I have been gardening in raise beds and have had serious gopher problems. So this past winter I dug out my best to 18" deep and lined the bottom and sides below ground level with 1/4" thick cement board (tile board backer). Drilled plenty of holes in it for drainage and replaced all the soil. I constantly dig holes in my beds and bury our kitchen waste and let the worms do the rest.

this year my tomatoes look anemic with the lower leaves curled and turning brown. It could be that I over fertilized. I applied fish emulsion weekly and also a diluted about of scotts tomatoe miracle grow weekly.

I replaned a few new tomatoes and didn't fertilize, they seem to be doing fine. Once a plant is over fertilized is there any hope of saving it, or am I better off just replacing them?

Or could this have something to do with the cement board. My soil is soft after years of composting and having added a little sand to help break it up.

Hi,

Overfertilization can definately cause issues with plants and result in poor growth due to root damage. the only way to correct overfertlization is to apply lots of water to leach away any nutrients. In your case though you might also look at the drainage and if the soils are being kept too wet. this can lead to failures as the roots are in a constant wet soil which lmits their ability to grow. check that, check that you have enough drainage holes, check how and how much you water. The cement board might be an issue if you are talking about raising th pH of the soil. Plants damaged by too much fertililzer may recover if leached and if the drainage is good enough for that amount of water to be applied with damage.