Weird Difference in Tomato Plants

Aeternus · April 6, 2016

Hi guys/girls,
I'm growing 5 Cherokee Purple plants in my LED grow tent, and noticed a huge difference between some of the plants. For example, here are two of the plants next to each other (I've done absolutely nothing to either of them except germinate the seed and transfer it to a 4 inch square pot, then a 2-gallon circle pot. )

The plant on the right is shorter, stockier, and has much larger leaves:

Whereas the plant on the left is way taller, the leaves are way more scarce, and they appear to be smaller and yellowing off:

Does it look like the taller plant is missing some kind of nutrients? They're in Miraclegro potting mix (which has a time-release fertilizer) but I feel like the taller plant isn't in the best of shape since the top leaves don't look too healthy and it's not really filling in at all. Any advice? Thanks!

clkingtx · April 7, 2016

The miracle grow doesn't have much fertilizer in it, it is usually less than 1-1-1. Maybe enough for a seedling, but not for growing on. My bag of miracle grow(with fertilizer) says to begin additional fertilizing in 30 days. I would give them both(the plant that is more full is showing same leaf issues, though milder) a balanced fertilizer, one that has all the micro-elements in it.

Hopefully more people will chime in.

Carrie

Cole_Robbie · April 7, 2016

The tall one reminds me of the year I bought several bags of compost on clearance at Menard's to mix in my media. I got plants that looked like that. I wondered about herbicide contamination. Someone else said the compost may have its nutrients out of whack, like a massive amount of copper or other minor element that was messing up other nutrient uptake.

I'd pitch the tall one, honestly. My plants that looked like that never made much.

April 6, 2016	#1
Aeternus Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Norwalk, CT Posts: 1	Weird Difference in Tomato Plants Hi guys/girls, I'm growing 5 Cherokee Purple plants in my LED grow tent, and noticed a huge difference between some of the plants. For example, here are two of the plants next to each other (I've done absolutely nothing to either of them except germinate the seed and transfer it to a 4 inch square pot, then a 2-gallon circle pot. ) The plant on the right is shorter, stockier, and has much larger leaves: Whereas the plant on the left is way taller, the leaves are way more scarce, and they appear to be smaller and yellowing off: Does it look like the taller plant is missing some kind of nutrients? They're in Miraclegro potting mix (which has a time-release fertilizer) but I feel like the taller plant isn't in the best of shape since the top leaves don't look too healthy and it's not really filling in at all. Any advice? Thanks!

April 7, 2016	#2
clkingtx Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Wichita Falls Texas Posts: 446	The miracle grow doesn't have much fertilizer in it, it is usually less than 1-1-1. Maybe enough for a seedling, but not for growing on. My bag of miracle grow(with fertilizer) says to begin additional fertilizing in 30 days. I would give them both(the plant that is more full is showing same leaf issues, though milder) a balanced fertilizer, one that has all the micro-elements in it. Hopefully more people will chime in. Carrie

April 7, 2016	#3
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	The tall one reminds me of the year I bought several bags of compost on clearance at Menard's to mix in my media. I got plants that looked like that. I wondered about herbicide contamination. Someone else said the compost may have its nutrients out of whack, like a massive amount of copper or other minor element that was messing up other nutrient uptake. I'd pitch the tall one, honestly. My plants that looked like that never made much.