tomato tomfoolery

the other morning when i went to check on my tomatoes when my heart skipped a few beats, completely stopped altogether, and then sank into my stomach with a huge thud. once green and bright, leaves were falling off one of my tomato starts.

i quickly looked around to check on my other babies, and discovered i was in the midst of an epidemic.

sweet cheesus!!!! what did i do wrong?? did i over water them, did i under water them, are they malnourished, or are they simply dying?? quick, run to the computer!!!!!!!

well, as it turns out, it is completely normal in some plants for the cotyledon leaves to fall off in the early stages of the plants growth. what are cotyledon leaves you ask. they are those first little leave you see when a flowering plant seed starts to poke it's head up out of the soil. these leaves contain the food the plant needs to germinate, and then soaks up the lovely sun for the energy the plants needs to grow and produce it's true leaves. when all the yummy goodness from the cotyledon leaves are used up and the plant no longer needs them, they simply fall off. thank goodness!!!!  interesting enough, i don't remember my tomatoes from previous years doing this. some tomatoes will shed the cotyledon leaves early on, while others will stick around a little longer. well, wouldn't you know it, i checked around and it seems like this is happening in the two new varieties of tomatoes (violet jasper: small cherry type, great white: beefsteak) i am starting this year, most notably in the new beefsteak. so, for now we have averted a crisis, but you never know what's around the corner.