Tomato and strawberry leaves problems. Please help

eeceet

Can someone help with my tomato and strawberry plants? Not sure what's wrong. I have sprayed them with bicarbonate of soda solution twice but but didn't really help. Any advice would be appreciated.

Dovefromabove

Hello 😊 What do you think is wrong with them?  

They look nice and healthy to me, apart from some white powdery stuff which is probably bicarbonate residue. 

What is worrying you about them?  Is there something I’m not seeing?
😊 

Pete.8

The tiny spots on your tomato plant leaves do look reminiscent of spider mite damage.
They're not usually a problem at this time of year so it is unlikely, but just to make sure it's not spider mite, have a look on the underside of one of the spotty tomato plant leaves with a magnifying glass and see if you can spot some tiny almost transparent bugs.
The same effect may also be caused by the bicarb residue as Dove has suggested already.
Why did you spray them with bicrab in the first place?
And in these times where did you manage to find bicarbonate of soda?? shops have been sold out for weeks!!

eeceet

Hi, thank you for your replies! The white spots been on the leaves for a couple of weeks that's why I sprayed with the solution. (I managed to get a Dr Oetker one last week) I'm worried that edges of leaves on some plants are blackish, or brown and dried off. The large white spots maybe the soda but the tiny ones were definitely there before. 

Pete.8

Have you had a look with a magnifier on the underside of the tomato leaves with the tiny spots?

eeceet

Pete.8 said:

Have you had a look with a magnifier on the underside of the tomato leaves with the tiny spots?

I have looked and I couldn't see anything. Unfortunately I don't have a magnifying glass so I tried to take a closer look through the phones camera but can't see anything. Please see some new pictures.

Also, since I'm already here could you help with fertilizing? I just bought the miracle-gro slow release granules seen below because I'm planning to use that and use liquid fertilizer occasionally if needed. Is that right? How much shall I use per 30cm pot? All plants are in pots/buckets with holes. strawberries and some tomatoes are.in peat free compost and water goes through that so quickly I'm not sure if it retains much of it. Shall I use bug killer plant spray?

Thank you in advance for any advice!re 

Richard.jones89

I've never grown tomatoes, but the strawberry ones look fine to me in fairness - what's the weather been like with you recently?? The edges just look a tad dried etc.

From your pics though, those do look like very young strawberry plants and it's the older looking leaves that are looking a bit dried at the edges (first pic) - the younger leaves look lovely. I've found exactly the same on all of my strawberry plants, from young ones from runners last year to my big best established one....and it's absolutely fine - think it's just the circle of life, my friend!! 

For the white-ish residue on some - again I've had that before on a few leaves like you have - but it's never seemed to be an issue. 

Keep an eye on it and try not to worry!

Pete.8

The mites are really tiny and almost transparent, so very tricky without a magnifyer. Just keep an eye out and if you see more spots appearing on the tops of new leaves then it may be mites, but hopefully it's just the result of the bicarb.
Tomatoes don't need any added granules as they'll grow bigger leaves at the expense of growing bigger tomatoes, so give that a miss.

When you see some flowers dropping off you'll notice tiny green round tomatoes forming where the flowers were, that's the time to start feeding with a tomato feed - e.g. Tomorite. Once a week if in a greenhouse and once every 10ish days if outside, and if you can use rainwater they will really appreciate it.
I give mine some diluted seaweed extract every couple of weeks too to keep them in good health.
Tomatoes are generally strong plants and if the growing conditions are good they'll perform well.
I wouldn't spray anything I was planning to eat with bug spray and spider mites are resistant to most sprays anyway. As your plants don't appear to have any bug problems there's no need.

PS - sorry can't really advise on the strawberries in pots. I grow them in the ground.
Hopefully someone else can help with that one

eeceet

Pete.8 said:

The mites are really tiny and almost transparent, so very tricky without a magnifyer. Just keep an eye out and if you see more spots appearing on the tops of new leaves then it may be mites, but hopefully it's just the result of the bicarb.
Tomatoes don't need any added granules as they'll grow bigger leaves at the expense of growing bigger tomatoes, so give that a miss.

