for farmers... this is some crazy stuff!!!

[QUOTE=HoustonHeat;647927]I did buy some Bonide or Jacks concentrate that said it kills mites, but before I use it I am going to try and drown them with neem oil. Has anyone ever tried the Organocide 3 in 1 that uses Sesame Oil? I love my good bugs too much to kill them. I just learned this year what an assasin bug is and these soilders are in my garden and I am short on lady bugs... but I hate those lady bug coat wearing Mexican bean beetles. That's cheating...[/QUOTE]

Organocide 3 in 1 is a good product, I use that myself in rotation with neem oil sprays for mites. It's a bit stinky at first because of the fish oil in it.
Works well on powdery mildew on my squash and cukes too.

Thanks Ray. I used Organicide this morning. It does smell but not stinky for me. Just different.
I am rotating it with neem oil also...

Happy Fathers Day everyone!!!

[QUOTE=zipcode;647591]One can see adult mites easily with naked eye (I guess it depends on the eyes though).[/QUOTE]

It also depends on the mite species.

[QUOTE=HoustonHeat;647998]Thanks Ray. I used Organicide this morning. It does smell but not stinky for me. Just different.
I am rotating it with neem oil also...

Happy Fathers Day everyone!!![/QUOTE]

Don't forget to wash your sprayer out immediately with a good soapy water mix. Then run through with clear water.That stuff gums up a sprayer in no time with a sticky residue if you leave the excess in the sprayer. Guess how I learned that? :twisted:

Thanks Ginger.... That was good advice..

Update: Things are getting better with lots of work. I am spraying with Neem Oul, 2 days later with Sesame Oil, then 2 days later a good water hose spray down. This combined with the fertilizer is bringing back good color. There is still a ways to go but I think the mites are leaving. I am having to ensure I and spraying all plants so each day I am spraying about 10 plants..

Update::: Well what a crazy ride it's been and I still amazes me how either horrible I am as a Gardner, or how difficult this can be. So after rotating some organic sprays things got better but I realized I could not maintain that approach. I stopped a week and the mites came back with a vengence. I then decided to use Spinosad but here is where I made another mistake. I wanted to use a pump sprayer to make it easier so rinsed out my sprayer pretty well. The sprayer had been used prior with weed killer. Well apparently if thought I rinsed it very very well and pumped soapy water through the hose. I also decided to Spray younger healthy plants as a mite prevention approach. Well as you can guess it seemed to caused my plants to turn brown on certain stems and many stems to die , which I have removed.

CONFUSION:: now I don't know if the Spinosad could have caused this result, or if some residual weed killer caused it?