Any idea what’s going on with my San marzanos? They’re grown in the exact same conditions as my Sakuras and Akrons which are romping away just fine. All receive the exact same amount of bottom watering once a week ish. They’re in a grow tent and receive light 14 hours a day and a fan for around 2 hours per day. But my San marzanos seem to be sulking with leaf curl, lower leaf die back, leaf spotting and what now appears to be a white mold on the base of the stem, again only present in my San marzanos. Any help or advice would be appreciated!
by camrus1
20 Comments
Is that soil all peat moss?
Looks drier than the Sahara in those pots I would be fainting too
San Marzanos and especially San Marzano Redortas, really are quite dramatic. It’s true.They have very wispy , foliage.
However, this plant seems to really be struggling. It could probably use a complete and thorough watering, not just from the bottom, maybe ⁹also from the top, just to get all the roots, even the ones that are way up high in the pot by this time, some nice water, you know, just like give it a nice dose. When you pick it up it shouldn’t feel extremely light.
It’s okay to give tomatoes a really thorough watering if they have dried out as long as they do not have any fruit yet.
AFTER THEY START TO FRUIT , OF COURSE , THAT’S A DIFFERENT STORY.
Only when they are thirsty. Give that girl a drink.
Yes, San Marzano is a diva. I’ve had to give them special treatment during hardening off to keep wilting at bay. I also did a very light fertilization with Tomato Tone at this life stage. Despite the drama, last year my San Marzano was my most productive plant.
Thanks, I am going to go top water my maters now! lol
They can be but they usually pop back.
https://preview.redd.it/bgk6whqvvwmg1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=698e3416046b747b41a0dda3c53d76708f034c8b
This section is the 3rd piece I chopped off and at u in a pot just to see what would happen. The mama plant is going strong for her 3rd spring, popping out babies all winter in the greenhouse and now part 2 is also going nuts. One other small piece stayed outside all winter and is doing well.
I think all paste tomatoes grow a little funky but they do look thirsty
Spray the with water
They also tend to struggle without some regular humidity unfortunately. I’ve given up on them completely. Amish Pastes and other sauce tomatoes dare much better in CO to bother with them at this point
I’ve sprouted some San marz and haven’t transplanted the seedlings yet. I water from the top. Last year I had a couple San marz plants in the garden (in ground). I didn’t notice many issues aside from obvious sun dryout during the extremely hot days.
Thank you everyone for your advice and help! I’ve given them a good soaking so will check how they are looking in the morning. For context these were only sown 4.5 weeks ago and the top inch or so of soil was only added 2-3 days ago which is why it looks dry as fuck. I’m also in Scotland where these can’t be moved into my polytunnel for another 8 weeks or so… wish me luck 😅
I grew san marzanos last year. Started them inside, they were great. Hardened them off. Still great. Put them in the garden and they all pretended to faint for a couple of days.
Total drama queens.
I like to think of them as communicative 😀
I’ve grown San Marzanos and found to be susceptible to disease also.
Leaf curling and wilting like that when you believe the plant to be adequately watered is sometimes a sign of being root bound. It would only take a few seconds to slide the plant out of the pot and have a look. If it is getting root bound, then go ahead and pot it up into a larger container if it’s still too early to plant it outside in your location. I plant mine when they are this size or even a little smaller, but I’m in NE Texas and it’s no longer cold. Footnote — don’t forget about hardening off.
The pots look too small for a tomato plant of that size and, although you never want to go by the surface dryness alone, the soil looks incredibly dry and the plants look wilted and dehydrated.
San Marzano is a vigorous plant that will suck water out of the soil rapidly to support its vigorous growth. I’m not familiar with your other varieties, but a quick google search returns phrases for sakura tomatoes such as “tidy, compact plants,” and akrons are described as “ideal for greenhouse tunnels,” so those seem to be more dwarfish, smaller plants. I find that dwarf tomatoes achieve their smaller size by growing slower than other varieties, and while these may not officially be dwarfs, the San Marzano is a vigorous indeterminate capable of growing 7 feet in height. Definitely is going to need more of everything than the other two.
Yes, but once mine got started last summer it took over the bed. Great harvest!
When soil is that dry, yes. My tongue dried up and my eyes dried out just looking at thos photo.
WATER