How To Prevent Wilting Of Park's Whopper Tomato Plant - Ask Extension
This spring I purchased four different varieties of tomato plants from Tagawa Nursery in Centennial, Colorado. Each plant was about 8-12" tall. ...
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How To Prevent Wilting Of Park's Whopper Tomato Plant #756624
Asked June 16, 2021, 3:18 PM EDT
This spring I purchased four different varieties of tomato plants from Tagawa Nursery in Centennial, Colorado. Each plant was about 8-12" tall. I live in Parker (Stonegate), Colorado, and I planted all four in separate large pots with a good quality garden soil, also purchased at Tagawa. I placed the pots close to the back fence of my north-facing back yard - where they get partial shade in the morning, and full sun from about noon on. Three of those tomato plants are doing well, even with the very hot daytime temperatures this week. However, one of those plants, a Park's Whopper, is struggling in this heat, with the leaves of the plant wilting in the hottest part of the day. I've kept all of my plants well watered daily, which helps, especially when I check on them in the morning - no wilting. But every afternoon, my Park's Whopper plant looks pretty stressed, with lots of wilted leaves. It does have buds on the plant, and a couple small tomatoes. So today, I moved the Park's Whopper plant to a location still near the backyard fence, but directly under a Maple tree, where it will get very little, if any, full sun. But it should get some filtered sun in the morning and late afternoon. My question is if that move is ok, and will still provide enough sun to help the Park's Whopper bear ripe fruit, or if you can suggest some other options to keep the plant from wilting. Pictures are attached.
By the way, while I was moving the pot with the Park's Whopper today, I discovered that the pot was sitting directly over a pile of black ants. I'm not sure if they had anything to do with the stress on the plant, but thought I should mention it here in case you have other information about ants and tomato plants.
Thank you.
Daniel Moore
Parker, Colorado
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Douglas County Colorado
Expert Response
HI,
Thanks for contacting us.
Moving the plant so it gets morning and late afternoon sun should help during this hot spell. You will want to move the plant back to a sunnier spot, if you can find a location with morning sun, that would be ideal.
Here is an article on growing tomatoes:
https://cmg.extension.colostate.edu/Gardennotes/717.pdf
Adding mulch to the pots will help keep the soil cooler and moist. That should help.