My babies are dieing!!!!!!

If someone could please give me some suggestions with my problems, it would be much appreciated! Thank you in advance!

My tomato plants seem to be slowly dieing. They are about 9 weeks old. The leaves turn yellow from the tips and then down into the entire leaf. Eventually, the whole leaf and its stem shrivel up and die. New growth comes in everywhere and it looks great at first, but it is starting to turn yellow now.

I bought a cheap pH kit and the soil seems to be slightly acidic, but not much (it is very hard to tell with the kit I have). I have never fertilized. 2 night ago, I cut the bottoms off of the 2 pots I'm using. Previously, the pots had built in reservoirs. I pour about 40 ounces of water into each plant and let as much as possible drain out of the bottom into my bath tub (my attempt at flushing/draining the soil)

ALSO! I had a bad fungus gnat problem. I used neem oil and they seem to be gone (no visible bugs for about a week now)

Should I get new soil? What kind?
Should I add some lime to balance the pH?
Should I start fertilizing?

Please help,
Any suggestions/advice is very much appreciated! Thank you!

Could you be over watering? What are you using for lights?

Man you need to start back at square 1. Anything could be wrong with it. Be more specific. Sounds like you need to get some reliable pH testing equipment first of all. Check your water if you're using tap water. What lights? Wouldn't start fertilizing until you fix this problem........

I'm using (2) fixtures each with (2) 48 inch lights, so 4 bulbs total. 40 watts. Is there a better kind of bulb I could get?

Do you think I should try to balance the pH with a little lime?

Well first you need to figure out what the pH is.... what is the exact pH of your soil and of the water you are using? Are you in flowering right now if they are 9 weeks or are you still vegging? And why did you cut the bottoms of the pots off?

you need to fertilize them if you havent already. They are dying ccause they have no food. Stop starving your plants!

Do you think it might be helpful to get new soil? Is that really tramatic for the plant?

Your soil should be fine as long as it was new and has good drainage

Add a nitrogen base B1 supplement: B.Seaweed, BeeOne, B-52, and use as a foliar spray as directed. the leaves should return somewhat green in a couple of days if this is the case, add a nitrogen based (High N-Low P-Mid K) fert while watering.

The yellow leave will not turn back green and will most likley fall off but you should stop the yellowing. dont be afraid to feed your plants. That was the biggest mistake I made in my first grow. I read so much and got paranoid about burning my plants with nutes and I just starved them. I produced very little weed

Sounds like they need some nitrogen. Get some ferts man your baby's will love you.

Recap:

1. Visit HomeDepot and obtain $15 pH tester. It will eventually go bad, but will play a vital role in allowing you to check the pH of your soil over the next few whatever if you can't afford more elaborte means of testing pH (ie. a digital pen)
2. Identify soil pH. Also, if topsoil was used, transplant plants into pots twice the size of their current ones, but let the medium in the new pots consist of a soilless mix such as those mentioned in the video tutorial available via youtube present by high times called "ready set grow". Such a recommended mix, and my personal own is 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 perlite (extra perlite) Then fill off the sides and top with the soilless mix.. This will allow for oxygen to get to the roots better and for the substances present in the curent soil mix to be pushed out via flushing, like reverse wick. Flush 1 gallon per gallon of soil content that will fit in the pot in question.
3. Allow plants a few days to recover from transplant, they may droop.. just be patient for them to perk back up.
4. Use very low level nutrients in soil, as it is easy for these undisolved salts to build up over time, creating a more acidic medium.
5. Smile, snap shots

I would agree,feed you plants or they will die lol