How do the roots look on the wilted/dead plants? Around here, I'd be very suspicious of gophers in a case like this, but it sounds unlikely for you.

Frustrating.

BTW, my garden suffers from Fusarium wilt and the symptoms are very different from what you describe.

good luck.

That is strange. I have a wilt problem as well but different from yours. I have a small 4x8 bed that has 5 plants in it, and for some reason they wilt during the heat of the day. Even after watering at the base of the plants the day before. I had this problem last year as well but the plants always responded to water. I suspected RKN but when I pulled the plants at the end of the season, there was no sign of RKN. The plants in that same bed started wilting on me this week. So I took a soaker hose and put it on a trickle and let it run overnight to moisten the surrounding soil as well. The plants havent wilted since but I feel like I am overwatering at this point. When I pulled the plants last year, the root structure wasnt even close in development to plants in a different bed. A bed which I dont have to water but maybe once a week and the plants never wilt. I dont understand it but wish I did. I do plan on trying Actinovate on my plants the next time I grow.

There are no yellow leaves. No black spots. Just beautiful, full plants that wilt from one day to the next although they are well fed and watered.

****

And they then die?

The only disease I know of that can cause rapid wilting with green leaves o/n is Bacterial Wilt.

Why don't you do some Googling and look at some pictures and decide for yourself?

Fusarium and Verticillium don't have such a rapid onset at all and foliage infections don't show wilting. And if it were Root Knot Nematodes, common in certain parts of the US, they don't go down o'n as you've said.

You say zone 9 but don't say where and many diseases are regionalized so it would help if you could share with us roughly where you're growing these tomatoes.

What was planted in the area before where you're now planting?

What is the source of your compost and it's composted what?

I can't see that every plant you'd buy would be already infected with a systemic disease such as Bacterial Wilt so that's why I'm concentrating on another, more local environmental possible problem. Was it the same store you bought your plants from each time?

Bacterial Wilt has at least 200 other plant species it can infect. One thing you can do is to cut a piece of freshly wilted stem and submerge it in a glass of water and look for the streaming of a milky white exudate from the stem into the water.

Carolyn

You guys are a God send- how did people garden before the internet??????

It sounds like they have bacterial wilt....which of course seems to have no chemical control. What is funny is that I am in a new development with brand new fill dirt, plants, mulch. I am in the Tampa Bay Area - Southern Pasco county. Of course the bacterial wilt could have been in any one of those, but I suspect I introduced it with the plants I bought at Home Depot and Lowes. I planted the plants in japanese tomato rings using black kow compost, peat moss and 6-6-6 fertilizer. I did not even use my own compost from fear it may have some sort of bacteria- I guess I was pretty stupid to think that!

From what I can tell from research on the 'net, bacterial wilt lasts a long time, spreads like wild fire and there is no effective control. Is that correct or do you guys know of something I can do to fight back? I put so much work into those little babies- I can't believe they're going to just up and die.......

As for growing the tomatoes in containers- what do you guys do? Put them in 5 or 10 gal black nursery pots with a soil mix or do you have another suggestion? And how do you keep them watered when you have them in pots (when I plant mine in pots I have to water EVERY day....)

THANKS AGAIN!

everythingirl1

Before deciding that it's bacterial wilt picked up from Home Depot or Lowe's, check out Carolyn's test.

Then decide what to blame and what to do! :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Solarization and Bacterial Wilt

I was at the local Lowes two days ago and saw Septoria Leaf Speck and/or Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus on larger plants that were coming off the truck from Bonnie Plants. Looking around the veggies already on the racks, I saw two Cherokee Purple toms with what had all the sypmtoms of Bacterial Speck.

I alerted the vendor workers to what I had seen and then alerted Lowes' Department Manager. The vendor folks said they were there to unload and basically could care less. The Lowes employee was very concerned, agreed with me, and isolated the sick plants.

I'm glad that I'm growing everything from seed this year. I think Bonnie Farms might need an internal look-see.

Ted

An often overlooked cause of wilting in tomato plants is from the toxin produced in the roots of walnut trees. This is probably not the cause of wilt in this case (more likely bacterial wilt). If you have walnut trees in the area where you are growing tomatoes and experience sudden wilt symptoms from which the plants don't recover, it is most likely from the toxin in the walnut roots. Roots of walnut trees can extend many feet from the base of the tree so the trees don't have to be close to the tomato plants. Tomato plants affected by walnut wilt usually show the symptoms later in the season after planting when the tomato roots penetrate down to where the walnut root is located. Some other vegetables are also susceptible to walnut wilt.

