Keeping tabs on tomatoes will bear fruit in long run

Q Some of the lower leaves on my potted tomatoes are turning yellow. Why? Is it true that Epsom salts are good for tomatoes?

A: As tomato plants age, it is normal for lower leaves to discolour and die off. Snapping away thoroughly yellowed or dried leaves will clean up the appearance of the plants and improve the circulation of air at their bases.

Some varieties are more prone to rapid yellowing and drying than others. It’s always a valuable exercise to take note of how well different varieties grow and produce each year. That information suggests which to drop and which to grow again in the following year.

Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) are useful where magnesium levels are deficient in the soil. A deficiency shows in yellowing between the leaf veins on older leaves and some upward curling along leaf margins.

Growing tomatoes in the confines of pots demands care in watering and maintaining nutrient supplies. Water often enough to keep the soil consistently and evenly moist but not wet. Unless slow-release fertilizer had been incorporated into the planting mix, water with a fertilizer solution every two weeks.

I’ve found it helpful as well around this time in the summer to top up the soil in tomato pots with a good planting mix or purchased, bagged compost.

Q What could be boring neat holes in my tomatoes?

A: Climbing cutworms hide beneath the soil surface or under litter in the day and climb into plants to feed at night, damaging leaves and boring holes in fruiting structures like tomatoes and beans.

Physical removal works well. Check through the plants with a flashlight at night. Remove any caterpillars you find and drop them in a container of soapy water. Or freeze them overnight and put them on the compost heap.

Keep the soil around plants lightly cultivated to expose cutworms to predators.