ISPL becoming limp all over :(

[tnkrer]

Last couple of days, the leaves on this plant Indian Stripe (PL) are becoming limp. It was one of my most robust plants, but last week of so, the growth had slowed down, and now multiple branches have become limp. The fruit trusses at top have dying flowers (also limp) The plant is in a container with other plants, they are not suffering from this issue. Its a self watering container and has lots of water. The neighboring Sweet Ozark Orange is suffering from some other issue possibly early blight, but no limp leaves.

What can be the cause? How do I try to fix this? Am I going to lose this plant? Help me save the plant. Thanks

[Mojave]

Just a guess, root rot?

[luigiwu]

I pulled mine last week. It had started out as the most vigorous plant. I suspect f.wilt on mine but I am not a expert.

[tnkrer]

Thanks Bill and LuigiWu

So leaving it there will hurt other plants? I was hoping to ripen the tomatoes that are on the plant. There are a fair number of tomatoes on it.

Also how do I check if its root rot? From what I read, there is no cure for this and I should take out the soil as well ..

The plant had so much promise!

[JLJ_]

Originally Posted by tnkrer

Last couple of days, the leaves on this plant Indian Stripe (PL) are becoming limp. It was one of my most robust plants, but last week of so, the growth had slowed down, and now multiple branches have become limp. The fruit trusses at top have dying flowers (also limp) The plant is in a container with other plants, they are not suffering from this issue. Its a self watering container and has lots of water. The neighboring Sweet Ozark Orange is suffering from some other issue possibly early blight, but no limp leaves.

What can be the cause? How do I try to fix this? Am I going to lose this plant? Help me save the plant. Thanks

I don't have any sure fix to suggest, about the only helpful thing I can think of is this . . .

If it was my plant I'd think:

I want to get at least some fruit if possible, if there is a white or light star pattern of streaks on the blossom end of the larger fruit, I'd carefully remove them and put them indoors, out of direct sunlight but not in the dark, and let them ripen there.

The top of the plant looks healthy as best I can tell. Even though some of those leaves will probably turn yellow, the way they look now makes me think that the problem is most likely that they aren't getting water.

So, is there enough water supplied to them? Apparently yes.

Is there too much water supplied to them? I'd probe or dig to see a sample of soil from top to the bottom and see if it is too wet -- plant might be objecting to living with its feet in a swamp, or various organisms that like living in a swamp might be munching on the tomato plants' roots.

If the soil was very wet, then depending on how wet it was I'd try either stopping watering and monitoring the soil or removing and repotting the plant, putting it somewhere in the shade, watering lightly as needed, and spraying the foliage as often as I could until it gave evidence of putting out enough roots into new well aerated, non-soggy soil.

If soil, clear to the bottom, seemed normally moist, not muddy -- so there was enough air -- I'd wonder whether there was anything that could have come from the container walls to hurt the root system -- or any change in water I'd been using that might have done the same.

I'd remove any of the wilting leaves that turn yellow.

Unless something induced rapid recovery, I might cut some of the plant off and root the cuttings. Don't know how much season you have left, but that's what I did with some of my tomatoes that lost their roots because vile voles bit their stems in two. Several largish tops that I was able to rescue in time rooted and are blooming now. Whether they'll be able to get fruit even to mature green here I don't know, especially with the cold fronts that have been coming through all summer, but they're trying, and you probably have a longer season to work with.

I'm not sure whether the neighboring Sweet Ozark Orange is in the same container or whether the plants doing well in the same container are tomatoes or something else, but if there is clear indication of definite disease in plants in the same container, it would seem likely to diminish the chances of this plant surviving, even if repotted, but I might still try repotting the whole thing or its cuttings and just watch it closely to see if disease signs appeared.

[Mojave]

I had to pull my one Cuostralee plant last week. It got to about 5 feet and was putting out very good tomatoes up until about 3 weeks ago when it started looking like yours. After about a week all the leaves started drying up to a crispy brown. When I pulled it out I found the root ball was only about the size of a coconut. I have no idea what happened but I thought it might be root rot. There's a couple more plants in that area that are looking kind of iffy.

I hope your Indian Stripe pulls through.

[tnkrer]

Bill, thanks for the wishes.
JLJ, Thanks for the flow chart.

I plan to remove most fruit from the plant. The ones that look like they will ripen, will stay on the counter. As for the rest, I will get to experience fried green tomatoes

Top of the plant is not healthy as this photo shows



Enough water is supplied. (The SIP's reservoir of 25 gallons is full and 6 other tomatoes in the planter are getting water.

Top of the contair - the soil is dry and sort of moist 3-4 inches down. So I think its not running wet.

So I have accepted that the plant has root rot and needs to be pulled out. However, I plan to repot the plant. Here is my plan

Drench the soil a few hours before I pull out the plant
Remove most fruit from the plant
Trim away any branches that seem to be dead
Remove the root ball as carefully as I can
Let the plant sit in a wheelbarrow while the roots hang out
Wash out all the soil from the roots
Cut roots that look unhealthy. (No idea how I will decide this, but that is why I am doing it, to learn)
Repot in a 5 gallon planter

And then drench my big planter with hydrogen peroxide + water to prevent root rot on other plants ..

Lets hope the plant lives .. if not . oh well, I did get some nice tomatoes from it