Tomato plants wilting and dying - Ask Extension
I have a new raised bed garden this year. I have lost approximately 10% of my planted tomatoes to something completely new to me. The leaves have no s...
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Tomato plants wilting and dying #800623
Asked July 11, 2022, 7:55 PM EDT
I have a new raised bed garden this year. I have lost approximately 10% of my planted tomatoes to something completely new to me. The leaves have no spots. They don’t typically yellow until the very final stages where the plant is completely wilted and basically dead. When I pull the plant out of the ground the root system seems to be decent and intact. I’m assuming this is a bacterial wilt though I am not certain. This issue does not appear to be contagious though I am not sure. It will sometimes leave neighboring plants completely unharmed. (although I did lose four in a row earlier this year ). But I also have some very large containers that I will put three plants in. One plant will die leaving the other two unaffected.
This is affecting both determinate and indeterminate tomato varieties. Including paste tomatoes and heirloom tomatoes. The soil is almost completely composted horse manure. I did test the pH and found it to be between seven and 7.5 so I recently did add some sulfur to bring it closer to 6.5. I also tested for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium . Phosphorus and potassium appear to be an acceptable ranges while nitrogen was slightly deficient. I just used a home testing kit for the testing.
I am also seeing way more blossom rot issues than I have ever in the past. I have also fertilized the plants once when I planted them. I also put some oyster shells down in the hole when I planted them for calcium. I fertilized them a second time a few weeks ago. I use a chicken manure fertilizer that is a 5– 3–2.
My area has gotten quite a bit of rain this year so I have only watered a couple of times because the soil doesn’t really seem to dry out much more than a couple inches deep. The issue has affected plants in several beds. Also affects some of my plants that are not in raised beds but instead in 5 gallon buckets. I’m also including an image of a cross-section of one of the stems after I pulled the plant. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Calvert County Maryland
Expert Response
Hi-
We are sorry to hear about your tomato woes. The wilting symptoms and plant death are certainly alarming.
The possible wilt diseases (fungal and bacterial) all cause other symptoms like leaf yellowing, root rot, and stem lesions. We see the tan discoloration at the end of the cut stem. When you slice the epidermis of wilted stems lengthwise do you see browning of the vascular tissue? Did you find hollow stems with dark-colored pith (tissue in the middle of the stem). Those symptoms would suggest that the wilting is caused by a plant pathogen. Most hybrid varieties have some resistance to Verticillium and at least one strain of Fusarium wilt, while heirloom varieties typically have little resistance. Also, it's hard to tell from the photos but let us know if you see any distortion, twisting, or curling of new leaves.
We are wondering if the raised bed and bucket tomato plants may be growing in soil or growing media that is excessively wet (feels squishy). Garden soil added to container gardens slows water drainage and can starve plants of oxygen. Buckets with stopped-up drainage holes will also kill plants.
The high incidence of blossom-end rot could be due to plant stresses and low calcium levels in the bucket soil. Oyster shells break down very slowly and won't release much calcium. Next time, add 1/8-1/4 cup of gypsum to each planting hole.
Jon
We are sorry to hear about your tomato woes. The wilting symptoms and plant death are certainly alarming.
The possible wilt diseases (fungal and bacterial) all cause other symptoms like leaf yellowing, root rot, and stem lesions. We see the tan discoloration at the end of the cut stem. When you slice the epidermis of wilted stems lengthwise do you see browning of the vascular tissue? Did you find hollow stems with dark-colored pith (tissue in the middle of the stem). Those symptoms would suggest that the wilting is caused by a plant pathogen. Most hybrid varieties have some resistance to Verticillium and at least one strain of Fusarium wilt, while heirloom varieties typically have little resistance. Also, it's hard to tell from the photos but let us know if you see any distortion, twisting, or curling of new leaves.
We are wondering if the raised bed and bucket tomato plants may be growing in soil or growing media that is excessively wet (feels squishy). Garden soil added to container gardens slows water drainage and can starve plants of oxygen. Buckets with stopped-up drainage holes will also kill plants.
The high incidence of blossom-end rot could be due to plant stresses and low calcium levels in the bucket soil. Oyster shells break down very slowly and won't release much calcium. Next time, add 1/8-1/4 cup of gypsum to each planting hole.
Jon
Thank you so much for the thoughtful reply!
I just had another plant dye and took the opportunity to inspect the stem as outlined in your reply. I will attach a picture of what I found. It does appear to me that there is some discoloration in the vascular part of the stem if I am looking at it correctly. The stem does not seem to be hollow though.
I haven’t seen a substantial amount of curling in any leaves. I have experienced this years ago where pretty much all of the leaves on the plant would curl upward… So that’s pretty much what I was looking for and I didn’t really see any this year.
As far as the soil goes… The large raised beds are approximately 2 feet deep. The bottom 1 foot I filled with wood chips. The top 1 foot is filled with 100% composted horse manure. (Smaller containers or buckets are just the composted horse manure without wood chips ) We just had some light rain over the last couple of days… But the top part of that soil has dried out so I dug down about 2 inches and grabbed a handful of the soil. It did not feel excessively wet. It was slightly damp. And when I tried to compress it in my hand as soon as I released it it fell back apart. So I don’t feel like it is holding A ton of moisture… But it never really does seem to truly dry out two or 3 inches down the way it does on the top of the soil. We can go a week to 10 days without rain and if I dig down three or 4 inches it is still very slightly damp. But it doesn’t feel waterlogged or squishy.
Thank you for the advice on the gypsum. I will absolutely try that next year.
Hi-
The brown streaking does suggest fusarium wilt. If you would like to confirm that it is fusarium wilt you can submit a sample to the Plant Diagnostic Laboratory. There are instructions on the website for how to do that.
Otherwise, I suggest not planting any tomato varieties in the affected bed next year unless they have resistance to at least Race 1 and Race 2 of fusarium wilt disease.
https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/fusarium-wilt-of-tomato
http://plantpathology.ca.uky.edu/files/ppfs-vg-15.pdf
Jon
The brown streaking does suggest fusarium wilt. If you would like to confirm that it is fusarium wilt you can submit a sample to the Plant Diagnostic Laboratory. There are instructions on the website for how to do that.
Otherwise, I suggest not planting any tomato varieties in the affected bed next year unless they have resistance to at least Race 1 and Race 2 of fusarium wilt disease.
https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/fusarium-wilt-of-tomato
http://plantpathology.ca.uky.edu/files/ppfs-vg-15.pdf
Jon