A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum The Tomato Forum Need help ?rescuing a tomato plant

This is my second year trying to grow tomatoes.

Last year I knew nothing and used little skinny stakes. Plant kept falling over and animals kept eating them.

This year I used cages and planted a few plants.

The one that has actually grown well and flowered well seems to be an indeterminate. Unfortunately the cage was not tall enough and the top part of the main stem has been damaged by not being proprely supported. I have supported it today, but fear it is too late.

I do not know what to do as the area of the stem above and below the damage has these sort of white spots I guess. I worry that the damaged stem can/will infect the whole plant somehow. Is this possible?

There are presently about 15 tomatoes (Green, unripened Juliet) below the damaged area and 10 less developed ones above along with other flowers.

The best picture I could get of the damage will be posted at:
http://s178.photobucket.com/albums/w278/GingerSunshine/

If you click on the image it will expand it for clearer view of damage (brown area) and weird white marks above damage (that are also below damage)

It is a picture of it now staked higher.

Any expert - not me - tomato growers out there with any advice?

Thanks for your help!

I would watch it but imagine you will be ok. I let mine go out the top and fall over and head back to the ground. Did this one do that? JMO. JD

Yeah. It got taller than the cage and folded over. It seemed okay and I figured if the main stem was strong enough to carry tomatoes than it was okay, but it must has broken over a couple of days.

1. I do not know what the white stuff means and I guess I am wondering if I should cut the plant below the damage just to hold onto the tomatoes below the damage...if the white stuff is bad and will infect the whole plant

Thank you for your help!

Ciao Orange Sunshine-

Those white bumps are root primordia. Tomato plants sprout roots all along their stems and in a humid climate, those bumps and sometimes even small roots will appear on stems that are above the soil line. Please don't cut your plant. You'll be opening it up to disease if you do. The brown on the stem is just scarring. Your plant probably scraped itself when it fell over and that's its way of scabbing during the healing process.

Sorellina:

Thank you very much for your response.

I just took another picture of the damaged area today before logging on and was very alarmed at these poky white things coming out where the white spots were.

I have now read your educating response and am hoping that what I have alarmingly photographed is in fact root primordia as you explained and not disease.

I have just posted this new picture at the same place as the first:

http://s178.photobucket.com/albums/w278/GingerSunshine/

The new picture is the one of the left. If you click on it, it will expand to a more detailed view.

May I also trouble you with a second question. If we do not get ?enough sun to ripen all the tomates on the plant, when would I remove them if still green and how should I try to ripen them once picked. Does that make sense?

Thanks for the education,
OrangeSunshine