What is wrong ? Big green plants wilted suddenly

[David Dooley]

Doesn't take much water to drown a tomato. Five inches of rain last Thursday and Friday had several of my vines wilted. Some varieties can stand more water.

[newgardener_tx]

Originally Posted by Dewayne mater

You can diagnose bacterial wilt by cutting the stem at the base of the plant. Look for discolored tissue. Suspend the stem in a glass of water. If it is infected, a white, slimy substance will ooze into the water within just a few minutes.

That is it. I pulled the Paul Robinson and cut the stem, it surely showed brown color tissue on the outside skirt. Some slimy things came out too. Do I need to do something with the soil where the tomato was planted so I can plant new things?

Do you have idea what is wrong with the plant on Pic1? The new growth tip is deformed. The leaves are kind of rolling up and very narrow comparing to the old leaves.

[newgardener_tx]

Originally Posted by David Dooley

Doesn't take much water to drown a tomato. Five inches of rain last Thursday and Friday had several of my vines wilted. Some varieties can stand more water.

Can you rescue your plants? My plants had problem before the rain.

[snippits]

Originally Posted by Dewayne mater

You can diagnose bacterial wilt by cutting the stem at the base of the plant. Look for discolored tissue. Suspend the stem in a glass of water. If it is infected, a white, slimy substance will ooze into the water within just a few minutes.

I just saw this the other day on a PBS gardening show. They described it as the quick and easy way to diagnose bacterial wilt. They did say to suspend the stem for up to thirty minutes in water.

[snippits]

Originally Posted by newgardener_tx

More problems.What a surprise. I have BER problems for tomato in the pots (No pic), Can I add calcium now?

Pull all the tomatoes that have BER, and then fertilize with one teaspoon of calcium nitrate. Keep it at least two inches from stem of plant. Repeat the application two weeks later.

I use the Southern Ag calcium nitrate 15.5-0-0 19% calcium. It worked really good on some Parks Whoppers that just kept producing BER tomatoes until I started using the calcium nitrate. I do plant in the ground.

http://www.southernag.com/docs/labels_msds/calci.pdf

[b54red]

A couple of your plants look like they may also be suffering from an iron deficiency causing yellowing of the new growth. This could be from soil ph too high, watering with city water with a high ph, or just an iron deficiency in your soil but that is rare from what I have heard.

Bill

[chalstonsc]

I have had several years of experience with bacterial wilt. As plants begin to load up with fruit, the heat begins in earnest along with a heavy rain or two, conditions are right and wilt begins. Hits some plants sooner than others and works its way around, I think in part from the rains moving over and through the soil. There is no solution that I am aware of. The cause is in the soil. I've read , and some people have told me that solarizing the soil is the best chance to eliminate, but I have no experience with solarizing. I switched to growing in containers, making my own "soil". First year after the switch, made the mistake of putting my containers in contact with the soil and lost plants again. Raised my containers after that and haven't lost a plant in a container since. Where I lost plants to wilt, I've since grown broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, squash, beans....basically everything else with no losses to wilt. I also grow my peppers and eggplant in containers since. Good luck.

[b54red]

I used to treat the spot my plant was going to be planted in by pouring some diluted bleach in the spot. Never had bacterial wilt when I did this. I only used this when planting out later from May thru July. I found a simpler solution for me and that was to not set the plant deep and to not water it for as long as possible after setting out. Bacterial wilt will sometimes get a large healthy plant but it more often attacked the stems above the root ball when it was planted deep and the soil was wet.

Bill

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by snippits

Pull all the tomatoes that have BER, and then fertilize with one teaspoon of calcium nitrate. Keep it at least two inches from stem of plant. Repeat the application two weeks later.

I use the Southern Ag calcium nitrate 15.5-0-0 19% calcium. It worked really good on some Parks Whoppers that just kept producing BER tomatoes until I started using the calcium nitrate. I do plant in the ground.

http://www.southernag.com/docs/labels_msds/calci.pdf

Why would she pull the plants with BER? They often grow right out of it.

As for wilt, I lost my whole garden one year from wilt. It started with our monsoon rains and the hottest corner of the garden. Spread like a a wildfire from one end to the other.

[newgardener_tx]

Thank you all for all the great suggestions.
Tracydr: I think Snippits is asking me to pull out the tomato fruit with BER not the plants.

I will try to get some Calcium Nitrate. You are right my soil is quite basic. The PH of the original yellow muddy soil is 8.6, So I build the raised bed with a foot tall compost/garden soil mix. I test the compost I purchased this year the PH is 7.5 and I tested PH of Pro-Mix BX and it is 7.3. So I have nothing in my backyard with pH less than 7. I tested the black/red mulch from Lowes the pH is 5.4 but I don't like the color they added to my veggie plants. So I ran out of economical method to neutralize the soil. Maybe I can dump some vinegar. I need to find some iron too. Maybe I can lay the rusted T-post and chicken wire in the ground

CharlstonSC: Please share your container mix recipe. I am very discouraged this year

[Tracydr]

I read on another thread that ammonium nitrate will change pH quickly.

[rsg2001]

I had bacterial wilt one year on an Evergreen tomato plant that was loaded with tomatoes; at first I thought it was simply thirsty. I watered it and it recovered.... temporarily. It wilted again the next day. Tried it again. Same. Then I realized it was done and dug it out, and did not plant in the same spot for years. (Now living somewhere else.)

[charley]

i have a couple plants wilting at the top to and i live 40 min from you .i think its all this rain we are getting

[chalstonsc]

New-
2 cubic feet aged pine bark mulch, also known as "fines", as small as you can find, but
I don't get hung up and throw any large pieces out(last I got at Lowe's)
1 40lb. bag of peat humus( last was peat humus/manure from Walmart)

For every 5 gallon bucket of above I mix in 1/3 cup lime and 1/3 cup Garden Tone

I've used the same mix since 2011, making this the fourth year, to which I've added only the 1/3 cup lime and 1/3 cup Garden Tone. Have noticed no reduced production. If you choose to refresh mix, in 2011 I mixed 4 cubic feet of pine bark and 1 40lb. bag of peat humus for every 30 gallons of old mix.

I used to have a more complicated mix I changed every year and got no better results, so until I start to have problems, I'm firmly in the "keep it simple" mode.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by newgardener_tx

Thank you all for all the great suggestions.
Tracydr: I think Snippits is asking me to pull out the tomato fruit with BER not the plants.

I will try to get some Calcium Nitrate. You are right my soil is quite basic. The PH of the original yellow muddy soil is 8.6, So I build the raised bed with a foot tall compost/garden soil mix. I test the compost I purchased this year the PH is 7.5 and I tested PH of Pro-Mix BX and it is 7.3. So I have nothing in my backyard with pH less than 7. I tested the black/red mulch from Lowes the pH is 5.4 but I don't like the color they added to my veggie plants. So I ran out of economical method to neutralize the soil. Maybe I can dump some vinegar. I need to find some iron too. Maybe I can lay the rusted T-post and chicken wire in the ground

CharlstonSC: Please share your container mix recipe. I am very discouraged this year

Try some ironite. I can never find sulpher and gypsum. I've had great results with ironite.