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Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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Posted by
ladon SoCal 10A (
My Page) on
Tue, May 21, 13 at 23:37
| I have been very happy with the progress of my tomato plants this year. I have 13 varieties of heirlooms that I've planted and most of them are already between 6-7 feet tall and starting to fruit. They are the healthiest I've ever had them in my 10+ years of growing. Suddenly, this morning, I walk outside and one of my plants is completely wilted. It is the only one. I have had the plants on a weekly rotation of actinovate and excel/LG mixture, and copper fungicides to try and avoid any fungal infections. The soil is all natural, amended only with my own compost and a bit of E.B. Stone granular fertilizer at planting. I've been monitoring their water levels carefully. All the other plants look great. I have noticed that this plant was shorter than the others, but still healthy and bearing fruit. This change was also very sudden... literally over night. Nothing was added to the soil in the past week. Can anyone maybe offer some guesses or hints? I'm guessing I will have to pull this plant and start again....but I'm pretty bummed about that prospect. Thoughts? 
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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| That looks pretty serious. At the risk of asking a stupid?, have you watered recently? Other than that it might be something affecting the main stem or roots. I'd carefully inspect near the soil line. |
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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| I have been watering every 3 days. They were watered this morning and the photo was taken at about 6:30 this evening. As I mentioned all the other plants look fine. |
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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| Tomatoes seem to be sensitive to certain chemicals. Years ago I planted tomatoes unde the canopy of black walnut and thety wilted(just like yours) and died one after another. I hope other readers will shed more light on ths. |
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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| The only chemicals they've been exposed to, as I mentioned are actinovate and excel/lg which were applied 2 weeks ago, and copper spray, applied on Saturday. The plant has had treatments of both in the past with no problems....and I live in LA....there are no gophers here. LOL |
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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- Posted by bets z6A ID (My Page) on
Wed, May 22, 13 at 11:39
| Don, did that plant perk up in the evening? I've had some plants that would get very wilty looking in the heat of the day and perk up in the evening. It has been a while, but if I recall correctly, I found that the dripper at the tomatoes that did that were partially blocked (darn bugs!) and when I replaced the drippers, the plants stopped drooping durning the day. Also, it looks like you are growing in a raised bed, correct? Have you checked the soil moisture level at that plant and compared it to the non-droopy plants? Perhaps the position it has in the bed is in a spot that drains more rapidly than the others, or conversely, it might be in a spot that holds water (both because of the substructure below the bed.) Betsy |
This post was edited by bets on Wed, May 22, 13 at 12:06
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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| Google fusarium or verticillium wilt. They're tomato diseases that causes the sudden onset of wilting and are irreparable. Unless your plant is a hybrid resistant to these two diseases, this is what it looks like to me. Watering stress would not cause something this severe. |
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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| Nubiegardener....you may have nailed it. When I googled fusarium and verticillium wilt, it described the problem pretty closely to what I'm experiencing. I will give the plant another day to see how it progresses, but I'm thinking I will probably have to pull this plant. In addition to the wilting of the plant, the fact that this plant is also stunted in growth compared to my other plants is also a clue. I now have additional questions: 1) Was this plant contaminated as a seedling or did it develop fusarium or verticillium from my soil. I'm suspicious, because I bought 2 of these seedlings from a grower and my friend who got the other one also had trouble with his plant. The difference is that his died in the first week. Mine is now 2 months old. Can fusarium or verticillium take 2 months to manifest?
2) If I remove this plant now, what can I do to protect the other plants that are in my raised beds? I live in Los Angeles, and don't have the space to plant elsewhere on my property....ie. no crop rotation.
