Help ID-ing, recommendations?

[lapk78]

In just over a few days my seemingly very healthy plants (Sun Gold, Sun Sugar, Chef's Choice Orange, Candyland Currant) all started turning yellow, limp, and decaying leaves. The fruit still seems fine however. The plants are nearly 9 feet tall, and today I removed nearly all leaves from the bottom 3 to 4 feet.

I had a lot of thrips many weeks ago, but got them under control with a few treatments of Spinosad. I have been fertilizing regularly (TTF) and watering consistently (I think). Since most are cherry tomatoes, I have not been removing suckers at all. But, (for a while...) I was pruning for air flow... but that eventually got away from me. Even the newest growth/suckers towards the bottom of the plants were exhibiting the wilting and shriveling.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what is ailing my plants? Any recommendations. It's getting into triple digits now in South Texas, and if these are doomed, I guess I don't mind pulling these and planting a new crop if that's what needed. TIA.

[zipcode]

It doesn't look like any leaf fungus, so I'd guess it must be some soil fungus, like fusarium, or serious lack of nitrogen (somewhat unlikely).

[Cole_Robbie]

There are only a few types of wilt: fusarium, verticillium, and bacterial, which is usually pythium. Unless you are overwatering and have rotted roots, I would guess one of the first two. You might want to split a stem and examine the inside to see if it is brown.

[lapk78]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

There are only a few types of wilt: fusarium, verticillium, and bacterial, which is usually pythium. Unless you are overwatering and have rotted roots, I would guess one of the first two. You might want to split a stem and examine the inside to see if it is brown.

Hmm... Your thoughts on overwatering caught my attention. I have been keeping a log of everything I have done to the plants. The plants are in a 15-inch deep, 4x4 ft raised bed, with a plant in each corner. So 4 plants per raised bed. Mulched to minimize evaporation and "splash-up". At the bottom of each bed I have buried dead logs and sticks in an attempt at Hügelkultur. Among other things, it is supposed to help hold water, kind of like a sponge.

Looking at my log, I see that in the past 15 days, I have watered each raised bed with a total of about 54 gallons of water. Sometimes it's just water, other times it's water mixed with liquid fertilizer (Texas Tomato Food). Now that I think about it, this does seem like a lot of water... but I've never really been sure exactly how much to water.

Do you think this is too much water? If yes, and root rot is likely, are the plants doomed? Or can I save them by letting everything dry out?

And wouldn't you know it... I watered each bed with 9 gallons yesterday with both the TTF fert. AND 6 Tbsp is Calcium Nitrate mixed in.

These pics show one of my beds, along with a new sucker that was relatively low to the ground.

[b54red]

My first guess would have been fusarium wilt but looking at the plants I don't see the signs, but the earliest signs are rather subtle to spot unless you know what you are seeing. A good picture of most of a plant with the yellowing would help.

There is the real possibility that the logs in the bottom are starting to decompose and are pulling nitrogen out of the soil causing the yellowing. If that is the case then you may need more nitrogen that what is in TTF.

Bill

[lapk78]

Originally Posted by b54red

My first guess would have been fusarium wilt but looking at the plants I don't see the signs, but the earliest signs are rather subtle to spot unless you know what you are seeing. A good picture of most of a plant with the yellowing would help.

There is the real possibility that the logs in the bottom are starting to decompose and are pulling nitrogen out of the soil causing the yellowing. If that is the case then you may need more nitrogen that what is in TTF.

Bill

Interesting thought about the Nitrogen, I hadn't considered that. As stated above, a few days ago, immediate after I pruned away all of the yellow and/or wilting foliage, I added in about 9 tablespoons of Calcium Nitrate (and also 9 tablespoons of TTF) dissolved in 9 gallons of water. I did this for both beds.

Today is now 3 days later and I'm not seeing much more yellowing or wilting. There is a small amount of new growth, and it is looking darker green than anything else on the plant, though I still wouldn't call it remarkably dark green... just a "normal" shade of green. I will concede that all season long I always thought the leaves weren't nearly as green as I wanted/expected. But since the plants were growing and producing, I figured "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I'm trying to grow fruit, not leaves...

Here are a few pics I took today of a few leaves that are still on the plants. There is also a pic of a banana pepper leaf that is growing in one of the same beds... It too has something going on...