Hello - I was wondering if someone could help me.
I am in the Upstate of SC, zone 7b.

I have my 6 (+) week old tomato plants outside being hardened off. I was planning on planting them this weekend (5/10/14).

I went to bring them in and three well established plants were bent over at the soil level. The stem at the soil level and 1 inch below is shriveled and then the stem is good to the roots - looks like dampening off. The stem area affected is not black or necrotic just atrophied. But these are not seedlings...any ideas?

They are planted in a composted soil. I did add chicken manure this year to my compost but I am sure it was well rotted and the compost was in no way too hot. They have been in this soil for at least two weeks since being potting up to a larger pot size. The previous soil was Jiffy.

I am concerned the rest of the lot will go this way - which would be a major bummer.

Thanks.

This post was edited by LKZZ on Wed, May 7, 14 at 18:08