Ok something is wrong somewhere. I have three types of tomatoes in the garden this year and some of each are developing dark blue stems. Can someone please tell me what I did wrong this time? Thank you for the help.

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How old are the plants? What types? What are your fertilizer habits?

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John - Zone 6

Don't do anything until John or someone, maybe Julianna, weighs in. Which miracle grow are you using? Don't kill the plants with kindness, it's tempting to DO something, but you sure don't want to overfertilize or otherwise try to fix a problem that could resolve itself. How long have they been in the garden? They may adjust as they get settled in.

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Dave
Even my growlights are getting restless!

They are young. I harvested the seeds last year and planted them in Febuary or March. I'd have to look it up to get an exact date. They have been transplanted for about 2 weeks now out in the garden. They were hardened off for about 10 days before they were planted.

The miracle gro is the all purpose water soluble kind.

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Have they just recently turned blue or have they always been like that?

Am I the only one that doesn't fertilize? Last year, I fertilized my tomatoes only twice!

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I always figure they'll let me know when they need something...and they always do fine for me..why fix something that isn't broken?

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So the plants are 8-10" or so? You may be adding a little too much fert but it doesn't sound too bad as long as you're not overmixing it. Should be 1 tsp per gallon if I'm not mistaken. Refrain from any additional fert until they start setting fruit. Do the plants seem otherwise healthy? Leaves not drooping? They don't look stressed? If so, it may be just a little transplant shock which is nothing to worry about? What about the weather conditions? Can you snap a couple digital pictures and post them? I wouldn't worry too much.

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John - Zone 6

Christina, I do not add anything to my gardens either. I plant and if it grows, then it is great! If not then I try something different.

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We are all under the same stars... therefore we are never far apart.

Ciao tkhooper,

There have been lots of good posts on this thread. It's very tempting for all of us to over-feed, I think it's the main reason people have problems with their plants, not understanding the whole growing cycle. A seedling's roots are very delicate and fertilizer can actually burn them, so one needs to be careful. I generally fertilize 2-3 times. I feed once when I do my 2nd potting up from yogurt cups to 16 oz cups with 10-52-10 "blue stuff". I fertilize again at transplanting into the garden with 10-52-10 again to help the roots get established only if it's been several weeks since they were potted up. Once the plants are very established and growing well but flowers are mainly immature, I give them a foliar feed of seaweed/fish emulsion. And lastly, I fertlize with very basic 10-10-10 at the first sign of fruit set. That's it. I put a scoopful of Myke's in the planting hole at transplant time as well to help the roots, but that's not really necessary. After that, the plants are on their own. Containers are a different story, however. Because they're "contained", they will deplete the nutrients in their pots very quickly and should be fed every two weeks during their growing cycle. Once they've stopped foliar growth, however, it's time to stop feeding them and just let the remaining fruits ripen and the plant to finish its cycle.

I hope this helps,
Julianna

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