Is this bacterial wilt?

rsg2001 · July 12, 2010

See the photo. It was fine this morning and early in the afternoon, and when I looked at it at 4pm half the Costoluto Genovese was badly wilting. Not the whole plant. At 10 this evening part of the plant looked like it was starting to recover. I guess that I'll know more in the a.m.

CG shares a 3-foot by 3-foot self watering planter with several other tomatoes. None of the other ones show this symptom. I use Gardener's Supply self-watering container mix -- which I've had good experience with for years. I replaced half of it this year. None of the plants last year showed any symptoms like this in this container either. As it's been hot as blazes for an extended period of time, I've been diligent about keeping the water reservoirs replenished. They get about 6 and a half to seven hours of sunlight a day.

CG has about 20 tomatoes in various stages coming in.

I did do one thing yesterday - I 'side dressed' each of the plants in the container with Tomato Tone granular fertilizer. Could that have caused this?

Timmah! · July 12, 2010

Too much fertilizer can cause a plant to wilt. Dunno if TT has enough readily-soluble to cause this if placed in too-close a proximity of the roots. It does advise on the packaging to not make contact with the plant when applying a dressing. Suppose it would depend on how much fertilizer, how closely to the plant it was placed, & if/how deeply it was worked into the media.

GoodDog · July 12, 2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by rsg2001

See the photo. It was fine this morning and early in the afternoon, and when I looked at it at 4pm half the Costoluto Genovese was badly wilting. Not the whole plant. At 10 this evening part of the plant looked like it was starting to recover. I guess that I'll know more in the a.m.

CG shares a 3-foot by 3-foot self watering planter with several other tomatoes. None of the other ones show this symptom. I use Gardener's Supply self-watering container mix -- which I've had good experience with for years. I replaced half of it this year. None of the plants last year showed any symptoms like this in this container either. As it's been hot as blazes for an extended period of time, I've been diligent about keeping the water reservoirs replenished. They get about 6 and a half to seven hours of sunlight a day.

CG has about 20 tomatoes in various stages coming in.

I did do one thing yesterday - I 'side dressed' each of the plants in the container with Tomato Tone granular fertilizer. Could that have caused this?

It could be the plant was stressed for the heat of the day and wilted because it could not supply enough water to the leaves and it started to recover at night

TT is a slow release low impact fert.

Do they look better in the early am?

**nctomatoman** · July 12, 2010

If you cut a wilted stem and place it in water, if you see a milky substance ooze out, then it is Bacterial Wilt.

hasshoes · July 12, 2010

Hopefully it's just the heat. I had some in containers that were freaking me out- wilting and looking sick, but after I sprayed them with water to cool them down, they looked healthy again. I sprayed the outside of the container too. Almost wonder if all the heat and drought is baking them. I don't usually wet my foliage, but in this case it helped.

**carolyn137** · July 12, 2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by nctomatoman

If you cut a wilted stem and place it in water, if you see a milky substance ooze out, then it is Bacterial Wilt.

And in addition with Bacterial Wilt there's a complete collapse of the GREEN foliage and NO recovery . It's a lethal disease.

rsg2001 · July 13, 2010

Evidently it is bacterial wilt. When I got home from work, the majority of green foliage on the plant was wilting and some turning yellow, so I just broke off the foliage and threw it away. I missed the opportunity to test the foliage for the white liquid. However, there were still several lower branches and foliage that were not sick so I left them.

There are around 20 tomatoes on the plant in various growth stages and it would be great to leave them out there. What's the origin of this disease? Is it from the soil (although I don't know how that could be), or could the plant have been harboring it (I bought it at the Dutchess County botanical garden on Memorial Day weekend)? Or might there be some other vector possibly?

Timmah! · July 13, 2010

Bacterial wilt is most serious in moist, warm, high pH,
low-fertility soils. Severity is increased by root injury from
cultivation, nematodes or any other physical means.
The causal organism, Ralstonia (Pseudomonas) solanacearum,
can persist on many weeds or even in fallow
soil. Spread into uninfested fields can occur through transplants,
tools or drainage water from adjacent infested land.
Control
Few resistant varieties are available. Crop rotation is of
minimal value because of the survival ability of the organism.
Other control practices include:
1. Avoid sites in which the disease has been a problem in
the past.
2. Remove and destroy infected plants promptly.
3. Control nematodes, avoid root injury, maintain proper
pH and nitrogen levels, and avoid hot, wet soils if bacterial
wilt has been a problem.
4. Fumigation with chloropicrin will provide some control.

rsg2001 · July 15, 2010

So, I came back from my business trip today and what did I find?
There were a few more branches wilted -I removed them and did not find any of the white milky stuff.
Two of the four main stems on the plant seemed fine - with foliage that was unaffected and seemed to be still growing. The two inside stems which had the symptoms had additional wilted foliage. I took off the foliage, leaving the stems and the tomatoes.

So now I'm thinking that it wasn't bacterial wilt since that should have destroyed the foliage on the entire plant, right? Is that possible?

July 12, 2010	#2
Timmah! Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Elizabethtown, Kentucky 6a Posts: 754	Too much fertilizer can cause a plant to wilt. Dunno if TT has enough readily-soluble to cause this if placed in too-close a proximity of the roots. It does advise on the packaging to not make contact with the plant when applying a dressing. Suppose it would depend on how much fertilizer, how closely to the plant it was placed, & if/how deeply it was worked into the media. Last edited by Timmah!; July 12, 2010 at 02:11 PM. Reason: spelling

July 12, 2010	#4
nctomatoman Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Hendersonville, NC zone 7 Posts: 10,385	If you cut a wilted stem and place it in water, if you see a milky substance ooze out, then it is Bacterial Wilt. __________________ Craig

July 12, 2010	#5
hasshoes Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: MT Posts: 438	Hopefully it's just the heat. I had some in containers that were freaking me out- wilting and looking sick, but after I sprayed them with water to cool them down, they looked healthy again. I sprayed the outside of the container too. Almost wonder if all the heat and drought is baking them. I don't usually wet my foliage, but in this case it helped. __________________ Sara

July 13, 2010	#7
rsg2001 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: New York Zone 6 Posts: 479	Evidently it is bacterial wilt. When I got home from work, the majority of green foliage on the plant was wilting and some turning yellow, so I just broke off the foliage and threw it away. I missed the opportunity to test the foliage for the white liquid. However, there were still several lower branches and foliage that were not sick so I left them. There are around 20 tomatoes on the plant in various growth stages and it would be great to leave them out there. What's the origin of this disease? Is it from the soil (although I don't know how that could be), or could the plant have been harboring it (I bought it at the Dutchess County botanical garden on Memorial Day weekend)? Or might there be some other vector possibly?

July 15, 2010	#9
rsg2001 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: New York Zone 6 Posts: 479	So, I came back from my business trip today and what did I find? There were a few more branches wilted -I removed them and did not find any of the white milky stuff. Two of the four main stems on the plant seemed fine - with foliage that was unaffected and seemed to be still growing. The two inside stems which had the symptoms had additional wilted foliage. I took off the foliage, leaving the stems and the tomatoes. So now I'm thinking that it wasn't bacterial wilt since that should have destroyed the foliage on the entire plant, right? Is that possible?