[I used] 6-6-6 fertilizer

LOL. Maby your problem is spraying Bad luck on your plants.
Sorry just saying.. :P

Ted, I hear you about the foliage diseases but as I said above I doubt highly that systemic diseases such as Bacterial Wilt or Fusarium or Verticillium or similar would be found with plants sold at the big box stores.

And yes, tomatobreeder, we've had posts here about Juglone and Walnut and Butternut toxicity due to the juglone, but surprisingly it doesn't seem to happen all that much. And I read/post at several places and here for about 10 years and while it does come up from time to time, the incidence doesn't seem to be that great. But good for you note it as well.

Carolyn

Am I assuming they are wilting within just a couple days of putting out? If that's the case, I would suggest they may not have been hardened off before you bought them?
Can you provide more info?
Thanks

Carolyn writes:

Ted, I hear you about the foliage diseases but as I said above I doubt highly that systemic diseases such as Bacterial Wilt or Fusarium or Verticillium or similar would be found with plants sold at the big box stores.
------------------------------------------------------------

Carolyn, I say this with tongue in cheek - You must not get out much lately. The quality of plants sold at the big box stores is not just bad, it gets worse every year. The best description of them is "STRESSED" to the max. And you have to remember that ALL of the "big box" stores get their plants from Bonnie. Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, Kmart, Ace Hardware, and many of the local nurseries all have the same selection of Bonnie Plants. In my area, I have one small nursery in the little town of Oakwood and one more in Lawrenceville that raise their own varieties from seed. Together, they have 19 different varieties of tomatoes, and those are mostly Hybrids.

The department manager at the Lowes I went to is a rare bird indeed at retailers. She has a Masters Degree in Horticulture, and is currently a victim of the economic "re-de-pr-c-ession". So, I'm very confident in the diagnoses.

Last year, many plants from Bonnie had Bacterial Wilt. It seemed to have been delivered all over this area of the country.

Ted

Last year, many plants from Bonnie had Bacterial Wilt. It seemed to have been delivered all over this area of the country.

****

Actual diagnosed and documented to be Bacterial Wilt?

That's really hard for me to believe or lets say I don't want to believe it. ( smile)

Nah, I don't get out much during the winter. I last drove on the first Tuesday of Nov until two weeks ago Saturday when I went to my fave Chinese place and have driven out now 3 X. LOL It's jusut too darn risky to go out in the winter with this walker, so says my orthopedic surgeon and so say I.

We have Lowes and Walmart and all of those about an hours drive from me in Glens Falls, but why the heck would I even BUY a tomato plant. ( grin)

Carolyn

Questions:
* Did it start on the lower leaves during the day, perk a little at night when it cooled down?
* Any browning in the vascular system?

Other ways to tell, but I still say "shock" IMHO

The saga continues: This morning the GQ was perked up a bit. But by midday, it is wilted like yesterday. And now, the beefsteak nearby (about 2 ft. away) is wilted down to the floor. Soil is moist, etc. So not lack of water.

The German Queen plant was planted in early March, so I can't imagine it is transplant shock- but you tell me- could it be? I cut off a large sucker on the GQ plant and saw no milky exudate characteristic of BW. So, don't know what is going on.......

The beefsteak that wilted down to the floor was planted in mid-March, so again- no transplant shock, right? I pulled it out of the ground and cut the stem at the base. I put the stem in a glass of water- saw no milky exudate. I saw some browning in the interior center of the stem- nothing dark brown, just very light tan color- you would miss it if you weren't specifically looking for it. Roots were nice and white, no galls characteristic of nematodes. No caterpillars, etc. This plant also had no brown leaves; no yellow, black or brown spots. Just beautiful thick stem and leaves characteristic of Beefsteak and now today, wilted over.........

BTW, thanks for all of your posts and helps. It's so wonderful to have such great thoughts and advice. Gardeners are just the "bestest" and nicest people ever!

