tomato plant surgery

[piegirl]

Last evening I noticed one of my purple russians was wilted. Immediately I am down on hands and knees checking out the plant. The main stem from the soil line up about 4 inches is brown. One stem is fine. My friend thinks I am NUTS! Checked her out first thing this morning (in the rain) and no improvement. Later I went out checked again and pulled the plant out - the brown stem was dry and hollow, where the green began the plant was strong with loads of root nodes so out came the scissors. Dug out the hole, added new leaf mold and planted deep, watered, removed flowers. She looks better already. Must have been a tomato borer - I don't understand how the plant survived this long. Probably will live and hopefully produce late in the season? Piegirl