When I set up our mini greenhouse this year, I bought two tomato plants and put them in pots in the greenhouse. I haven’t had very good luck with tomatoes the past couple of years, so I thought this could be a surefire way to ensure we would have some kind of tomato crop.
I was a little surprised when the leaves and stems started to turn yellow and curl up. Also, why do they look so stemmy and sad? And where are all the tomatoes? I started to do some research, and my theory based on everything I have seen with these poor, sad tomatoes, is that they are lacking nitrogen in the soil. I used potting soil when I planted them, so I’m not sure if this is the case, but I figured I would try a remedy to add some nitrogen into the soil.
I was interested in trying blood meal to add nitrogen to the soil; however, none of the stores that I checked carry blood meal. I moved to my second option of fish emulsion. I added a couple of tablespoons of the liquid fish emulsion to my watering can of water and soaked my two tomatoes in the pots.
Another thing I didn’t realize (which really shows how green I am at this….) is that tomatoes come as determinate and indeterminate meaning they are either bushy and do not grow as tall (better for pots), or that they are vine tomatoes and can grow taller, produce longer and need to be staked. I think this was another of my many tomato mistakes – the tomatoes I planted in the pots seem to be indeterminate, or the ones that need more space and grow taller and should really be planted in the ground.
It’s been a couple of days, and I don’t think I’ve noticed much change so far, but I will keep an eye out and see what the results are.
