A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum The Tomato Forum Tomato plant in the Southwest

Hello all,
About 6 weeks ago I planted 3 tomato plants in plastic terra cotta planters (one plant per planter). I did this to keep the plant up off the ground from rabbits and other night stalkers. I also notice that I don't even have any bugs. I used Miracle grow potting soil (for vegetables) and mixed it with some native soil. Kept the soil moist and they really took off! We have about 15 nice tomatoes (green of course) and the plants were doing just fine. The other afternoon I noticed, on one of the plants, that the leaves were starting to droop?
I've done everything, checked for aphids, or any other bugs of caterpillars, the leaves are normal color top to bottom. Moisture seems to be the same as usual. The other plants are fine. The planters are about 3-4 feet apart. The plants are about 4 feet tall and supported in tomato stands (not metal). Any ideas? Thanks

if the temperatures are too hot the plants will droop.They will get back to normal in the evening.

how big are your containers? I'm wondering if they are developing good root systems. my peppers droop like emde is saying, but they are not quite as deeply rooted as my maters. i've never seen my tomatoes droop like your talking about, but then I can't tell what part of the country your in either.

Heat and lack of moisture is causing lots of droops......

Can you give them a little shade ?
I do that by putting an object overhead .. Even a cloth over sticks help.

The temperature has been around 88 to 90 during the day and about 60 to 70 at night. The UV has been high (10+). The two other plants are doing just fine. They are right next to the problem plant, maybe a few feet away. They are in at least 10 gallon pots. As far as moisture is concerned, I've been watering every two days or so. I'm using about a gallon of warm water per plant. About every 7 to 8 days I've been using Miracle grow for tomatoes. About 1 tablespoon per 1 gallon of water. I feel as though I will lose this plant. Can't figure it out. Oh, by the way the plant that I'm concerned about is a Better Boy hybrid, the other two are, German Queen and Big Beef. There are tomatoes on all the plants, the Better Boy has about 6 tomatoes and they seem to be holding up. Thanks for all your replies.

did you use the same type of soil in all the pots?

cricket, Yes I did use the same soil. In fact I mixed the soil then used what I needed in all 3 pots. I used most of the soil and the left over went into my flower garden. By the way I trimmed most of the dead leaves and small branches and this morning it seems as though the plant is trying to come back. (at 0450 AM) I haven't been watering as much in the past few days. There my be some hope yet. I also had to remove some tomatoes (green of course) on a few branches that I removed. I hope they turn red. Thanks

Are they just drooping? Any change in the leaves color? Without pictures hard to tell. Like several have said in the heat they can droop especially if the root system isn't developed or rootbound. But shouldn't be the case here. Being that the other two are doing good in the same containers and mix that rules out some things. Are the other plants around the size of this one? I hope you have fixed the problem with the pruning you did keep us informed. JD

Yes it appears that the plant is just drooping. As far as the leaves are concerned, due to the drooping, some leaves don't seem to be getting any moisture. (So it seems) They are just dying off. So early this morning I trimmed off all of the dead leaves. The dead leaves and/or branches are throughout the plant. Doesn't seem to be a pattern. This afternoon, after an overcast day, one side of the plant seems to recovering. (strange) I have the plant trimmed down pretty good. As far as the height of this plant to the others, they are all about 4' tall, they are all quite bushy, until I trimmed this one. I'll try to post a picture. I'll have to research posting a picture, but I will get back to everyone. Thanks

Now that you mention that.......It might be mom nature herself.
I have perfectly healthy plants here and there, just drop dead....Turn clear brown and they die??????????Beats me why.

Might be mom

Sometimes an animal can cause that also...peeing in the pot.

Dodge, I had one do that too last year, just turned brown and died.

did you use the same kinds of pots for all of them?

Heck no.......I have ice cream buckets for some of them..LOL

Those didnt die...it was planted in the garden which died.

mine too in the ground...it looked terrible too for about a week before it just crumpled up and died.

Maybe some kind of root eating bug in the soil?

I put this plant in the shade a few days ago. It does appear to be doing better. Maybe the UV was to high. I too thought that it was mom nature. She works in strange ways at times. I did notice that a few tomatoes on this plant are starting to turn red, but most of the plant is still drooping. In my opinion I also thought about root rot, bugs on the roots etc. But the continued action of the plant trying to survive seems to contradict that. We do have a cat and a dog. I do not see any evidence of the cat using this pot to relieve herself. I had to laugh to myself thinking about our dog, as she is a Welsh Corgi, trying to get up on any of those pots. I'm still trying to get a picture posted to no avail. Thanks for all the input.

Update......The problem plant is coming around. I believe it may have been a combination of what was suggested, ie. moving the plant onto the shade (they are in 10 gallon pots), pruning the drooping leaves and stems, backing off on watering. (As far as watering is concerned I only used about 1/2 gallon every other day.) Then there was a suggestion made by one of my co-workers. He grows about 75 to 100 tomato plants ever season. He told me to put used coffee grounds on the soil. He just throws the grounds on top of the soil around the base of the plants. Just lets it lay there and continues watering as usual. Thanks again....