When the tomato seedlings come from the nursery, they are healthy and deep green in color.  They have spent their young lives in a controlled environment and were given everything they needed to become healthy plants.  Eventually though, they must leave the ideal environment of the nursery and start life as a tomato plant in the open fields.

These seedlings were planted almost a week ago and are going through “transplant shock”.  The roots are very under-developed and are just beginning to grow out of the “plug” and into the soil.  They are struggling to procure enough moisture to keep the leaf tissue healthy and are only moderately successful (the wind ins’t helping).  The tips of the leaves are the first to show the signs of lack of water because they are the furthest point from the roots.

These plants will look like this for a couple weeks but soon the roots will expand their reach and new leaves will emerge and this difficult start will be forgotten.