[Greatgardens]

Last summer I grew a Perth Pride from the Dwarf Project. It was grown in an EarthBox using primarily Garden Tone organic fertilizer. At least one knowledgeable gardener in the EB forum opined that most organic fertilizers are not a good choice for tomatoes in an EB, since the plants can't take up the slow release of nutrients quickly enough. I'm not really an organic gardener -- I just like the "gentle release" of nutrients, but indeed most all of my EB tomatoes suffered last year, and Perth Pride the most by a wide margin. In short order after setting quite a few fruit, PP started turning PURPLE (the whole plant). The plant went into decline and ultimately died, producing few tomatoes.

This year, I went back to 10-10-10, and I'll watch very closely for any signs of this issue, but over the winter I read about anthocyanin buildup in hydroponic culture, so I presume my problems were similar. I've read about this in seedlings and as related to cold temps where the plants can't take phosphorus up sufficiently, but this was hot weather. I'm also prepared with "the snack" if things start going badly. Last summer I also grew Dwarf Artic Rose and Summer Sunrise. Neither was a "keeper" for me, but neither plant turned purple. In fact, no other plant turned purple like PP. (But PP was a good tomato that I'll grow again, assuming that I can get past this purple issue. One last note -- I grow tomatoes in both EarthBoxes and regular soil, and had no issues at all with tomatoes grown in soil with the same fertilizer.

So, have others run into this? Since PP is a "purple" variety, perhaps it is more susceptible to the buildup?

-GG