Tomato Disaster

[sic transit gloria]

I hope all of the other Kansans' and Missourians' plants are fine, but in Ottawa, KS we suffered some major straight-line winds (at least 60 mph). My plants are about 2' high right now, and all plants suffered broken limbs at the least, and probably a good 10 (out of 60) were broken off half way up the main stem. Pretty disheartening to say the least. We had hail 5 years ago (further along in the season by about 3 weeks) that broke main stems and the plants basically died, so I'm not holding out a whole lot of hope.

Unfortunately, some of the ones that got hit worst were the only ones of that variety I am growing, such as Tony's Italian and Goose Creek. What experience have you all had with plants that have broken off about a foot above the ground relatively early in the growing season? Since the growing point is gone, will the plant just sort of bush out, or will it just die back?

Thanks.

[HakaiRah]

Earlier this year I lost a bunch of tomatoes I had put out early to frost and through laziness and despair I let them sit out in the garden for several weeks while I waited until safer weather to arrive. I didn't want to risk my backups too.

Nearly all of the plants put out healthy looking suckers despite losing their terminal growth point. I ended up keeping one that had broken off half way up just to see how it would do compared to the backup tomatoes I put in. So far it is well ahead of the other tomatoes in growth now that the weather is warming up. I'm guessing its because it probably has a much larger root system already.

I'm training up two of the suckers to replace the original main stem and they're already in bloom. I'll let you know if they set fruit, but I'm guessing the plant will end up producing just fine. Nature can be very resilient sometimes, and the drive to reproduce is strong!

[outsiders71]

Sorry to hear that.

We had some nasty wind a few days ago here in NE Ohio, and one of my Galina's snapped off at the stem. I burried the top portion in the ground and we'll see if it roots and grows. Last year rabbits got a few of my maters but they re-grew tops. Don't give up yet!

[dice]

Those will usually grow back. They might just sit there for a
couple of weeks if they only have one growing tip (no side shoots
when broken), until they develop some new growing tips.

I broke off one of the first true leaves and the growing tip on
a Marmande seedling this spring. It took a few weeks, but
it developed another growing tip, more true leaves, and it
was well on its way to becoming a productive plant when
I gave it away with some other backup plants.

[organichris]

Gloria,

I'm just down the road in Lawrence. I didn't have any wind damage and neither did any of my neighbors. You guys generally seem to get more severe weather than we do, like last year when they had to close the flood gates.

Anyway, I would say that if you still have any shoots on the plant at all it should be okay. You may not get as many tomatoes, but then again you might.

[organichris]

Oh and you might check out the thread, "Extreme Tomato Plant Pruning". You would be surprised to see that some people butcher their plants on purpose with good results. Don't give up!

[ChuckBartok]

It is amazing what plants have in theri genetic code for survival. We are looking for the fruit the encapsules the SEED.

I think the advice above is well taken.

Good luck and I share your pain.
We have lost many crops totally

[sic transit gloria]

Thanks for the moral support. I put some of the broken tops in the ground, which is absolutley saturated with 3.25" of rain in about 12 hours. So, they may well take root.

[huntoften]

I'm in KC and afraid to visit the garden in the morning after this round of storms and hail...uggh!

[elkwc36]

I'm in the opposite end of KS. The very SW corner. And we have the winds with a high of 105 yesterday. And no rain. I'm cutting back on the number I planned on planting. Will probably settle around 60. Four years ago around the end of June we received 6" of rain and heavy hail from golf to softball size. All in less than two hours. I left a few of the plants and they came back but were just ripening fruit when the freeze hit. I feel for you and hope you can save some. Wish you were closer. I'm about to head to the bone pile with over a hundred plants. JD

[organichris]

Yeah so apparently I spoke too soon. In my original post I didn't think we had got any of that wind but I was at work and had not checked my plants. I must have completely slept through the storm. When I got home I noticed that things had been blown around a bit, you know, trash can lids and what not. A couple of my plants suffered minor damage, but the rest are okay.

However, this morning I noticed a downed tree on the way to work and I haven't checked my plants yet today. But I'm sure its all gravy. I have a pretty good wind block.