What to do if the leaves of tomato seedlings turn yellow?

Friendly shoots on the windowsill bring not only joy, but also worries. Gardeners are looking for answers to questions: why tomato seedlings turn yellow, how to help their "pets"? The problem should be approached calmly, without haste. There is no need to urgently pour over all the plantings with potassium permanganate or antifungal drugs, perhaps there is no need for such a procedure. Leave this sign unattended and do nothing either. Understand why this happened and take the necessary action. Often there is no serious cause for concern and everything can be solved by creating a suitable microclimate and proper feeding. Cut off the damaged leaves: they no longer benefit the plant, they only consume nutrients. Even if you think that there is no infection in the cut parts, for prevention, destroy them and disinfect your hands and tools.

Discomfort on the windowsill

If only the lower leaves turn yellow, the process is most likely caused by natural causes. Seedling grows, develops, produces a powerful green crown, sets fruit. The lower leaves have already fulfilled their function, now they are only becoming a burden. Individual organs also cling to life, die off for a long time and reluctantly. Help the green friend, cut off the yellowed parts, and then all the forces of the seedling will go to the development of flowers and fruits.

Tomatoes love warmth, but that doesn't mean they will survive at any high temperature. When it gets warm outside, utilities usually heat the batteries to the melting point of steel. Heating devices are at home under the windows, the sun's rays bake the seedlings through the glass, a radiator gives in heat from below - poor plants do not know what to do, how to survive. Not surprisingly, the leaves turn yellow and curl. Try to find a place where tomatoes will grow at about 22⁰ during the day, and preferably at 17⁰ at night.

If the leaves not only turn yellow, but also acquire a bluish tint, check if the seedlings are experiencing a sharp temperature drop. During the day, the seedlings stand in the scorching sun - the upper part is hot, the dark surface of the pots is heated, the roots are heated in warm soil. Evening comes, and it gets noticeably colder on the windowsill, especially if you leave the seedlings under an open window with the curtains drawn. Move the seedling containers to a place where heat and cold change less dramatically.

Leaves often turn yellow and curl due to inappropriate soil moisture. Tomatoes have a long root that draws water from the deep layers of the earth. It makes no sense to moisten the soil surface with small portions of liquid several times a day; water infrequently, but abundantly, so that water begins to flow out of the drainage hole. Tomatoes will not like life in a swamp, it is not always necessary to moisten the soil, sometimes it is enough to loosen it.

What's missing on the menu?

Often, a color change tells the gardener that the plant is not receiving the necessary nutritional components.

• The lower leaves are covered yellow spots, curl and fall off in large quantities - little nitrogen.
• Tomato seedlings turn yellow from the top - lack of calcium.
• The lower layer of leaves acquires a pale yellow color - there is not enough copper.
• The leaves turn yellow, thick and hard - the plant asks for sulfur.
• The leaves turn yellow, curl and dry out - manganese and iron are needed.
• The edges of the leaves turned yellow - there is little magnesium.
• With a lack of phosphorus, the top of the leaf turns yellow, if the entire surface acquires such a color - there is an excess of phosphorus.

All these difficulties are easy to solve with the correct feeding, the introduction of the necessary fertilizers and microelements. Sometimes the soil contains enough of the necessary component, but it cannot be absorbed. To solve the problem, you need to water the tomatoes with special dressings or biological products.

Difficulties of moving to a new place of residence

You transplanted tomatoes from home to a greenhouse, and soon the lower leaves turned yellow? This happens when the root system begins to develop too actively, all food goes to the underground part, and the leaves are hungry. Usually this phenomenon is caused by 3 common reasons.

1. The seedlings were grown in too small a cell. After planting, the roots felt freedom and began to intensively master the new space.
2. The root system is badly damaged. This often happens when tomatoes are grown in the same box in close quarters, their roots are intertwined and tear off when separated. The same can happen if you loosen the soil too hard and deeply.
3. Some owners of summer cottages deeply bury the stems in the ground so that a powerful root system forms on them. It is not necessary to do this: the buried stem actually gives roots, but after that the development of the aboveground part is inhibited, and the harvest will have to wait for a very long time.

In order for the tomatoes to take root better in a new place, do not water them for the first week after picking and planting. Mulch the soil from drying out, cover from sunlight. If the weather is too hot and the seedlings wither, spray them with water. When you are going to plant tomatoes not in a greenhouse, but in open ground, 2 weeks before the "move" start harden seedlings... Accustomed to comfortable warmth, it will not endure the cold at night, will begin to turn yellow and die.

Sometimes, after picking, tomatoes begin to turn yellow. A common reason is that the owners are too zealous to shorten the roots, and a lot of nutrients are spent on their restoration. After such an operation, the plant is weakened, hot sunlight is harmful to it, and the boxes are rearranged in a darkened place. The lack of light also prevents tomatoes from recovering normally. Install lamps so that the seedlings are illuminated for at least 15 hours a day.

Seedling diseases

Leaves can also turn yellow in case of plant diseases. Most often tomatoes are affected by fungi, which are transmitted through the air, through water, soil and seeds. In the fall all seedling boxes and instruments must be thoroughly disinfected. Buy soil and seed from well-known companies, but in this case, before sowing, it is advisable to spill the soil with a solution of potassium permanganate, and hold the seeds in this solution. The fungus rarely lives in soil enriched with phosphorus and potassium, apply such fertilizers before planting.

If the bush has acquired an irregular pale yellow hue and, despite all efforts to care, the seedlings wither and wither, most likely an infection with the Fusarium fungus has occurred. Take one of the wildest seedlings, cut its stem across. If they saw brown rings, the diagnosis was confirmed. Special drugs, for example "Fitosporin", are not effective enough against this disease, it is better to destroy the affected specimens.

Advice

The causative agent of fusarium wilting loves clay soil. If you have such soil on the site, add a large amount of sand to it.

Output

The discoloration of tomato seedlings cannot be ignored. Plants cannot convey their request to the owner in words, they use other signals. If a leaves turn yellow, curl up, fall off, which means that the tomato asks for help or wants to tell the gardener about his mistakes. Improper care, illness, uncomfortable conditions, an excess or lack of any minerals or trace elements change the color of the seedlings.

Damage to the root system after a pick or planting immediately affects the condition of the aboveground part.If you, after listening to the advice of inept "agronomists", when diving, shorten the root greatly or when transplanting you bury the stem in the ground, all the nutrients will go into the underground organs, and the leaves will begin to turn yellow and die off. If you don't make mistakes and do everything right, you can save yourself and the plants from unnecessary problems.