black krim wilting

10 years ago

I retired a year ago April 1 2012 after working 2 jobs for 20 yrs. I always loved gardening yet didn't have the time nor energy to properly take care of a garden.
Now with the time I rolled my sleeves up and went to work at the job I love and now is my passion.
I decided to go organic for the first time and considering the drought and several days in a row of 100 plus degree days in early July here in So. Central Indiana . My first garden ( 30 X 40 ft.) was in my opinion quite successful, considering the conditions.
My water bill of course exploded to 3 times the norm for a couple of months but it was well worth it.
Much of my success can be attributed to this site and the internet, especially with all the help I got in going organic for the first time .
Sorry to ramble but as I told you gardening is my passion and I could go on and on . I love it almost as much as I love my wife, kids and grandkids.
So, to the point . I have always grown hybrid tomato's in the past when I did have time to garden . But this year I have some hybrids and bought some heirloom seeds of several different types from Tomato Fest . For the first time I started my own seedlings with great success.
From what I have learned the heirlooms are more succeptible to diseases and blight.
I'm posting pictures of 3 Black Krims , 2 of which are wilting and one still healthy . One of the wilting ones is severe and the other has just started at the top . This all started about 4 days ago on what looked like healthy plants with several blooms, both nice and green with no yellowing . I thought it might be a lack of water , although I have 70 tomato plants out and have been watering them all equally. So 2 days ago I had some rain water in a 5 gal bucket and gave them both about half a gallon apiece in the morning . 24 hrs later no change , maybe worse . So I gave them another half gallon yesterday , still no better this morning , defineitly worse .
My question is . I s there a possibility that whatever this is it could be contagious, and should I pull the plants or try to save them in some way. There are other plants near that are healthy and I would rather sacrifice a couple than take any chance of losing others. Although I was looking so forward to harvesting and and saving seeds from the highly touted Black Krim.

Comments (4)

Marshallkey
Original Author
10 years ago
The second Black Krim . Wilting at the top !
Marshallkey
Original Author
10 years ago
I cut a big sucker off and have it in water now for 1 hour . No milky substance leaking into the water so far . Also the sucker had no discoloration internally . As a matter of fact the core looked very healthy although the leaves were wilted . Also no moles .
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lionheart_gw (USDA Zone 5A, Eastern NY)
10 years ago
One of the first things I think of when hearing "wilt" is herbicide damage. From what I can see, there appears to be no disease present, so that makes me wonder about herbicides.

Did you use manure? If so, it could be contaminated with 2,4-D , which is applied to weeds, consumed by animals, and passes through their digestive tracts intact and deposited with the manure.

The other type of herbicide, generally sprayed, is glyphosate (i.e. Roundup). Tomatoes are particularly sensitive to this herbicide and it only takes a little bit dispersing through the air to make them wilt and curl.

If none of those apply, the damage looks mechanical. If you've pulled any out, have you looked at the roots? I wouldn't be too concerned about moles, but voles are another matter, and they've been known to gnaw roots to little nubs, although they seem to prefer more woody roots, like trees and shrubs. They also love potatoes and sweet potatoes.

I don't see any obvious diseases - no spots. no yellowing. I'm pretty sure it's either herbicide damage or perhaps some sort of damage to the roots, at this stage.
Marshallkey
Original Author
10 years ago
THX lionheart . The only thing I have used is a scoop of rabbit manure in the planting hole when planting, and a scoop of finished compost from my compost pile as I did with all 70 plants .No use of Roundup ! Yet I did recently go to my local landfill and got a truckload of there unfinished compost and mulched around all 70 plants. I guess it could be that the few shovels full that I put around those plants had something in them.The rest of the plants look great. I have some Kelloggs Breakfast that are 5 feet tall already .Its the first time Ive grown them. The must be a bohemus plant . Its a mystery to me whats happening to the Krim. I guess I'll just have to watch them wilt away . I will eventually pull one up and check the roots .