Wilt?

[Vince]

Never seen this in my short tomato growing career.Yesterday I was home in the mid afternoon when the temps were up, low 90's, and noticed two plants with there tops wilting. I have seen this before and if i happen to be home I spray some hose water directly on the plant and within 15 minutes the top perks back up. However, one of the two plants stayed wilted after I sprayed it, and when the sun went down it stayed also stayed wilted. In the morning I pincked off the wilted portions, to leave a completely perky plant. After returning from work today, yes on sunday, this dwarf wild fred F3 plant showed new wilted foliage. It is cooling off now and it remains wilted. Whats going on. Could this be one of those wilt diseases like fusarium or something. Its in a pot, so probably not soil born. Perhaps the early stages of TSWV? Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

[rsg2001]

Might be bacterial wilt - and if it is there really isn't anything you can do for it. Check out the link below - if this is what it is you should pull the plants and probably not plant any nightshades in that spot for a few years as it is soilborne.

http://www.avrdc.org/pdf/tomato/bacterial_wilt.pdf

[carolyn137]

With just the description of wilt, it could be a number of things.

On hot days some of my plants would wilt b'c transpiration was greater than normal, but they would perk up over night.

it would be rare to find any of the systemic pathogens when growing in pots but it can happen via chewing insects for Fusarium and Bacterial Wilt both, as Craig has noted, as well as Fusarium via spread by contaminated soil dust.

If it were Bacterial Wilt the leaves would be green as they wilt, no yellow, and the infection proceeds rapidly.

if Fusarium you'd also be seeing yellowed leaves with the wilting. Verticillium can show wilting, usually on one side of the plant but the plant often outgrows it.

Spotted Wilt would show you specific lesions on the leaves and you haven't reported any.

Another thought. Some varieties have the wilt gene and others don't. The wilt gene determines how quickly a plant responds to wilting when given water. if the plant has the wilt gene recovery from wilting occurs relatively quickly. No, there is no list of varieties with respect to whether or not they have the wilt gene.

[geoff1]

Try checking the drainage holes in the pot...could be waterlogged, a problem I have encountered more than once.

[Vince]

Thanks all,

Lets just hope it was overwatering. I really have just started to see disease in the last week and have already started to pull some that havn't set fruit(to make room for the fall crop). Will keep y'all posted about the wilt status...

[piegirl]

You might also check the stem for tomato borer. This year two plants have had this problem. (see tomato plant surgery on the other forum) On another plant just one small set of leaves kept wilting - finally I pinched them off at the stem and there was a borer - killed it and the plant has been off and running w/ about 5 or 6 set so far. These plants are a little slower because the peas were giving too much shade. Just carefully look up and down the stem. Piegirl

[Vince]

Ithink I solved the problem . I am pretty sure I was underwatering these two plants.......I came home from work today, and the same two darn plants were totally wilted. I became frantickly nervous as both have loaded up with tons of maters. A few days ago a threw an inch of 50:50 manure potting mix un the top of the soil..this still felt moist. Convinced that my roots must be rotting away, a aggresively pulled the dwarf plant out of its pot to see what is going on. The root ball was very dry and the tips of the outer roots looked dried out. How did this happen? My only explaination is when I was watering the the H2O must have found a little place to rapidly drain without soaking the root ball. Placeing the plants in a basin of water perked them up right quick. This is my first time growing in pots and I have a bit to learn as far is intuition with these imprisoned maters. Overall I have been very impressed with how well tomatoes do in tainers. Cheers.

[nctomatoman]

Vince, I've found that when growing plants in pots, once they get large - and especially in very hot summers - I need to water twice a day to keep the plants happy - first thing in the morning, then again in late afternoon - and I am talking open hose, full stream, 20 -30 seconds per pot for a 15-20 gallon pot, and 10-15 seconds for a 5 gallon pot.

I have plants in pots with Tomato Spotted, Bacterial and Fusarium Wilts (not all three, different plants with one of the above). Very frustrating! And since I bleach my pots and use fresh soil each year, it must be insect spread.

[Tomaddict]

FYI, ran across this when looking for info - diagnostic tests to see if your plant has bacterial wilt. Might come in handy some time.

To determine whether your plants are infected with bacterial wilt, you can use the following diagnostic tests:

> Squeeze sap from a wilted stem that you have cut near the base. If the plant has bacterial wilt, you will see a whitish bacterial ooze on a clean knife that you touch to this stem.

> Immerse a newly cut segment of a wilted stem in a glass of water. If the plant has bacterial wilt, you will see a whitish bacterial ooze leaking from the stem into the water.

> Cut the stem with a knife, then push the cut stem ends together. When you slowly pull the stem ends apart, you will see stringy sap if the bacteria are present.

Source: http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/cucumberbeetle.html