Picture of the top of the plant.

One more thing, we have been getting a lot of rain for us here and while the rest of my garden has been drying out fine, the WOWs really seem to keep the soil under them wet. I haven't watered inside the WOWs since they were planted, just around the outside. So too wet of soil may be an issue as well?

I also grow in WOWs, and until you get the thing off and let it grow for a while don't get too particular on how your plants look on the inside. I had several issues like yours, but as soon as the WOWs came off and they got natural light and warmer temperatures, all the issues disappeared. Overall your plants look fine, actually better than mine were, for the stage they are in. I only wish we could continue our warm weather......rainy and in the mid 40s today...yuck.

Agree with Ed. No signs of disease and at worst a bit of nutrient uptake problems due to wet cool soil. Once the WOWs come off the plants breathe a BIG sigh of relief and perk right up. How soon before you can remove them?

Dave

Ah, ok thanks. I didn't know that about using WOWs, but it makes sense given the lack of or severely reduced airflow.

Ed, that was very similar to our weather yesterday! We were supposed to have a high of 66 by early afternoon and instead it was still in the 40s at that time with heavy clouds. It wasn't until the evening and the clouds broke that it warmed up into the low 50s. It was a crazy, dreary, drizzly day!

Dave, our night lows in the extended forecast range from 43 to 52, so still not that great. Our days will be nice and warm though mostly in the mid 80s. So, guess I will be leaving them on for at least a couple more weeks.

I have 4 tomatoes currently planted in the WOWs and just purchased a 5th (a Neves Azorean) I want to plant this weekend. One of the currently planted tomatoes (Sweet Baby Girl) is almost at the top of the WOW so I was thinking of caging it and covering the cage with clear a plastic bag (open at the top during day, closed at night) so that I can move the WOW to the new plant. Does this sound like an OK plan?

Sure, it sounds ok. You must be close to your plant out date anyway. I did exactly that, and moved a WOW to a pepper plant, and just left the tomato plant uncovered unless there was frost in the forecast.

My last frost date is May 21st so we are just past that and there aren't any freezing temps in the forecast. However, we still have plenty of lows in the low 40's and we are just starting to hit 50 or 52 nighttime lows. We also get a lot of strong winds here to try and protect from. Thanks for the input, I went ahead and did that (moved the WOW). I think I may move another WOW off a tomato to my peppers so I can plant them as well. If you planted your peppers in a WOW, I can too, right?

Last year was my first year with a garden and growing tomatoes. Aside from my terribly sick, crispy looking plants and harvesting like 4 or 5 tomatoes total, I ended the season with a bunch of green tomatoes on one plant. I had no idea I could harvest them green and then ripen inside, so on the vine they died. :/ At least I won't make that mistake this year, however I would really like to have more of them ripen on the vine!! :) I am hoping by starting a couple of weeks early with the WOW and then keeping them covered with a clear trash bag will help keep them warmer. Can inside a clear bag get too warm a tomato plant in the summer even with the top open? Our highs are usually in the 80s... sometimes 90s. However I never paid much attention to the weather and temps until this Spring, so I could be wrong. :^)

Can inside a clear bag get too warm a tomato plant in the summer even with the top open?

Yes it can unless there is some sort of cross draft or moving air within. Monitor it carefully.

Dave

Thank you Dave. I will monitor it. Once our nighttime temps get warmer I think I will take it off altogether and also take it off if we have a very hot sunny day before that time.

The WOW are fine; I wouldn't use the clear bag. The water in the WOW moderates the temperature. In a clear bag it could get hot in day time and would not work at all at night. The water in WOW stores heat for night time and takes a while to heat up in the sun so doesn't get hot quickly. Even with the WOW there should be a little gap at the top for excess heat to escape.

Looks like tomato leaf mold Leaf mold is caused by the fungus, Fulvia fulva, also known as Cladosporium fulverum. This is a disease of tomatoes only

Here is a link that might be useful: Tom leaf mold

I agree with Ed and Dave that your plants look overall pretty good. This was my first year using WOW and those three plants look similar to yours. Took my WOWs off about two weeks ago when there was little danger of frost and they seem to be doing fine.

You didn't mention what varieties you grew last year. If they had a long DTM it could explain why they were still green at the end of the season. Maybe shorter DTMs, like the Earlie Annie you mentioned, will work better for your growing season. Any idea why they were sick and crispy looking?

And if you're past last frost I wouldn't cover them at all and certainly not with a clear bag -- you could easily fry them. I've never found tomatoes to be all that finicky. They'll survive cool nights and wind as long as they get sun and regular water, and once the days really warm up they'll take off.

Last year I received 3 tomato plants from a friend of a friend, who grew them from seed and had extras. She is a very knowledgeable gardener (according to my friend) and also who passed on the advice to cover with a clear bag. However it is sounding like maybe that isn't the best advice?

While I was blessed to receive these plants, I didn't really know what varieties they were! I was told one was a cherry "type", one a roma "type" and the 3rd I don't think she knew! So new and naive gardener me, said "ok, she thought this was the cherry... I have room in my bed for 2 plants, so I will put the cherry in this "large" 14" pot." :) And the comedy of errors just spirals from there with under watering, failing to use mulch, failing to use fertilizer particularly on the potted tomato and crowding the 2 in ground on top of the too small container for the cherry.

I have been reading and learning a ton and am really trying to have better success this year. I guess it will just take time and experience before I can recognize when a problem is something to worry about or not. However when my first tomato gets BER, I promise not to blame or ask about calcium. ;)

The longest DTM I am growing is 80 days. I hope that is not overly ambitious for a new gardener in my growing season. I did choose Earlie Annie for its shorter DTM in case the longer DTM is an issue.

However when my first tomato gets BER, I promise not to blame or ask about calcium. ;)

Halleluja!!! :-) Give yourself a BIG pat on the back..

Dave

Dave, I thought you might appreciate that. :)

Thanks again everyone for the great advice.

Ditto to what Dave said! I wish more people read and processed information as well as you do.

Good luck with your garden!

Betsy