Wilting tomatoes!! Help

Any idea what the heck is going on? This is over night. Healthy one day wake up drooping plant. I do see where deer have ate some but that should not be the cause. Seems like most of the other plants are fine. Any help to save them would b great!! Thanks

Darn I can't get they photo to upload on my iPod.

Finally got it to upload Here's another

I can think of some possibilities and here are some suggestions:

Is it possible they are sitting in waterlogged soil? If so, try adding more soil up around the base so it can start some more roots

Or, are they being watered on a regular basis? My tomatoes planted in growboxes take a gallon of water a day per 2 plants.

Could the deer have broken the main stems by pulling on them? If so, remove those baby tomatoes and mound some soil up around the stem so they can put out more roots.

Also, can't really tell but the mulch looks like it goes right to the base of the plant, if so, pull it out to the edges. I don't see any insect damage, the plants and tomatoes look really healthy.

Are you seeing the wilted plants in the morning? Or the afternoon?

If in the morning, this is either an extreme lack of water or a plant disease like Fusarium.
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r783101011.html
...or a pest that is eating the roots or lower stem. If you can pull a plant out of the ground, that is bad. Look at what is left of the roots. Gophers can do this.

If it is in the afternoon, and the plant has recovered by the next morning then that is OK. Temporarily the plant is releasing water faster from its leaves than can be replaced by the roots. This often happens in the hottest, driest weather. As long as the soil is properly wet (not soggy, but also not too dry) then the plant will keep on taking in water, and will recover.
If your weather is like this a lot, then you might want to rig up some shade cloth over whatever plants are most affected. Shade them from at least noon to 2PM, longer if that is not enough. Often squashes and some melons do this. Certain squashed can look almost dead, but be just fine the next morning.

This message was edited Jul 8, 2013 7:13 PM

Thanks for all the help.

They wilt all day and night and getting worse. YES we have had tons and tons of rain in the last week. 6 days of heavy rain. That may be the problem with those plants laying a little lower and in soggier soil.

I've been growing them for years and have never seen this happen overnight.

I will try all the suggestions that both of you have made and see whats happens.

THANKS AGAIN!

If you have been growing closely related plants in the same location several years in a row then there could well be a build up of disease organisms in the soil.
In normal years the plants may have been strong enough to fight it off. This year when they are fighting water logged soil their resistance is down, and the disease organisms may be having an easier time attacking the plants.

1) Rotate your crops over as long a rotation as you can. Do not plant related plants (Tomato, potato, pepper, eggplant, a few others) in the same spot every year.

2) Improve the soil for better drainage: If it is a low area, build it up. Add compost. If you need to, build raised beds and fill them with very loose, light material.

my guess is verticillium wilt. Its a fungal disease found in the soil.

The other possibility is late blight also a fungal disease.

This message was edited Jul 16, 2013 4:35 PM

Too much water is what it was. (rained 40 days and 40 nights, LOL seemed like it!)

I moved the mulch and there was a puddle under 3 of them.
I lost one but the other are doing great now that I dug a drain and added more dirt.

Looking healthy as can be now!! Thanks for the help!!

(I do rotate crop every year, and I have had verticillium in the past and thank goodness it is not that.)

Water logged!

glad you found the solution! Good drainage will help! Could also add some sand to the soil there or buiild it up or put in drains.

This message was edited Jul 16, 2013 7:48 PM

To address the drainage issue, unless you can get coarse builders sand that has little pebbles in it, it's better to just add some fine gravel to the soil to help drainage. Regular sand, such as for cement or sandboxes is so fine, the particles interlock together when wet and cause waterlogging, especially when you mix it with clay. Even adding perlite will help get air into the root area more than fine sand.