What Caused My Tomato Plants to Wilt?
A delicious homegrown tomato is worth a little extra effort. However, if you don't know how to take care of your tomato plants properly, you could come home one day to find a garden full of wilted plants. The good news is that you should be able to identify what caused the wilt and therefore prevent it from recurring in the future. Does this Spark an idea?
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Improper Watering
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Tomatoes that don't receive enough water will wilt. However, tomatoes that are overwatered will also suffer from wilting. To avoid overwatering tomatoes, put your tomatoes in a raised bed or in soil with adequate drainage. Water tomato plants slowly and at the roots of the plant. A typical summer will require plants to be watered ever two to three days.
Fungal Wilting
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There are two types of fungus that can cause vascular wilting. Verticillium and fusarium both appear in the form of wilting that occurs during the day. Plants will bounce back slightly overnight, but if you notice the problem getting worse each day your tomatoes may be affected by these fungi. When buying seeds, you can look for varieties that have been bred to resist verticillium and fusarium. Ask your seed dealer to recommend the latest resistant varieties, because you do not want these problems in your soil. Once established, a fungus can live in soil for many years.
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Reaction With Other Plants
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Tomatoes do not thrive when planted next to certain other types of plants. Two of the worst culprits are walnut and butternut. If tomatoes wilt when next to a walnut tree, they are suffering from "walnut wilt." A walnut tree emits a toxin called juglone into the soil. If the tomato's root systems are near enough to the walnut's roots, the leaves of the plant can possibly discolor and wilt due to a reaction with the juglone.
Spotted Wilt Virus
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When trying to determine the cause of your plant's wilt, look for dark brown spots that discolor the leaves. Stems might be streaked with dark brown and the plant may be growing better on one side than the other. If the wilt appears after it has borne fruit, there will be discolorations and ringed green markings on the tomato itself. These are all signs of the spotted wilt virus.
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References
- Mississippi State University; Look for Six Common Causes of Tomato Wilt in the South; Kerry Johnson; 2005
- Gardening Know How: Watering Tomato Plants - How Much Water Do Tomato Plants Need
- University of Nebraska Lincoln; Possible Causes of Sudden Wilt and Death in Tomatoes; Don Jannsen
- Plant Disease; Tomato Wilt Problems; Steve Bost
- Cornell University Vegetable MD Online; Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus; T.A. Zitter, et al.; 1989
Resources
- Photo Credit tomato plants image by JLycke from Fotolia.com
