Please see photos included. I’ve started my plants by seed for the second year. Last year was successful. This year I have a lot dying. It looks lik...
Knowledgebase
Tomato plant problems #751732
Asked May 24, 2021, 10:56 AM EDT
Please see photos included. I’ve started my plants by seed for the second year. Last year was successful. This year I have a lot dying. It looks like the stem at ground level is brownish. When I dig them up after they died, the stem problem looks like it’s just at ground level. The stem further down in soil looks ok and so does the upper portion.
Anne Arundel CountyMaryland
Expert Response
Hi-
1. If those are chunks of manure in the photo (R) and the manure contacted the stems, it's possible that salts from the manure desiccated the stems. Pull manure away from plant stems.
2. It's also possible that the transplants were infected by one or more of the water molds ("damping off") that thrive in excessively wet soils. Rhizoctonia will cause browning of lower stems and Pithium and other water molds can injure roots (the root system in the photo (L) looks small and unhealthy). Fresh and partially decomposed manure can contribute to damping-off diseases in spring vegetable gardens.
The highly variable spring weather conditions have stressed many warm-season annual plants and would have contributed to slow growth.
The foliage spots appear to be due to Septoria and perhaps Early Blight as well, both very common diseases on tomatoes in our region. The wilt is harder to diagnose because several different causes can result in wilt, but Fusarium is a common culprit. The plant will not recover and needs to be removed, and you can salvage any fruit that's mature enough to ripen indoors. Cutting into the stem lengthwise might reveal staining that suggests a wilt infection. Growing resistant varieties can help avoid the problem in future seasons, though no variety is perfectly immune, nor are they resistant to all of the possible diseases at once. You can learn more about common tomato problems and how to avoid them on our Growing Tomatoes page.