When you see some flowers dropping off you'll notice tiny green round tomatoes forming where the flowers were, that's the time to start feeding with a tomato feed - e.g. Tomorite. Once a week if in a greenhouse and once every 10ish days if outside, and if you can use rainwater they will really appreciate it.
I give mine some diluted seaweed extract every couple of weeks too to keep them in good health.
Tomatoes are generally strong plants and if the growing conditions are good they'll perform well.
I wouldn't spray anything I was planning to eat with bug spray and spider mites are resistant to most sprays anyway. As your plants don't appear to have any bug problems there's no need.

PS - sorry can't really advise on the strawberries in pots. I grow them in the ground.
Hopefully someone else can help with that one

Richard.jones89 said:

I've never grown tomatoes, but the strawberry ones look fine to me in fairness - what's the weather been like with you recently?? The edges just look a tad dried etc.

From your pics though, those do look like very young strawberry plants and it's the older looking leaves that are looking a bit dried at the edges (first pic) - the younger leaves look lovely. I've found exactly the same on all of my strawberry plants, from young ones from runners last year to my big best established one....and it's absolutely fine - think it's just the circle of life, my friend!! 

For the white-ish residue on some - again I've had that before on a few leaves like you have - but it's never seemed to be an issue. 

Keep an eye on it and try not to worry!

Thank you great advice! Shall I use the granules for strawberries and gherkins? Shall I use an all purpose fertilizer until I can use tomorite? The soil didn't have added nutrients. Please see picture for the granules I mentioned earlier. 

Pete.8

What soil did you use for the tomatoes?

Richard.jones89

eeceet said:

Pete.8 said:

The mites are really tiny and almost transparent, so very tricky without a magnifyer. Just keep an eye out and if you see more spots appearing on the tops of new leaves then it may be mites, but hopefully it's just the result of the bicarb.
Tomatoes don't need any added granules as they'll grow bigger leaves at the expense of growing bigger tomatoes, so give that a miss.

When you see some flowers dropping off you'll notice tiny green round tomatoes forming where the flowers were, that's the time to start feeding with a tomato feed - e.g. Tomorite. Once a week if in a greenhouse and once every 10ish days if outside, and if you can use rainwater they will really appreciate it.
I give mine some diluted seaweed extract every couple of weeks too to keep them in good health.
Tomatoes are generally strong plants and if the growing conditions are good they'll perform well.
I wouldn't spray anything I was planning to eat with bug spray and spider mites are resistant to most sprays anyway. As your plants don't appear to have any bug problems there's no need.

PS - sorry can't really advise on the strawberries in pots. I grow them in the ground.
Hopefully someone else can help with that one

Richard.jones89 said:

I've never grown tomatoes, but the strawberry ones look fine to me in fairness - what's the weather been like with you recently?? The edges just look a tad dried etc.

From your pics though, those do look like very young strawberry plants and it's the older looking leaves that are looking a bit dried at the edges (first pic) - the younger leaves look lovely. I've found exactly the same on all of my strawberry plants, from young ones from runners last year to my big best established one....and it's absolutely fine - think it's just the circle of life, my friend!! 

For the white-ish residue on some - again I've had that before on a few leaves like you have - but it's never seemed to be an issue. 

Keep an eye on it and try not to worry!

Thank you great advice! Shall I use the granules for strawberries and gherkins? Shall I use an all purpose fertilizer until I can use tomorite? The soil didn't have added nutrients. Please see picture for the granules I mentioned earlier. 

I can't see the NPK percentages but as it's an all-rounder (& miracle-gro), that will be fine until you get some tomorite. 

Both tomatoes & strawberries (or anything that produces fruit), really needs a feed that's high in potash (the K in NPK) and tomato feed is perfect for that! My local garden centre had a deal on the other day of 3 x 1.5L bottles for a tenner on tomorite - winning!!

I'd advise stay clear of stuff branded as strawberry fertiliser, as it's pricier purely because of that fact. Also when you look at the NPK on the back, it's not as good. 

Also make sure you keep feeding and looking after your strawberry plants after they've born their last fruit, going back down to feeding every 2 weeks right up until the end of Autumn/ start of winter and then mulch before frosts start - the reason for this is after they finish fruiting, strawberries grow all of their potential flower buds ready for the following year! So you need to put some of the work in this year to get the benefit next summer.