How too much rain affects roots?

[lubadub]

Here in PA we had a very wet, cold June and July with about 13 inches of rain and temps around 60 on average at night, many nights cooler. Now that I am removing some of my plants I am noticing that the root systems are sparse with most of the roots right up on top. Anyone else have a similar situation? The tomatoes were nearly the same in number but they were smaller than usual. Now that it is a dry spell, most of the plants are wilting in the early afternoon. This must be related to the shallow root system. They never wilted like this in past years.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by lubadub

Here in PA we had a very wet, cold June and July with about 13 inches of rain and temps around 60 on average at night, many nights cooler. Now that I am removing some of my plants I am noticing that the root systems are sparse with most of the roots right up on top. Anyone else have a similar situation? The tomatoes were nearly the same in number but they were smaller than usual. Now that it is a dry spell, most of the plants are wilting in the early afternoon. This must be related to the shallow root system. They never wilted like this in past years.

Marv, same situation here with rain and cold into the middle of July.

If the soil is waterlogged then no oxygen can penetrate to the roots deeply, just on the surface which then explains shallow roots as well.

Freda is growing my tomato plants for me in the backyard and most are in containers and the mix in those containers is lighter than if the plants were in a normal raised bed or inground and my tomatoes in large containers were wilting badly, until recently, and just two plants in a new raised bed and the fill there is the same as used in the containers, except used previously, and they were also wilting as well.

No rain here at all, except spotty stuff and we are now said to be in an abnormally dry area by the National Weather Service, so we shall see.

Carolyn