How to determine what tomatoes lack by the color of their leaves - signs of a lack or excess of minerals and trace elements.

Tomatoes have long been popular in Russia. Now they grow on almost every site. In general, they themselves are very demanding and capricious plants. When growing them, you must strictly follow all the rules, starting from sowing seeds for seedlings, then planting them in open ground, after which you must strictly follow the rules for caring for adult bushes. But sometimes, despite all the efforts of gardeners, it is not possible to get the expected harvest. At first glance, the reason is not clear, and that is why you need to figure out what's what, and what the tomato is sick with.

Everyone knows that for full growth and development, tomatoes need nutrients and vitamins, and they can only be obtained with the help of fertilizers. The composition of the land in which tomatoes grow plays an almost major role in their health and in the amount of future harvest. All the necessary chemical elements must always be in the ground. If there are not enough of them, then the tomatoes begin to hurt, although if there are too many of them, then the reaction of the plants will be similar. A very important condition for growing a tomato is close attention from every gardener. If there is something wrong in the appearance of the seedlings, it only means that there is something wrong with the health of your tomatoes.

The first signs of a lack or excess of minerals

When something happened to the tomatoes, it is outwardly noticeable right away. Moreover, each element has its own characteristics: with a lack of iron, manganese and boron - on the upper leaves, the gap between the veins begins to turn yellow.

When plants lack magnesium, the same thing happens to the leaves, only the lower leaves begin to turn yellow. And also the leaves can become completely bright orange, or completely redden.

With a lack of boron, deformation occurs in flowers, ovaries, and later on fruits.

When there is a lack of copper in the ground, in this case, white spots appear on the leaves of the tomato.

But with a lack of potassium, zinc or molybdenum, the spots appear multi-colored.

In the absence of phosphorus or calcium, tomato leaves gradually acquire a blue tint.

But when the plant lacks nitrogen, the leaf remains green, but the veins themselves gradually turn yellow.

When you know the symptoms, it will be much easier to fix the situation and help your plant. And a healthy plant always gives a rich harvest.

Item descriptions and features

The most basic nutrients that are simply necessary for tomatoes have long been known to everyone, but how to understand that some substance is small or, on the contrary, a lot for normal nutrition, this already raises a question that, in principle, is not so difficult to answer.

As for nitrogen, for a tomato it is a particularly important element, which is simply necessary for normal growth and development. Moreover, its deficiency is just as detrimental to plants, as well as its excess.

With a small amount of this element, there are such signs: from the bottom of the bush, the leaves begin to brighten and curl inward. From below, the leaf also changes, its veins become bluish-red. The stem itself also changes color, just like the processes and petioles. New leaves grow small and differ in color from the rest. At the same time, the harvest is very small, and the fruits themselves are very small.

But when there is a lot of nitrogen, then in appearance it will also be noticeable.The harvest will also be small, and the bushes themselves will look sickly.

With an excess of nitrogen, the leaves of the bush are very large, and the shoots and processes are very thick, outwardly strong. But young leaves grow very small, fragile, and immediately begin to curl. In this case, the bushes begin to bloom much later than the due date, which accordingly affects the ripening of the fruits. And also dark stripes appear on the fruits themselves.

In order to bring the amount of nitrogen back to normal in case of an overabundance, you need to immediately carry out an extraordinary top dressing, for this urea, saltpeter and even ordinary manure are perfect. But with an excess of substance, you need to increase the frequency and volume of watering. And with greenhouse cultivation, in addition to watering, you need to increase the amount of light.

An element such as phosphorus is simply necessary for the nutrition of a tomato. If it is not enough, then the roots of the plant will develop much worse, which will greatly affect the future harvest. In the case of a lack of this element, tomatoes are very susceptible to diseases, and any deviation in temperature from the norm is perceived critically. If this situation is not urgently corrected, then the plant initially slows down its growth, and then it may completely stop it. It can also easily lead to his death. Also, with a lack of this element, the first thing to do is to change the color of the stem itself, and after that, the leaf turns red from below and begins to curl inward. The plant blooms very badly at this time, while naturally the ovary is very small, and those fruits that still set remain small and have a bad taste.

