wilted leaves

[duajones]

I discovered wilted leaves mainly on lower parts of plants in my smaller tomato bed today. I thought maybe it was a sign of a lack of water and watered the plants. Now I am thinking it may be fusarium wilt since the effected leaves didnt respond to the watering. While I have done some reading on it ,Im not sure what to do if that is indeed what I am dealing with. I havent noticed it in the larger bed at all and am wondering if it is FW, if it will spread to the rest of my garden. I did remove most of the wilting leaves/stems and watered good. But Im afraid that wasnt anything that would help. The upper parts of the plants still look fine, just a few lower branches and leaves that are wilting. New to me problem that I am not sure how to deal with. Since I removed some of the problem foliage and stems, I plan to keep a close eye on the plants the next few days. Leaf curl that I previously mentioned has seemed to go away. Its as if its always something to deal with even in a fairly new garden. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Duane

[dice]

I don't know of any "plants already large in garden"
treatments for fusarium wilt. The bacteria in
Actinovate (and bacteria and fungi in similar products)
will colonize the roots and tend to keep fusarium from
attacking the plant, but usually one starts this at the seedling
stage, before the plants go into the garden. There are chemical
fumigants that will kill fusarium, but they basically sterilize
the soil of any and all fungi, so I don't know how useful that
would be for a growing plant. (Does the plant take up the
chemical? Probably. Do you want to eat it? Probably not.)

Note that fusarium is carried from place to place by fungus
gnats (lay eggs in compost, etc). I remember a master gardener
suggesting people put a thin layer of sand on top of their
houseplants to keep fungus gnats from laying eggs in potting
soil that has compost in it (and thus attracts them).

Edit:

PS: Fusarium likes wet soil, so be sure it is not wet already
before watering. Maybe make a hole a foot deep near the
plants and do the ball-of-dirt-in-hand test before watering.
(If it sticks together when you squeeze it, the plants do not
need water.)

[Suze]

Originally Posted by duajones

I discovered wilted leaves mainly on lower parts of plants in my smaller tomato bed today. I thought maybe it was a sign of a lack of water and watered the plants[...] The upper parts of the plants still look fine, just a few lower branches and leaves that are wilting.

How many plants and/or percentage of your total plants are you seeing this on? Also, is this mainly on suckers that sprouted close the the base and might be fleshy/new tender growth? I get the impression that it might be.

If so, I see this occasionally in my own garden (especially around this time of year when our crazy Texas weather means it abruptly turns into an inferno) and have found it is nothing to be concerned about.

I'll water once if I see it, but *only* if the soil isn't already moist. If this is the problem, overwatering is the last thing you want to do. Water isn't the problem when this sort of thing happens -- the limiting factor is current root development.

Fusarium and verticillium wilts are uncommon here (actually I would suspect bacterial wilt before I would suspect a fungal wilt, but it is also not that common), and while I won't say it's an impossibility in your case, I tend to think it is more likely that your plants are trying to adapt to the heat. Your plants might look big on top, but the root stucture is still adapting and trying to grow deep. When it starts to get really hot here, sometimes the roots can't always keep up perfectly with the rate of transpiration of the plants until they become a little more mature. Lots and lots of mulch helps somewhat.

For whatever reason, I have found when this happens, the newer growth/suckers at the base tend to show it first.

I had a lower limb on a BTD plant wilting the other day, so I simply cut it off and put it out of its misery. Another plant or two was doing the same thing a few days ago, can't remember the varieties.

However, I do think you should still keep a close eye on the plants in case it is something else causing the problem.

Edit -- another possibility might be nematodes, as I recall you had some problems with them last year. They can cause wilting. We are a bit on the early side to start seeing signs of 'tode damage (soil usually has to really warm up first before the population starts to explode), but you are in Corpus and you have had your plants in for a while.

[dice]

Cutting off lower leaves actually has a benefit that
I was just reading about: it increases the concentration
of calcium in the fruit (thus reducing BER risk).

(It was in an excerpt from a book, something like
_Growing Tomatoes: A Scientific Basis for Improvement_.)

Edit:

_The Tomato Crop: A Scientific Basis For Improvement_:

http://books.google.com/books?id=vpb...TuRozGvA&hl=en

[duajones]

I was thinking about nematodes as well, just have to wait and see. I have removed the wilted foliage and the plants still look healthy overall. This is only happening in one small bed that has 5 plants. The larger bed shows no signs of any kind of wilt and I have hardly removed any leaves from those plants. I plan on cleaning up the bottom of those plants soon as there are some leaves that are touching the ground

Edited to add: I grew cereal rye in the smaller bed in the fall since it was so close to where I had the rkn problem. Also in a small area that I grew cukes in and had rkn late last year. Diva growing there now and no signs of RKN to this point.