Well the German Queen planted mid March is a stumper. You're right, can't be transplant shock if it hasn't moved from its current location. The browning in the stem has me lifting my eyebrows. Ted may be correct. Notice I said MAY be? :-)

What is close by to your garden bed?
What runs under it?
What runs alongside it?
Are you watering with well water, softened water or city water?
Did you fertilize?

Hi everythingirl,
You're in a new development with "brand new fill dirt"; plants apparently not wilting due to bacterial wilt/roots normal/vegetation fine.
? Can the sudden wilt "to the ground" be occurring when a bio-chemical threshold is reached that stymies the ions involved in osmotic balance &/or water uptake ?
Consider that the plants are shutting down, choked off, dehydrating & collapsing.
Lost vascular lift of water may not be the problem; after all the plants start out lush & have turgidity.
It seems to be more of a circulatory reverse of the plant fluids, draining down & leaving the stem empty.
Maybe the reason the plants were healthy so long can mean that it took that time period for the roots to reach the depth where the reactive compounds are nestled.

Be patient with me as I ask the following questions which may lead to an answer to your problem.
1. This is a newly constructed house?
2. How close to the house did you plant tomatoes last year? This year? Any chance that these spots were close to the back door or garage door?
3. Assuming that you are planting in the backyard what is its approximate yardage?
4. Any chance that you are planting your tomatoes close to house foundation or concrete sidewalks?
5. If you have recently landscaped the property do all those plants appear to be in good health?

Last year a couple of plants that had to be culled because of Southern Blight. It does start off as a wilting plant. Use the link below and scroll down to the effected plant photos.

Here is a link that might be useful: Huang Se Chieh

Nandina- you may be on to something:

House was built 03/2008.

Pine bark Mulch beds surround this part of the house, initally planted with ligustrum, muhly grass, liriope and palms.

No Gutters on roof, so water goes straight down house and percolates through mulch beds.

I planted the tomatoes in this mulch bed about 4 feet from wall of house.

This site gets light shade in the AM and full sun in PM.

First time planting tomatoes in this area.

Here's how the plants are doing: Ligustrum has sooty mold and are kind of leggy. Viburnum is vibrant. Holly is straggly. Oak is fine. Magnolia tree was chopped down due to fungus in core. Palms are fine. Lantana is fine. Cypress tree is fine. Pine trees are fine. Citrus trees are a battle - I planted them on west side of house which held a lot of water and they almost drowned to death. I moved them to a drier area and now they are fine. Peach tree has some sort of rust I am fighting with sulfur. Squash and Cucumber are failing to thrive and now have spray damage from oil spray. Green beans and sugar snap peas are great. Potatoes are fine. Radish is fine. Muhly grass is full. Liriope were straggly and weed prone so I pulled them all up.

Lots size is about 75 X 150, so backyard is about 2700 sq. ft.

I planted in this spot because I always try to keep tomatoes separate as they tend to get lots of bugs, etc. in FL and usually if I isolate them, they do much better. At this point I think I just messed up in planting them in an area that has a higher humidity point + mulch bed + close to house. I should have known better, really. I guess the question now becomes do I just leave the remaining 7 plants in the ground or pull them all up in order to control the disease spread?

A few quick thoughts about new construction. It is quite common to have growing problems around doorways. During the building process all sorts of paints/thinners/lacquer dregs may be tossed out building openings 'poisoning' the soil for years in spots where they land. If one has trouble growing in areas such as these it might be necessary to remove the soil and replace wih new. A common, unrecognized problem. Ditto where carpenters have set up to build extensive treated wood decking. The sawdust from these treated woods can cause growing problems and the homeowner wonders why the grass will not grow in certain spots.

Also, new concrete foundations/sidewalks will leach lime for many years, raising the soil pH which impedes growth of acid loving plants.

In FL. it is best to grow tomatoes in containers placed in morning sun, afternoon shade or in dappled shade under trees or palms. Surface soil should be mulched to prevent disease spores splashing up onto leaves. I have found that the best mulch is coir (coconut matting) torn into pieces and fitted around the tomatoes as it does not encourage disease. I also mulch basil, peppers, squash and other tender veggies with coir, all container grown.

You recognize that humidity is a problem. Sometimes you just have to do the trial and error method of growing, finally ending up with those plants that survive adverse conditions.

