I am
growing tomato plants in my backyard. The area is southern California. I planted them in soil that I bought from Home Depot - whatever the organic stuff is for vegetables. I also added some organic tomato fertilizer, about a large pinch per plant. The plants are in the middle of the yard so have full sun, and are watered every other day from the sprinkler system for about 10 minutes.
I have a problem where the leaves keep dying. What happens is a new stalk is produced, with many leaves and healthy looking branches. However in about two weeks the branches start dying, from bottom to top, until all that is left is an empty stalk. First the stalk turns yellow, and if I don't pick it off, eventually dries up and turns brown. This is a chronic problem - it does not kill the plant, but it hurts production because the plant's energy is spent
growing new leaves that die in about two weeks.
Here are the leaves I picked off 4 plants this morning, all of which were dead or dying
www.rakkar.org/tomato1.jpgIn this picture, in the lower right you see a dying branch. The next branch up will usually start dying a few days later.
www.rakkar.org/tomato2.jpgHere is a plant that has been devastated by the problem. For example, the stalk in the middle bottom is barren. The same is true of the stalk holding the red tomato - there are no leaves left.
www.rakkar.org/tomato3.jpg