Dwarf varieties in 5 gal SWCs, South Florida

zipcode · November 3, 2015

Your plants look great. No sign of disease. It's all nutrient/moisture related. In fact, I'd say they look better than expected at this stage. Once fruits starts to get bigger, nutrients are migrated from the leaves, and the evolution of the problem can appear like a tragedy.
The yellow bottom leaves is the classic magnesium deficiency. If you look in the container section you'll see everybody having a problem with it. Add epsom salts regularly and know that you won't be able to stop it completely. Some varieties are more sensitive than others. Also, you don't need all the leaves to have good production. Cutting them starting from the bottom in fact will encourage fruit set and growth at the top of the plant (to some degree).
Also, obviously micronutrients are needed. If you don't use organic, just a use a complete hydroponic formula. It has everything in the right ratio. Best production with lowest effort and second guessing.
And the leaf curl is a moisture/heat problem coupled sometimes with excess nitrogen. High heat out with high moisture in causes to my experience the worst curled bottom leaves. But sometimes there's nothing you can do, or they wilt. It's not a big problem for production. Curled new leaves is usually excess nitrogen.
Now it's time to switch to high K fertilizing. Like 2-1-4 ratio.

November 3, 2015	#27
zipcode Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Romania/Germany , z 4-6 Posts: 1,582	Your plants look great. No sign of disease. It's all nutrient/moisture related. In fact, I'd say they look better than expected at this stage. Once fruits starts to get bigger, nutrients are migrated from the leaves, and the evolution of the problem can appear like a tragedy. The yellow bottom leaves is the classic magnesium deficiency. If you look in the container section you'll see everybody having a problem with it. Add epsom salts regularly and know that you won't be able to stop it completely. Some varieties are more sensitive than others. Also, you don't need all the leaves to have good production. Cutting them starting from the bottom in fact will encourage fruit set and growth at the top of the plant (to some degree). Also, obviously micronutrients are needed. If you don't use organic, just a use a complete hydroponic formula. It has everything in the right ratio. Best production with lowest effort and second guessing. And the leaf curl is a moisture/heat problem coupled sometimes with excess nitrogen. High heat out with high moisture in causes to my experience the worst curled bottom leaves. But sometimes there's nothing you can do, or they wilt. It's not a big problem for production. Curled new leaves is usually excess nitrogen. Now it's time to switch to high K fertilizing. Like 2-1-4 ratio.