[amideutch]

Quote,Cutting off lower leaves actually has a benefit that
I was just reading about: it increases the concentration
of calcium in the fruit (thus reducing BER risk).

Dice, absolutely correct. Why does it increase the concentration?

Calcium, dissolved in water, moves through the plant in the vascular system from the roots to the leaves. Leaves are the primary sink for movement of water because of water loss through transpiration. Under high moisture stress, water containing calcium and other minerals moves rapidly to the leaves.

And what happens?

Fruit does not transpire as much as leaves and thus tends to be bypassed. This results in a localized calcium deficiency. This calcium deficiency in an area of rapid growth, the end of the fruit, causes cells to collapse and the sunken-lesion symptom of blossom end rot.

Information source; University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension Publications. Ami

[bryanccfshr]

To further confuse our plants lows in the mid 40's are expected this weekend. Oh.. I am watching some hailstorms on the radar right now.. I seem to be in a lucky pocket that splits the storms quite often but watching them head my way with 100% chance of 3" hail in certain storm cells is never fun.

[duajones]

the wilting is back and worse than before. It is only in this small bed that has 5 plants and 2 of them have BER as well. The wilting leaves are towards the bottom and in the center of the plant. Also the bed that had the rotted fruit. I do see some blight but I have been spraying daconil and removing small amounts of foliage as I go. This has me worried as Im afraid it might be carried to my main bed by insects. I am real tempted to pull them. One of the plants is my cherokee purple that has 20 plus fruit on it, What a bummer. The effected branches feel limp and lifeless unlike the sturdy healthy ones in the other bed. Im wondering now if its RKN or some kind of virus Not sure what to do at this point, maybe give them a couple days and then decide. No spots on most of the fruit other than the two varieties that have shown BER

[Suze]

Originally Posted by duajones

the wilting is back and worse than before. It is only in this small bed that has 5 plants and 2 of them have BER as well. The wilting leaves are towards the bottom and in the center of the plant. Also the bed that had the rotted fruit. I do see some blight but I have been spraying daconil and removing small amounts of foliage as I go. This has me worried as Im afraid it might be carried to my main bed by insects. I am real tempted to pull them. One of the plants is my cherokee purple that has 20 plus fruit on it, What a bummer. The effected branches feel limp and lifeless unlike the sturdy healthy ones in the other bed. Im wondering now if its RKN or some kind of virus Not sure what to do at this point, maybe give them a couple days and then decide. No spots on most of the fruit other than the two varieties that have shown BER

Bummer.

A picture is worth a thousand words. If you could take and post some (of both the wilting plants and the fruit), that might be helpful.

My understanding (and limited experience in occasionally dealing with them myself) is that 'todes really don't start to kick in and multiply until soil temps get and stay warm. More specifically, when soil temps get to 60F and above and stay that way for awhile. But in your area, that might already be the case. I think if you wanted to pull one of the worst plants so you could take a look at the roots, that might be a good idea. I would just pull one (maybe two) for now, though. Only so you can take a look at the roots, then go from there.

As for the BER, any stress on the plant that might affect water uptake (which includes 'todes) could contribute to it.

Are you seeing anything else besides just the wilting?

What do the stems look like, any browning, blackening, or discoloration? Either at the base or further up the plant. Also, do you see any root primordia in strange places, like more than a foot or so above the base of the plants?

Edit -- two more questions. Is your native soil more of a clay or a sand (or something else)? Also, is the bed where you are having problems a new bed, and if so, is it possible that any soil or amendments are different than in your other areas?

[dice]

If you pull a plant to check the root system, you
do not necessarily have to sacrifice all of the fruit
on it. Wash off the roots, take a look, and then hang
it upside down inside in a cool, dry place. Fruit won't
get any bigger, but they will often ripen on the vine
that way.

[duajones]

Suze, although the soil was still moist and the plants shouldnt have needed water, they did respond to a light watering so I am thinking RKN. I may just need to give them a little water every day to keep up with them. I would still like to harvest as much from the plants as possible. Once I have, I will pull the weakest looking plant and inspect for RKN. Soil is clay amended the same way as last year with cotton burr compost, a blend of alfalfa and humate and some cow manure. Nothing but wilt at this point other than the BER and the one rotted fruit. I hope to at least keep the CP alive as it has 28 fruit as of this morning. Once this bed is done, I want to try solarizing the soil as I dont have a whole lot of options as far as space.

Edit to add. I grew cereal rye in this bed late fall if I hadnt already mentioned that