WHY TOMATO PLANT LEAVES BROWN AND CURLING +DYING FROM THE BOTTOM UP

Question

Five tomato plants in a plastic 24 x 18 container.

on the deck with leaves, branches curling and turning brown

 

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Answer 1

that sounds like a lot of tomatoes in a small area...............did you amend the soil, does it have old cow or horse manure mix with some lime in it.................you could try to put a small amount of this mixture around the edges of the planter.

we had a lot of rain this year............I had brown leaves on the bottom of ours.....I carefully trimmed them  off and cleaned the knife......are they getting full sun....are they in heay wind.....next year can you plant them in something deeper or put them in the ground......

Answer 2

Discard three of the five that are not doing well-too many plants in the pot.

Raise the pot off the deck using either pot feet or a pot dolly-the deck conducts heat to the bottom of the pot and can cause the tiny roots to literally fry.

I'm assuming the pot has holes in the bottom and that you are watering it every morning.  It should be enough water to run out of the holes in the pot after moistening all of the soil.  Check the soil daily in the morning by sticking your finger in the soil-is it dry?  Water.  Is it wet?  Don't water.  If the plant looks wilted in the morning water.  If it looks wilty in the afternoon no need to water-it should look wilty in the afternoon, it's been sitting out in the sun all day.  Wouldn't you look wilty too?

Use some tomato or vegetable fertilizer at least six inches from the stem of the plant to avoid burning.  This is called side dressing.  Side dress every three or four weeks.  This is more often then you would if the plants were in the ground because when you water plants in a pot you are washing the fertilizer out of the pot.