Started off strong now I have some wilting at the top

bigtexrb · May 24, 2011

I built 12 of the earthtainers and they all seem to be doing really well. For a while. I have 9 types of heirlooms and some strawberries, jalepenos & green chile's, and a herb one that has basil, oregano, green onions, and cilantro. I built 6 in 31 gallon containers and 6 out of 18 gallon containers. I put the non tomato plants in the smaller containers and two cherry tomato plants in 2 of them. I put two tomato plants in each container.

My wife planted some more of the herbs in regular pots and they look pathetic next to mine in the SWC.
I started the plants from seed around mid March and put them in the SWC around the first week of April. Some of the plants are as tall as me now. I only have fruit on the two cherry tomato plants. I noticed a couple of weeks ago that the top of a couple of the plants had started to wilt at the top. Like they weren't getting enough water.

So I made sure the SWC were all full of water. I keep a pretty big amount of mulch on top of the plastic trash bags. They didn't really seem to perk up any after that. So I took the lid off of the worst wilting plant and sure enough the soil seems pretty dry. I then gave all of them a good drenching underneath the plastic trash bags.

I am in Austin, TX where its usually hot. But it hasn't even hit a 100 degrees yet.

I couldn't find the 5" hydro pots so I used a 4" dixie cup that I drilled holes into and cut slits as my wicking chamber. Could that be my problem? Or is it the heat?
If it is my problem. What is the solution?

I thought I read on here that you can put up shade cloth. But I thought they needed 6-8 of full sun. So what does that do for me?

Thanks and good luck with your gardening project.

May 24, 2011	#1
bigtexrb Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 2	Started off strong now I have some wilting at the top I built 12 of the earthtainers and they all seem to be doing really well. For a while. I have 9 types of heirlooms and some strawberries, jalepenos & green chile's, and a herb one that has basil, oregano, green onions, and cilantro. I built 6 in 31 gallon containers and 6 out of 18 gallon containers. I put the non tomato plants in the smaller containers and two cherry tomato plants in 2 of them. I put two tomato plants in each container. My wife planted some more of the herbs in regular pots and they look pathetic next to mine in the SWC. I started the plants from seed around mid March and put them in the SWC around the first week of April. Some of the plants are as tall as me now. I only have fruit on the two cherry tomato plants. I noticed a couple of weeks ago that the top of a couple of the plants had started to wilt at the top. Like they weren't getting enough water. So I made sure the SWC were all full of water. I keep a pretty big amount of mulch on top of the plastic trash bags. They didn't really seem to perk up any after that. So I took the lid off of the worst wilting plant and sure enough the soil seems pretty dry. I then gave all of them a good drenching underneath the plastic trash bags. I am in Austin, TX where its usually hot. But it hasn't even hit a 100 degrees yet. I couldn't find the 5" hydro pots so I used a 4" dixie cup that I drilled holes into and cut slits as my wicking chamber. Could that be my problem? Or is it the heat? If it is my problem. What is the solution? I thought I read on here that you can put up shade cloth. But I thought they needed 6-8 of full sun. So what does that do for me? Thanks and good luck with your gardening project.