Any help for a total beginner?

[spearen]

Hi everybody, I just planted some tomatoes a couple weeks ago and no sooner were they in the ground than they began a slow march torward death. I was hoping I could tell everybody what I did and maybe some of the experts could tell me what I did wrong

First let me say that I live in North Florida near the coast so the temperatures here are ranging about 45 - 75 right now.

I built a 3 x 6 ' x 10" high raised bed, into which I poured about twenty bags of el-cheapo Hyponex soil. Then I planted ten "better boy" tomatoes; they were about 15 inches tall each and I buried half of each plant in the soil. They are being watered by a drip hose snaked around the base of the plants, and i usually water them for about 30 minutes every 2-3 days. They get full direct sun all day long (sunrise until sunset approx. 12 hours)

Now the problem. The plants have seen no growth in about three weeks and they are gradually changing to an unsightly shade of GRAY.

Specifically my questions: (1) i'm sure the soil is not appropriate - what should I have added? what should i add regularly? (2) sunlight....is 12 hours of full direct sun per day too much? (3) water...any tips on proper watering? (4) the stalks turning gray...what if anything does this indicate?

THanks for any help and insight you can give. I read online that tomatoes would grow anywhere without much hassle, so I was kinda expecting to just plop them in the ground and watch them grow!

[Sherry_AK]

Were they hardened off before planting? Sounds like maybe some sunburn.

And welcome to Tomatoville. You'll get lots of help here!

Sherry

[dice]

No lime? Tomatoes like a soil pH around 6.5, and they will
do ok betwen 6.0 and 7.0. Outside that range they suffer
(phosphorus and some other fertilizer components form
insoluble compounds with other elements outside that range).
Ordinary, peaty potting soils are often 6.0 or less. I would
sprinkle a cup or two of dolomite lime per plant around
them and mix that into the soil before it gets full of
roots. The smaller the particles the faster it will break
down. Figure a minimum of 8 weeks before the soil
gets to whatever pH it is going to level out at.

No fertilizer? Cheap potting soils have very little nutritional
content. There may be some in the soil underneath the raised
bed, but it is a lot easier to root in the potting soil, so that is
where most of the roots will be.

You could do a per plant version of side-dressed rows.
Get something like TomatoTone if you can find it
(about the right N-P-K ratio for tomatoes, and it has
lots of trace elements) or use whatever pelleted
fertilizer you have on hand. You don't want a high-nitrogen
fertilizer like lawn food. It accelerates plant growth
too much and increases the risk of Blossom End Rot (BER;
with a huge plant growing fast in hot weather, all of the
calcium from the soil ends up in the leaves, and cell walls
collapse in the fruit; some cultivars are more susceptible
to it than others).

Make a circular trench 1/2" to an inch deep around the plant,
about 8" away from the stem. Fill it with fertilizer. If the soil
is loose and you want to cultivate it in a little, that is fine.

Throw another cup of it under each plant when you see
first flowers (just scatter it; don't bother cultivating it
in, because you will destroy roots, which increases the
entry points for root disease).

There are lots of other fine points, but this should
get you started. There is a long-running Florida grower's
thread that you might find interesting:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=6590

(I, too, think "grayness" usually means sunburn. Plants
were probably growing under a screen at the store,
and the sudden 12 hours a day of direct sun toasted
them. With any luck, they only lose the sunburned
leaves, and the plants recover.)

Good luck.

[dcarch]

Welcome.

may be you can post a picture?

People can give you more acurate advice that way.

dcarch

[pooklette]

My first thought was hardening off, or not enough of it, too. Did you gradually expose the plants to the elements before putting them outside for good? I know here, if my plants are put in their garden home without being hardened off as such, they turn greyish-white from leaves to stem and die quickly. Although I can honestly say my sun-scorched plants have never made it three weeks...

If you're positive that wasn't the problem, please do post a pic. That always helps narrow down the possibilities a bit.

[barkeater]

Planting in North Florida on March 1? I've lived a few years in St. Augustine and Jacksonville, and my sister lives in Pensacola. Yes, maybe 3 out of 10 years that works, but not this year. March 15 is supposed to be the time to plant (today).

Get some new plants and start over is my suggestion. If your oldplants live, the growing tip was probably damaged to the point that they won't recover, and if they do, they won't produce in time before it's all over by July 4.

[feldon30]

If you have had evening temps below 40, then that would absolutely set back your tomato plants as barkeater mentioned.