Entire plant suddenly wilts and is gone

ScottinAtlanta · June 7, 2015

Folks, Here is a dwarf Golden Champion. Thriving, and then suddenly total wilting and I pulled it. What the heck happened? Plants around it are thriving.

luigiwu · June 7, 2015

I am experiencing the exact thing with one of my dwarf plants. Either a Rosella Crimson/Coastal Orange but on closer inspection it might have been gray mold but its odd as nothing else around it got sick... Get more closeup, the half yellowed leaf at the bottom also looks familiar. WE've been having a lot of rain and colder than usual weather.
I post my issues in my thread but no one commented really...
http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=36887

clkeiper · June 7, 2015

Check the stem at the soil level. I had that happen to one of my potted tomatoes and when I pulled it up there was a big brownish section on the stem. Maybe a fungal infection of somekind?. I cut it off, repotted it and covered it for a couple days. It is growing tomatoes already.

luigiwu · June 7, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by clkeiper

Check the stem at the soil level. I had that happen to one of my potted tomatoes and when I pulled it up there was a big brownish section on the stem. Maybe a fungal infection of somekind?. I cut it off, repotted it and covered it for a couple days. It is growing tomatoes already.

On my sungold, the stem part that comes out of the soil-line is brown and hard. Its also not looking too good. How do you do what you're suggesting? Becasue I would be cutting it off from all its roots and trying to reroot it? My other thought was to pile a lot of soil around the green parts and hope the green parts root?

Worth1 · June 7, 2015

Could it be a gopher?

clkeiper · June 7, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by luigiwu

On my sungold, the stem part that comes out of the soil-line is brown and hard. Its also not looking too good. How do you do what you're suggesting? Becasue I would be cutting it off from all its roots and trying to reroot it? My other thought was to pile a lot of soil around the green parts and hope the green parts root?

I cut it off right above the damaged zone and shoved it right back down in the soil. then I took a milk jug I cut the bottom off and removed the cap. Then I put the milk jug down over the plant with the cap end up. after a few days you will see it perk back up and it will be growing new roots. I did the same thing with a tomato out in the garden. You might want to remove most of the wilted leaves so it doesn't have any more stress than possible to recover.

OR go ahead and pile dirt around the stem and hope for the best.

Worth1 · June 7, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by luigiwu

I am experiencing the exact thing with one of my dwarf plants. Either a Rosella Crimson/Coastal Orange but on closer inspection it might have been gray mold but its odd as nothing else around it got sick... Get more closeup, the half yellowed leaf at the bottom also looks familiar. WE've been having a lot of rain and colder than usual weather.
I post my issues in my thread but no one commented really...
http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=36887

I would love to but I am at a loss as to what it is.
I am no expert on this sort of thing.

Bugs and critters are my forte.

Worth

Starlight · June 7, 2015

Scott when you pulled it, did you check the ground down where the main root ball was to see if the soil was maybe holding water in that area, or if that area was bone dry.

Now that were are hitting them high temps and humidity, it is not taking long for the soil to dry out.

Also did you check to see if the branches on the wilted stems was damaged in anyway. I had one plant that had a bunch of wilting on it, but the culprit was hickory nuts are dropping off the tree way to early and they are hitting hard enough to branches loose from the main stem and cause them to wilt too.

AlittleSalt · June 7, 2015

The same happened with a Malakhitovaya Shkatulka. It was growing in the center of a row. Four days ago it looked great, and now it looks like this:

tam91 · June 7, 2015

I think I see trees in the photo near the garden - there aren't any walnut trees are there? Their roots are toxic to tomato plants (also drip from their leaves), but as a plant grows, if it's root hits a walnut tree root, it can suddenly die.

b54red · June 7, 2015

Down here it is probably bacterial wilt but it could be fusarium wilt. Usually with fusarium wilt you see much more yellowing of the lower leaves and then one stem finally wilting before the whole plant eventually wilts. With bacterial wilt the plant can look great one day and the next the whole thing can just wilt. Nothing will help it recover if it is either. Sorry but this is something that just hits once in a while down here. You usually see it first when the really hot humid weather hits. Watering it will do no good if it is either of those wilts.

A friend of mine lost one of his biggest most heavily laden plants the other day to bacterial wilt. Best thing to do is just pull it up if when you water it there is no positive response. I pour a gallon of diluted bleach into the hole as soon as I pull it up. I don't know if that works but it seems to help a great deal especially if you plan to set another plant in that spot anytime soon.

Bill

Starlight · June 9, 2015

Well, finally lost my first one to wilt.

Figures it is a Black Krim and loaded with fruits. Thankfully I have more of them. Just wish it would have waited til the maters got ripe. Hopefully that will be the only one.