3) If I replace this plant, I assume planting a variety that is resistant to fusarium or verticillium is best. Can anyone recommend disease resistant varieties, or is there a resource to find them? Thanks all,
Don |
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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| I was going to guess gopher, too. Are you sure there are none in LA? I don't see why there wouldn't be. But if you have been gardening for a while and not met them, I guess it is most likely not a gopher. Anyway, you will know when you pull out the plant. If there are no roots, it was probably a gopher. (And if so, you better find the tunnel and set traps before they get the rest of your garden) --McKenzie |
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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| No change in the plant today...I think I'm going to pull it. Still early enough in the season to replant and its one of 13 plants. One thing I did notice this morning was there were a number of earthworms in the surface soil close to the base of the plant. Don't know if this is indicative of anything.... I also took a cutting from one of the limp branches and put it in water to see if it had the white ooze that I've read may indicate bacterial wilt. Didn't see any white ooze after 30 minutes before leaving for work. But plant certainly doesn't look like it's recovering....all leaves are wilted and soft. :( |
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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- Posted by bets z6A ID (My Page) on
Thu, May 23, 13 at 17:03
| In my experience, earthworms on the surface of the soil indicates very wet soil. They are kinda like tomato roots, they have to have air spaces in the soil to breath. It may mean nothing, or it might mean you do have a very wet spot where that plant is. Betsy |
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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| Before you jump on the V and F wilt bandwagon contact your local county extension service and ask if they are even present in your part of CA. Both diseases are primarily prevalent in only certain parts of the country and I can't recall if either has been reported in SoCal. Plus the onset is normally not immediate failure of the entire plant. Normally there is slight wilting, yellow leaves, only 1 side of the plant, etc. Of course there are always exceptions. If you pull the plant there is an easy test to determine - slice open the stem and you will note a muddy brown, foul smelling core. If it is V. wilt the discoloration will be near the base. If F. wilt it will extend up the stem. Far more common is some sort of damage to the root ball itself either from injury, pests or excess moisture. And your comment on watering so frequently - every 3 days - makes me suspect that it may simply have grown as a shallow rooted plant in response. The vent right behind it - what, if anything comes out that vent? A/C, clothes dryer heat, anything that could be affecting it? Let us know what you discover. Dave |
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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| And for the record, gophers are prevalent thruout SoCal in both urban and rural areas, including LA. I have lost large plants from gophers before. Looks identical to what you posted. Comes on overnight and affects the entire plant. |
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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| Can't help with the wilt, but to seysonn, never plant under a walnut tree. They do something to the soil around them that makes it uninhabitable for most other plants. |
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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| Per seysonn and caryltoo, I have three different heirlooms just under the edge of a walnut tree canopy. All three were doing well until last week one had a couple of branches wilt, now today the whole plant is, and it looks like a second might be starting. Until the walnut tree comments, I thought maybe I had pruned it too severely (training up a vertical pole). |
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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| Gary, it's the walnut tree roots that emit a toxin and it can hurt plants as far away as 50 feet from the edge of the canopy. A few plants can deal with the toxin, but tomatoes aren't one of them. Phlox, goldenrod, violets and wild bergamot are some that can. |
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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I don't know if this will be helpful or not. I have been having the same experience with two of my Mortgage Lifter tomatoes. One wilted completely in the sun and the other had some wilted branches. By dusk they both had recovered.
They are planted next to a south facing garage so I think the reflected heat is a factor. Also we have had 4 inches of rain each week for weeks, and the rains finally stopped and the sun has come out strong. |
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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| I had this problem last year i.e. wilting during the day and reviving overnight. It turned out that something had chewed all around the base of the stem where it meets the ground! Cutworms with weak teeth? (LOL) I never found out. I suspected some kind of rot, so pulled a plant and discovered that the roots were absolutely fine. I piled soil up around the base of two of the affected plants and they put out more roots and were saved. |
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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| up till two weeks ago my plants were big and strong. the leaves have all started to wilt. i know it not a gopher as i have never seen one in my nighborhood. i water every day and feed every other day. |
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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Visiting Germany I saw incredible tomatoes growing within thick high hedges. When I questioned lack of sun I was told Germans consider Tomatoes shade plants. This year I am doing an experiment on my west facing Lanai in Southwest Fl. I have 20 plants from seed in large pots - they get Sun only when the sun passes over our building (about 1:30 to 6:30 or 5 hrs). 10 get sun through a dark screen which is cuts down the sun quite a bit. The other 10 get it direct.
Results so far: All are thriving even with the 4-5 hrs sun they get. Those that get their sun through the screen have blossoms (35 so fasr), those with direct sun have no blossoms but the plants look great.
The ones that get direct sun wilt during the direct sun period, the others do not. Within 2 hrs past direct sun the wilted plants recover.
All are watered the same and I use a soil moisture meter to follow that (ususally every 3 days). I will continue the expt a bit longer but will likely get my 10 Sunnies behind a screen. |
RE: Tomato plant suddenly wilting....Help!
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Good info about shade tolerance of tomatoes.
In my garden I get about 4-5 hrs of direct sun. Last year it was ok. The problem was long extended rainy cool spring weather. I consider 5- 6 hrs quite adequate for tomatoes in warm climates like south and central Florida. In bright day, the plants also use the indirect light for their need, though it is of low intensity.Shade is not a TOTAL DARKNESS. |
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