Excess phosphorus is also a very bad factor. The leaves also begin to curl, and their edges become very light, forming a kind of border and spots may appear on them. The yield on such bushes will be small and its quality is poor.

In order to normalize the balance of phosphorus, in case of a lack of it, an extraordinary feeding is urgently needed. In this case, potassium phosphate or superphosphate will help. The folk method of feeding with wood ash or using phosphoric flour will also help.

Tomatoes are in great need of potassium - thanks to it, the plants have a very strong immunity, the amount of vitamin C in the fruits increases, and the yield becomes large.

The lack of this element can be easily understood by the external features of the plant: all young leaves grow very small, and very quickly begin to fall off. And on old sheets, a yellowish border appears. Gradually, the leaves dry out completely and color. But all the set fruits begin to ripen unevenly and become covered with dark spots.

Basically, there is not enough potassium in the ground in the case when tomatoes are planted in the same place for several years in a row, it also happens with too much moisture, or vice versa, with its lack.

If suddenly the seedlings have changed their color, shape and, in general, their appearance has changed not for the better, then this situation needs to be urgently corrected. In this case, you need to immediately add top dressing with a high potassium content or just wood ash.

And with a large amount of potassium, it will slow down the natural growth of bushes, and on the contrary, more and more greenery will develop on them.

In general, when you decide to grow tomatoes, you simply have to constantly monitor their condition. Regular inspection of seedlings will allow you to notice any deviation from the norm as soon as it appears, and instantly correct the situation.

If the leaves on the tomato seedlings turn pale, there may be many reasons for this: too much moisture and not enough heat. Lack of oxygen in the soil. There is too little light. It is also possible that your plants are planted too close to each other. Lack of nutrients or poorly developed root system.

In order to radically correct the situation, you need to know exactly what kind of fertilizers you need to apply to the soil and choose the right one.

With a lack of iron, a disease such as chlorosis very often appears. Initially, it damages the stem of the plant itself, and then the leaves. Externally, small dark green spots appear on the plants. When there is very little iron in the earth, then there is also very little oxygen in it. But on the contrary, there are a lot of heavy metals in the ground, which is not beneficial to plants. Also, with a lack of iron, chlorosis develops quite quickly, after the plants are covered with spots, they pass to a new stage, and the plant begins to brighten, and it comes to the point that the bush brightens completely.

It is possible to restore the balance of iron and, accordingly, oxygen only with the help of correctly applied necessary dressings. The most important thing in this case is to see the lack of substance in time and immediately correct the situation. For this, treatment with a 0.25% solution of iron sulfate is very suitable.

But it is possible to determine what exactly the problem with plants is only if you know about the signs that are inherent in each element.

But tomatoes need not only those substances that are already listed above, but also sulfur, magnesium, calcium, molybdenum, chlorine and manganese, copper, zinc and boron - all these elements also greatly affect the development of tomatoes and their yield. If all the necessary components are introduced correctly and in the right amount, then in principle you can avoid many problems, and by making the correct fertilizers you can save a fairly large amount of effort and time that you risk losing on eliminating problems that create a shortage or excess of all these elements.

Generally as top dressing it is best to use complex fertilizers. Also, if you want to save your time and not waste your energy on their manufacture, then they can be purchased ready-made, and nowadays there are just a huge amount of such fertilizers on the shelves. In general, such fertilizers are very convenient to use, and most importantly, effective. And also on each package a detailed composition and instructions for use are painted. In general, it is better to prevent all these problems with timely prevention and apply all fertilizers according to the schedule, and later enjoy a rich and high-quality harvest, than then try to look for and correct the cause of the trouble with the plants, and not know what kind of harvest you will get in the end.