July 12, 2011

Tomato Tuesday: More Pruning

I imagine some of you located in warmer climates are enjoying your first tomatoes. I'm jealous.
I can't tell you how excited I was to see these (the larger is about the size of a golf ball):
They are my babies. I check them at least three times a day to see if they have grown.

While I'm *patiently* waiting, there are a few things I do to keep my tomato plants thriving. 

To decrease your plants chances of infecting a disease, pinch off the lowest leaves that are touching the ground, are wilted, or are turning a yellowish color. Don't go too nuts on pinching branches off, as the plant does need it's leaves for photosynthesis!

This plant looks healthy, but you can see on the bottom left there is a branch that is going into my basil and is basically lying on the ground. I pinched this branch off. As for the branch in front that is going toward the lettuce, I will leave that, but try to prop it up.

It is very normal for the bottom leaves to turn yellow, so don't be alarmed (as long as the upper third looks normal). The bottom leaves turn yellow because they don't receive as many nutrients or sunshine as the upper branches that typically bear fruit!

This is normal, but I will probably pinch this branch off. 
If all of your leaves are turning yellow, this can be a sign of a lack of nutrients, lack of sun, over or under watering, or a pest problem. 

Tomorrow's post will be about fertilizing your veggies!
Pin It

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...