Water logged will it make it?

[Kazedwards]

My one Bull's Heart tomato seems to not be doing so well with the rain. It is very droopy and seems to be slowly drying. I'm sure some of it is transplant shock but it seems much worse than when I set it out. Anything I can do for it?




-Zach

[ginger2778]

Kinda looks like bacterial wilt to me. Last ditch effort, dig it up, rise off the roots gently but thoroughly, then replant it or pot it up someplace else. It might be too late. Personally, I would just pull it and put another plant in, but not in THAT place.

[Cole_Robbie]

Being water-logged will cause root and stem rot from pythium. It might recover, especially if it ever stops raining.

[Kazedwards]

Does bacterial wilt spread?

As far as rain well it suppose to rain everyday but one until Wednesday. Not all day everyday but it's still more rain.


-Zach

[Cole_Robbie]

Bacterial Wilt is a specific disease, so yes:
http://www.clemson.edu/public/regula...lt_tomato.html

However, if it's just pythium causing it, you have wilt from bacteria, all lower case. Pythium is everywhere in the environment. Wet, cold conditions can cause pythium to take over and cause a bacterial imbalance. It doesn't really spread like a disease, and plants can grow out of it when the weather improves.

[Worth1]

Lets just say it is water logged for a minute.

In my experience and I have a lot of it this year, you could almost say I am and expert on water logged tomato plants.

If and that is a big if, the plant seems to recover at night and then droops during the day and this continues the plant will live, one day it wont droop or droop less.
If the plant continues to droop at night and the day if it isn't put in a pot to dry out it will die.
One way or the other it has a compromised root system and will take time to recover.
As for rain, it rained again today.
This time right after I mowed, I haven't mowed in weeks because of the rain.

I want to add your plant looks nothing near as bad as some of mine did.

Worth

[Kazedwards]

That's good. I might pull it up this weekend and put it in a pot.

We had a tornado in the area tonight and I was at work until after dark. I got home after midnight and have not had a chance to get out to the garden. I'm not sure how bad the storm was here but it was pretty rough at work. So I'm a little worried about what I will wake up to.


-Zach

[Kazedwards]

After more rain the last two days I have more plants with the same symptoms now. Planning on lifting them today or tomorrow and letting the dry out in pots. I'll plant them back out in a few weeks once summer starts to hit.


-Zach

[Kazedwards]

It was root rot. Hopefully they will recover.


-Zach

[Worth1]

Yep, it wont hurt and be better if you put some if the main stem on the soil when you put them in the pot.
But somehow I think you know that already.

When I pulled mine they had no roots.

Worth

[Kazedwards]

I had a few with no roots. Those ones I still had an extra plant and replaced. I only potted one and it still had a little bit of the original root ball. I did plant it deep in the pot. It might be too late. It's pretty rough looking.



-Zach

[Worth1]

Mine looked worse than that.
Now the trick is to know when to water it.
Worth

[Kazedwards]

I water it a little just to settle the soil. The forecast only has one day of rain in the next week so it and the rest of the plants should have a chance to recover.


-Zach

[dustdevil]

Kaz,

Clay soil holds a lot of water. When the transplanted tomato's leaves just start to wilt slightly, that is when you should water. Taking a transplant grown in a good soil mix and plugging it into a bed of heavy soil leads to the "bathtub effect". The leaf roll in the top picture is caused by irregular watering. The yellowed branches with brown blotches should be removed.

[Cole_Robbie]

That's a good point about the bathtub effect. Raised ridges or beds help to defeat that problem. (Sorry if I sound like Captain Hindsight from South Park.)