A week of disorder is plenty so today’s the last day for looking at what can go wrong from a physiological standpoint.
Today’s disorder duo relate to mineral deficiencies but as previously seen, other factors can play a part.
1st up – Blotchy Ripening. Yesterday we looked at Greenback – where the tomato doesn’t ripen in a specific area, at the top, around the stalk area.
This is the same effect; yellow or green hard patches where the fruit has not ripened but instead of being restricted to specific location, these patches appear randomly on the fully grown fruit.
The likely cause is insufficient potassium but too little water to and around the plant as well as overly high greenhouse temperatures may also play a part.
So in addition to addressing water and temperature levels, meeting potassium requirements in the form of a high potash feed, should be part of the routine for the fruiting period.
Magnesium deficiency
This deficiency shows up as discoloured leaves. The remedy a dose of salts; Epsom Salts.
The link is magnesium sulphate. Insufficient magnesium causes a leaf to lose green pigment; the effect of which is whilst the veins of the leaf remain green, the ‘leafy’ bit turns yellow.
Nature (being keen on a contingency plan) will on detecting a lack of magnesium, take from the old to give to the young, meaning the yellow will be most noticeable on older leaves lower down the plant.
The deficiency can result from magnesium being removed from the soil, washed out as a result of heavy rain or watering.
But, in a neat lesson about the importance of getting the balance right (part of Nature’s core curriculum), magnesium can be in the soil but if there along with overly high levels of potassium (high potash feed anyone?) then this overload of one nutrient (potassium) can leave another (magnesium) locked up in the soil and not available for take up by the plant.
Which is why ( I guess) that the recommended remedy is a foliar feed of Espom salts solution. A foliar feeds bypass the soil and root system and delivers what’s needed straight to the leaf.
So I think that brings us to the end of disorders. Being prepared is good, so hopefully diligence will be rewarded by it all remaining text book only stuff!
