These vines are between 6-8’ tall, most of them covered in juicy tomatoes! But all the lower branches are yellowing and dying, pretty quickly.
I’ve been pruning them to be a single leader and pruning off the dead branches, but that leaves some of them with no foliage below like, 2 or 3’ up, like in the first photo.
Like I said, most are putting out good fruit, just trying to figure out if I need to be proactive before I lose it all.
by alannmsu
15 Comments
Looks like it’s caught a disease. Also a very thin main stem – probably didn’t fertilize? It needed more nitrogen OR perhaps something with the soil composition is preventing nutrient uptake.
Hopefully someone more experienced will have a proper treatment but from my understanding once a tomato plant is sick it’s pretty much a lost cause.
That’s some seriously heavy pruning. I’d probably let a few suckers grow out to give it some more leaves.
Tomato plants can survive disease and keep growing. Fussing over them generally won’t do the trick.
When you water, water at the bottom and make sure you’re not watering the leaves. Add some mulch. Be sure to prune the plant to make sure that it gets very good air circulation. Removing infected leaves and branches can also help.
In the future, you’ll either want to avoid planting things in the same family (eggplants, potatoes, tomatillos, etc) in that soil, or find disease-resistant varieties of those plants to plant there.
Infections are an indication that the plant is not being kept in great conditions. Soil fertility, mulch, and pruning can improve those conditions. If you save seed and this is an heirloom variety and not a hybrid, saving the seeds of a tomato plant that has survived an infection can go a long way toward cultivating a variety that’s suited to your conditions and able to resist disease.
The new trend of over pruning is killing me
I’m thinking this might be verticillium wilt. If so, it’s a bummer because there’s not much of any treatment you can do for the current crop. But I’ve had plants pull through a season with wilt, def with reduced yields tho
Have you fertilized?
I wonder if your soil is splashing onto the leaves, like during heavy rain. If it’s home to certain bacteria, that splashing could explain why only the bottom is affected. Try throwing down some mulch? Even a small layer would help.
Just a guess! Sorry OP.
This happens to my tomatoes every single year despite all preventative efforts I can muster. Also California. Consulting local nurseries hasn’t helped. I just hope to get as many out of the plants before they all die a premature death.
Look how they massacred me boy
Where in the name of all the old gods and the new gods are your leaves? Why is your plant naked?
Tomatoes are heavy feeders, and once fruit set, the lower leaves are no longer a priority. This is a handy guide, but the general rule of thumb for tomatoes is lots of nitrogen from transplant until flowering stage, and then more phosphorus and potassium from then on.
https://www.kisorganics.com/blogs/news/a-dichotomous-key-for-understanding-nutrient-deficiencies
Are you in So Cal? I have the EXACT same problem for years. Just used chatgpt o3 pro to try to diagnose it and it thinks I have a spider mite issue. Had me run all sorts of diagnostics and take all different photos to get to that point too. I’m gonna be trying out a few remedies this week to see if it stops the continual dying of my leaves from the bottom up.
Mulch
From what I see, you could be under watering your tomatoes, or if you’re watering before the soil dries it could be overwatering.
If you don’t have a temperature, lumen and moisture gauge, I’d recommend getting one. If the plants are getting too much sun and drying out they could probably benefit from shade during the highest point of the day and make sure you’re not watering your plants mid day either.
Like other people recommended, a layer of mulch could help prevent any splashing of the soil onto the leaves.
Also if you haven’t tested your soil with a soil testing kit (PH, phos, potassium, nitrogen) definitely recommend that, just bought a tester and thank god I did because 3/4 tests came back with bad results and I’m correcting the problems now.
One other add, try companion planting if you’re interested in that, I’m about to start but my first attempt wasn’t successful because my spouts died 😅
Look for spider mites.