Yellow slightly withered tomato leaves

May i ask for a bit of advice please. Obviously with the lockdown I wasnt able to go to the garden centre to buy plants and so ordered tomato plants online, when they arrived a couple of days ago in cardboard packaging, the leaves on the beef ones looked yellow and withered, although the root area was moist and packaged within a plastic bag...could this be because of them being kept in the dark so to speak, or are they dying? If so is there anything I can do to help revive them? If it's the kiss of life they need then i shall pucker up , I have potted them up and watered, not sure if I should feed them or leave them for a couple of weeks to see what they do? Many thanks in advance for any help.

 

Tomato plants sent through the post just need to be plonked into a tray or tub of water for twenty minutes to pep them up - the floppy leaves will turn turgid again as they return to normal.

As for the yellowing, don't worry too much about it. My own plants will be a sickly yellow colour by the time I plant them outdoors as I don't feed them. But, they will turn green again once planted out for a short period of time.

What you must look out for are signs of damage to the main stem and possibly rotting roots - the surrounding compost will look and smell bad as a result.

 

@misterQ thank you so much for your reply. That's fantastic I was gutted thinking they were ruined before I'd even got my hands on them, the compost didnt smell bad and the roots looked okay too, so I shall keep giving them TLC and hoping they grow

 

But, don't mollycoddle them too much.

Instead, put them through cycles of drought and deep watering. This will toughen them up as they develop more stronger roots in response to the drought.

Feed with fertiliser at half the recommended strength at the frequency recommended on the bottle/packet - a balanced fertiliser or one high in nitrogen is best before flowering.

Once they start to flower, then you keep the compost/soil at a near constant moisture level to aid fruiting and to prevent the tomatoes from splitting.

 

Thank you so very much @misterQ you are an absolute star, I really appreciate the help and advice