About four days ago I noticed my tomato plant's leaves were turning yellow, but the veins were still green. This is a sure sign of a magnesium deficiency and can kill plants if not treated. But, luckily, its easy and cheap to cure.
Potted plants and seedlings in trays can experience soil depletion. Meaning, the plants soak up all the nutrients in the soil and will start to show signs of stress and nutrient deficiency. It's important to keep those plants "fed" with fertilizers, and there are lots of organic options to help keep plants healthy. Tomatoes are especially "hungry" plants, during their growing and fruit producing stages they are what I call "nutrient supersoakers". Tomatoes like plenty of nitrogen, and magnesium. Before transplanting your tomatoes outside dump wood ashes on your soil and mix in with the soil to prevent a strong wind from carrying away your ashes. Ideally, you want to let the ashes "soak" into the soil for a few months, but if you are pressed on time, some ashes are better than none. We have a wood stove that we use for heat over the winter and we have been dumping wood ashes on our garden beds all winter, the snow was excellent for packing the ashes down into the soil for deep soaking. Giving your plants magnesium is as easy as buying Epsom Salt. Epsom Salt is actually Magnesium Sulfate, not salt, so it is an excellent organic source of magnesium for your plants.
Once I noticed the deficiency in my tomato plants, I went out and bought some Epsom Salt. If a magnesium deficiency is left untreated, the leaves will eventually turn yellow, and the veins, and the leaves will die and fall off. I mixed one to one and a half tablespoons with warm (not hot) water in a gallon jug and shook the jug until most of the "salt" had dissolved. The nice thing about Epsom Salts is that it dissolves quickly. I poured the water into one of the empty cells in my seed trays (I like to leave an empty cell to check water levels). Once the water level in my tray reached a little less than half, I poured the remaining water into a spray bottle and gently sprayed the tomato leaves with the water/salt mixture. By filling the seed tray and spraying the leaves, I am helping ensure that both the roots and the leaves receive the magnesium immediately.
For the past four days, I have gently sprayed the water/salt mixture on the leaves. Water levels in my seed tray show the plants still have plenty of water. After four days, I saw significant improvement in the health of my plants. The leaves are still slightly yellow, so I will continue my treatment until the yellowing has disappeared.
Healthy plants = successful transplanting. I am planning (weather permitting) to transplant my tomato plants outside in my garden beds in three to four weeks. If my plants are to survive the stress of transplanting, they need to be as healthy as they can be. Good luck on your spring gardening!
For help on other plant deficiencies, check out my Pinterest Board: Soil Deficiency Identification & Cures or my Organic Garden Fertilizers board.
"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments" ~ Janet Kilburn Phillips
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