Everythingirl-
Sounds like what you have may well be what I ran into and the best diagnosis I was able to make was bacterial wilt. My tomatoes would grow very well early on and up till the point they began loading up with tomatoes. Then one day usually before the first tomato would ripen, a part or most of the plant would show severe wilting, from top down. The wilt would just show up and within a day or two the entire plant would be affected. I have also had it affect pepper and eggplants. Happened two years and over the summer ended up losing all my plants. Begins when temperatures increase to a high enough level and there is lots of humidity and moisture.

After the second year, not wanting to try to solarize, I switched my tomatoes to containers, planting peppers and eggplants where the affected tomatoes had been and began having the same problem with the peppers and eggplant. Tomatoes did well until rains hit when roots had grown enough that they reached through to the ground I had put the tomatoes on. Wilt then hit the tomatoes in the containers. Since then have raised all my containers off the ground and have never again had the wilt problem. I use the ground space where I had wilt problems for greens,beans,okra, brocolli, cauliflower and other stuff and all of it is not affected by the wilt

Do you have an office of the Florida cooperative extension close to you? If so, they may be your best source for an accurate diagnosis of your tomato problem. Most extensions either have somebody in the office who is trained to make a diagnosis or they will send it to the disease lab at your state university. This is a free service. As you can tell, these long distance answers are just (educated) guesses at best. Call the extension office for their guidelines for submitting plants. Don't take it on a Friday since it will likely sit over the weekend and be a mushy mess by Monday when they get to it, or will spend too much time in transport to the lab.

Another consideration is the possibility of too much water. You said they are in a bed that gets runoff from the roof. What has the weather been like? Lots of rain? Is the soil soggy or just moist? Most plants need air circulation at the roots as well as moisture. It can be a delicate balance. If the soil mix in the bed is too heavy with peat or compost, it may be holding too much water. Just something else to throw into the mix of things to consider.

Sandy

Reread the thread and wanted to add, knowing the frustration you are going through and still thinking you have bacterial wilt I have had: container growing is more challenging. I got into using five gallon containers, which many will tell you are too small, but I have grown mostly large and small heirlooms, and some hybrids, all from seed, with very good success. I also have two homemade 18 gallon self-watering containers I made after I got into the five gallon containers, which also are self watering. If you go to containers: The smaller the container, the more frequently you will need to water and fertilize. Especially in FL you will do well to shade your containers to reduce root temperatures. I currently am using Al's 5:1:1 mix, Foliage Pro & Protekt fertilizers, all of which you can find lots of documentation on in the container forum, as well as very good general info about growing in containers and fertilizing from Al's(aka 'tapla')other posts. "rnewst" postings on this forum and on the container forum have great info on growing in his larger 31 gal., MG potting mix, container approach, which is a more efficient fertilization and watering approach, and a more expensive approach, than in smaller containers. If you go along the lines of his approach, you will cover the need to anchor large plants from damage from the winds as well as the need to support them, which you will otherwise have to address if you don't use his approach. And you can develop your own container growing approach, using the info from them and your own choices, as I have....but any way you go, there can be very successful tomato growing after bacterial wilt!

I think it comes down to right plant/right place. I tried to pick an isolated area for the tomatoes and ended up (i think) picking the worst spot. It was cool in Feb/Early march, then it warmed up in 80s (when symptoms first started) and then we got rain/cold spell in last 2 weeks. Today I noticed some browning of leaf edges and yellow (characteristic of F/V wilt?) on the GQ. But the beefsteaks that died had none of this. I am going to take the leaves to the IFAS ext next week. I'll post what they tell me. THANKS! I just reaized I can't upload pics to GW- how do u guys do it? I put some on my blog--

http://soykasgarden.blogspot.com/

but can someone tell me how they put their pics on GW so I don't have to always put up my blog?

I had a friend with a similar problem. It was traced to fertilizer dessication. Much too much commercial fertilizer in the soil around the tomato roots. She moved the new replacements to unfertilized soil and the problem was solved.

everything girl: Go to photobucket.com, sign up for a free account. Upload your pictures to it. They give you the "code" to post the pictures when you movve your mouse over them.

Peace - Steve

everythinggirl,

I was wondering too like greenhouser. Do you sidedress your tomato plants with fertilizer, and how?

The other big question. How did you till the soil where you planted your tomatoes, and how deep did you go?