Withered tomato stems at near ground level - Ask Extension
I have several large indeterminate tomato plants that have brown withered stems at the very bottom of the plant within an inch or two of where the ste...
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Withered tomato stems at near ground level #801217
Asked July 14, 2022, 9:11 PM EDT
I have several large indeterminate tomato plants that have brown withered stems at the very bottom of the plant within an inch or two of where the stem goes into the ground (see pics attached). One entire plant wilted and died and I pulled it up. One surviving plant looks a little peaked and tends to wilt a bit in hot sun, needs more watering than the others. The other two still look perfectly normal except for that brown stem, and all three are setting lots of tomatoes so I hate to pull them, but I will if they're likely to infect my other 24 plants. The two affected plants that look normal otherwise are in the same bed as the one that died and are located close to where that one was. The other one that wilts a little is in a separate bed of cherry tomatoes some distance from the bed where the plant died.
Do you know what this disease is. Fungus? Insect damage? I've never seen this before in my 50+ years of gardening. If you have recommendations for treatment I prefer to use organic amendments.
Washington County Vermont
Expert Response
Hello Laura:
I checked with the Plant Pathologist, and here is what she had to say:
This is typical of crown rot caused by rhizoctonia. It occurs early in the season if the soil is wet and cool. The mulch may make it worse if it keeps it wetter/cooler. Not much to do at this point. We usually see this hit or miss in high tunnels in early spring/summer.
Following is some information that may be helpful to you.
https://extension.umn.edu/solve-problem/how-prevent-seedling-damping
I checked with the Plant Pathologist, and here is what she had to say:
This is typical of crown rot caused by rhizoctonia. It occurs early in the season if the soil is wet and cool. The mulch may make it worse if it keeps it wetter/cooler. Not much to do at this point. We usually see this hit or miss in high tunnels in early spring/summer.
Following is some information that may be helpful to you.
https://extension.umn.edu/solve-problem/how-prevent-seedling-damping
Hi Laura. It is likely that this is a fungal disease that was present at the time you planted your tomatoes out and cause a weakening of the plant's base. In younger plants, we most often call it damping off do to wet and cold weather shortly after transplanting. It may also occur at germination time. The fungus at this stage is probably rhizoctonia that causes plants to die soon after germinating or transplanting. We did experience a wet cold period early in June just as we were all transplanting out our tomatoes. Sometimes we injure plants during transplanting allowing more opportunities for diseases.
Fusarium crown and root rot appears to be the culprit based on my research via our cooperative extension network. The link below is just to confirm that you are experiencing that same fungal disease. Although the literature suggest that this occurs more in greenhouses or high tunnel hoop houses, it is still possible to experience it in our home gardens.
https://ag.purdue.edu/department/btny/ppdl/potw-dept-folder/2022/fusarim-crown-rot.html
The next link fro the University of Minnesota Extension, describes in more detail on how to prevent and control this disease from year to year.
https://extension.umn.edu/disease-management/fusarium-crown-and-root-rot
The important factors to remember are:
- Keep soil ph between 6.0 and 7.0 for most vegetables. A good way to determine this by doing a soil test of your vegetable garden. The following link is for the UVM soil testing labs.
https://www.uvm.edu/extension/agricultural-and-environmental-testing-lab
- Avoid injuring your tomatoes at time of transplant.
- Provide adequate spacing between plants for good air circulation.
- Add compost or other broken down organic matter to improve soil drainage.
- Mulch around plants and water close to soil surface.
- Remove all remaining plant matter, including fruit that have fallen ,at the end of the season.
- Rotate your vegetables and select varieties that are resistant to various diseases. Although this next link from the University of Cornell is intended for use by commercial growers, it is still very helpful in selecting varieties that are suitable for our personal vegetable garden.
https://www.uvm.edu/extension/agricultural-and-environmental-testing-lab
This link is also useful in identifying resistant varieties for other vegetables you may be growing.
For the tomato plants that clearly affected by this disease, I would remove them to prevent spreading to other tomato plants. Do not add it to your compost pile, rather bag and dispose of either as trash or to a commercial composting facility if available near you.
Hope this is helpful.
Fusarium crown and root rot appears to be the culprit based on my research via our cooperative extension network. The link below is just to confirm that you are experiencing that same fungal disease. Although the literature suggest that this occurs more in greenhouses or high tunnel hoop houses, it is still possible to experience it in our home gardens.
https://ag.purdue.edu/department/btny/ppdl/potw-dept-folder/2022/fusarim-crown-rot.html
The next link fro the University of Minnesota Extension, describes in more detail on how to prevent and control this disease from year to year.
https://extension.umn.edu/disease-management/fusarium-crown-and-root-rot
The important factors to remember are:
- Keep soil ph between 6.0 and 7.0 for most vegetables. A good way to determine this by doing a soil test of your vegetable garden. The following link is for the UVM soil testing labs.
https://www.uvm.edu/extension/agricultural-and-environmental-testing-lab
- Avoid injuring your tomatoes at time of transplant.
- Provide adequate spacing between plants for good air circulation.
- Add compost or other broken down organic matter to improve soil drainage.
- Mulch around plants and water close to soil surface.
- Remove all remaining plant matter, including fruit that have fallen ,at the end of the season.
- Rotate your vegetables and select varieties that are resistant to various diseases. Although this next link from the University of Cornell is intended for use by commercial growers, it is still very helpful in selecting varieties that are suitable for our personal vegetable garden.
https://www.uvm.edu/extension/agricultural-and-environmental-testing-lab
This link is also useful in identifying resistant varieties for other vegetables you may be growing.
For the tomato plants that clearly affected by this disease, I would remove them to prevent spreading to other tomato plants. Do not add it to your compost pile, rather bag and dispose of either as trash or to a commercial composting facility if available near you.
Hope this is helpful.
Thanks so much for this thorough and informative answer. I have removed the affected plants and gotten rid of them (NOT in the compost). I started all of my own tomato plants this year. They were indoors first, then I moved them to my unheated greenhouse when it was warm enough. But there were cold nights forever and lots of moving them in for the night and back out for the day. I remember now that I had half a dozen or so plants that seemed weak and sickly when it was time to transplant into the garden. I threw those out and didn't use them. But one granadero (the one that died first) and one cherry (the weak wilty one) must have had the disease to some extent when I set the plants out, though they looked all right then. I think the brandywine and another granadero caught it in the garden later from the sick granadero because they grew well for a while and set lots of tomatoes, but their stems were very weak and rotten at the bottom when I pulled them up. They were both near the sick plant in the bed.
Best,
Laura Schlivek
From: "Ask Extension" <<personal data hidden>>
To: "Laura Schlivek" <<personal data hidden>>
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2022 19:39:29 +0000
Subject: Re: Withered tomato stems at near ground level (#0071148)
I am glad you found the information helpful, Laura.
