| Gentlemen: We have a large garden (80 tomato plants) and the tomatoes have been healthy and bushy and have had plenty of water. The ground is not dry. They are in cages. Just today we noticed that about 12 of them are drooping and wilting as if they are dying. What could be the cause of this and what should we do about it? Sincerely Sherry Little |
| I'm so sorry your plants aren't doing well! Overwatering can cause plants to wilt, because saturated roots eventually die, and can't supply the plant with moisture. There are a number of diseases that can lead to tomato wilt. Fusarium and verticillium wilt symptoms include wilting, and a yellowing of leaves from the bottom of the plant upwards. If you cut through a thick basal stem, you'll see dark streaks in the center. These are soil-borne fungal diseases that must be prevented since they cannot be cured. The best way to avoid the problem is to relocate your tomato patch to a new spot every year, and to keep rotate the planting on a 3-5 year schedule. If you check each tomato variety listed in the catalog, you'll notice that some say "disease resistant, resists verticillium and fusarium wilts, etc." It's very important to choose varieties that specify that they are resistant to fusarium. Note, however, that even resistant plants can contract fusarium, especially if you have nematodes in your soil that create wounds in the roots. It is very important to destroy your infected plants. Do NOT put them in your compost. Bacterial canker, which shows up first as wilting, and develops into small white spots with dark centers on leaves, and brown, cracking stems. There's no cure for it -- you need to get rid of the plants. The disease can be spread from infected seeds or plant debris. Bacterial wilt is sneakier. Plants wilt in the afternoon, and by morning recover, and this cycle continues until an entire side or stalk of the plant has wilted. Yellowing seldom occurs -- leaves and stalks just wilt and curl up. If you open a stem, it'll be filled with oozing slime (yuk!). Prevention is the only "cure" for these bacterial wilts. Use resistant and disease-free varities, and clean up all plant debris at the end of a season. I wish I could be more hopeful for you, but at this point, I would suggest pulling the wilted plants and destroying them. Perhaps the disease will not spread to the rest of the plants. Good luck! |
