Yellow leaves with silver black edges on container tomatoes

by Jason
(Australia)

Dear Tomato Dirt,

Hi there. I am trying to grow tomatoes in pots. A couple of them are getting yellow leaves with black silver edges. The plant still has fruit. Sometimes when I water, they are smelly. Can you help?



Dear Jason,

There can be many reasons for yellowed leaves on tomato plants. However, you mentioned that the plant smells when watered. That leads us to believe that the plants are over-watered. The odor may be decaying material in the pot or even rotting roots. Take these steps to treat your tomatoes in pots and their yellowed leaves.

1. Drainage. Make sure your containers have good drainage in their undersides. You can even add holes to the lower part of the pots on the sides to help excess water drain.

2. Soil. Check your soil each day. If it's moist when you stick your finger about an inch, then plants don't need extra water.

3. Rain. If excess rain is a problem, find a place where you can move pots. Try moving them underneath an overhang, setting them under a picnic table, or placing them beneath a raised deck while it rains.

4. Fertilzer. In the worst-case scenario, over-watering chokes roots and "drowns" plants. But even if over-watering is not that severe, too much water can leach out nutrients from the container's soil. Make sure you fertilize tomato plants with a balanced tomato fertilizer every 10-21 days.

5.More information. Learn more about watering tomatoes in pots here.

6.Other problems. If problems persist, check other tomato problems that can lead to yellowing leaves, such as tomato blight and various kinds of tomato wilt.


Good luck and Happy Gardening!

Your friends at Tomato Dirt