We need a break from this heat and humidity. It's way to early for it to be like this this early in the season.

mashermike · June 9, 2015

I too lost one to wilt I think. This Big Cheef's symptoms were slightly stunted growth compared to the others and about 1/3 of the plant wilted. There was no yellowing of leaves. I pulled it at that point.

Do any of the fusarium's have these symptoms? The only other thing I noticed was some stem bruising due to the plant scraping (rapid growth) on the rewire cage.

I have been watering every other day. I think that's too much. I'm backing it down to 2 days a week for a while.

Mike

**carolyn137** · June 9, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by b54red

Down here it is probably bacterial wilt but it could be fusarium wilt. Usually with fusarium wilt you see much more yellowing of the lower leaves and then one stem finally wilting before the whole plant eventually wilts. With bacterial wilt the plant can look great one day and the next the whole thing can just wilt. Nothing will help it recover if it is either. Sorry but this is something that just hits once in a while down here. You usually see it first when the really hot humid weather hits. Watering it will do no good if it is either of those wilts.

A friend of mine lost one of his biggest most heavily laden plants the other day to bacterial wilt. Best thing to do is just pull it up if when you water it there is no positive response. I pour a gallon of diluted bleach into the hole as soon as I pull it up. I don't know if that works but it seems to help a great deal especially if you plan to set another plant in that spot anytime soon.

Bill

BINGO!!!

The major cause of RAPID wilting with still green leaves is the disease called Bacterial Wilt and it's relatively easy to make the diagnosis, so let me fetch some links for you.

http://www.clemson.edu/public/regula...lt_tomato.html

The above is good for showing how to Dx it and symptoms and here's the general Google Search:

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q...bacterial+wilt

Carolyn

June 7, 2015	#2
luigiwu Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: ny Posts: 1,219	I am experiencing the exact thing with one of my dwarf plants. Either a Rosella Crimson/Coastal Orange but on closer inspection it might have been gray mold but its odd as nothing else around it got sick... Get more closeup, the half yellowed leaf at the bottom also looks familiar. WE've been having a lot of rain and colder than usual weather. I post my issues in my thread but no one commented really... http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=36887 __________________ Subirrigated Container gardening (RGGS) in NY, Zone 7!

June 7, 2015	#3
clkeiper Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: ohio Posts: 4,350	Check the stem at the soil level. I had that happen to one of my potted tomatoes and when I pulled it up there was a big brownish section on the stem. Maybe a fungal infection of somekind?. I cut it off, repotted it and covered it for a couple days. It is growing tomatoes already. __________________ carolyn k

June 7, 2015	#10
tam91 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Crystal Lake IL Posts: 2,484	I think I see trees in the photo near the garden - there aren't any walnut trees are there? Their roots are toxic to tomato plants (also drip from their leaves), but as a plant grows, if it's root hits a walnut tree root, it can suddenly die. __________________ Tracy

June 9, 2015	#13
mashermike Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2009 Location: GA Posts: 55	I too lost one to wilt I think. This Big Cheef's symptoms were slightly stunted growth compared to the others and about 1/3 of the plant wilted. There was no yellowing of leaves. I pulled it at that point. Do any of the fusarium's have these symptoms? The only other thing I noticed was some stem bruising due to the plant scraping (rapid growth) on the rewire cage. I have been watering every other day. I think that's too much. I'm backing it down to 2 days a week for a while. Mike Last edited by mashermike; June 9, 2015 at 10:31 AM.

June 7, 2015	#5
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Could it be a gopher?

June 7, 2015	#8
Starlight Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: AL Posts: 1,993	Scott when you pulled it, did you check the ground down where the main root ball was to see if the soil was maybe holding water in that area, or if that area was bone dry. Now that were are hitting them high temps and humidity, it is not taking long for the soil to dry out. Also did you check to see if the branches on the wilted stems was damaged in anyway. I had one plant that had a bunch of wilting on it, but the culprit was hickory nuts are dropping off the tree way to early and they are hitting hard enough to branches loose from the main stem and cause them to wilt too.

June 7, 2015	#11
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	Down here it is probably bacterial wilt but it could be fusarium wilt. Usually with fusarium wilt you see much more yellowing of the lower leaves and then one stem finally wilting before the whole plant eventually wilts. With bacterial wilt the plant can look great one day and the next the whole thing can just wilt. Nothing will help it recover if it is either. Sorry but this is something that just hits once in a while down here. You usually see it first when the really hot humid weather hits. Watering it will do no good if it is either of those wilts. A friend of mine lost one of his biggest most heavily laden plants the other day to bacterial wilt. Best thing to do is just pull it up if when you water it there is no positive response. I pour a gallon of diluted bleach into the hole as soon as I pull it up. I don't know if that works but it seems to help a great deal especially if you plan to set another plant in that spot anytime soon. Bill