Any idea why this San Marzano tomato plant is wilting even though moister level is good? Its been doing this for few days and getting worse. None of the other tomato plants that share the same conditions have this problem. Not even the San Marzano grown last year from the same seeds did this.
by abdul10000
9 Comments
Is it very hot there in this location?
Did you say something mean to that plant?
Something may have happened with the roots.
If it keeps getting progsivly worse, it might be:
Fusarium wilt https://g.co/kgs/dZwJTZY
I lost a plant to this a few years ago, and I was devastated.
The container looks small to me, but it’s hard to see in the picture. Tomato should be planted in 5 or better yet 10 gallon containers.
Otherwise, the plant looks great. Good coloring.
Is it a San Marzano Redorta? Or classic San Marzano?
What else are you growing?
Is this a plant that you got as a start? Fusarium wilt is rare in container gardening using a soil mix, particularly in a single plant. If you had it, I would suspect you would see it in other plants, but if you got it as a start, it could be from that. I kind of doubt it is a fungus or viral wilt disease because the plant otherwise looks pretty good.
Did you recently increase or change your fertilization? I had this happen to me before when I made a math error and mixed my fertilizer concentration too high. Not all my plants were impacted. You can also see this kind of thing as salts from fertilizers build up in the soil over time. This could also be happening if you have hard water. This is an issue I have with moisture meters, particularly in container growing. You water just enough for the plant, but not enough to flush salts. So, even though it shows soil moisture, the plant can not uptake it.
You may also just need to water more. You say you are growing in 70% peat moss and 30% perlite. This obviously works for you, but it is a high % of perlite. With that soil mix in a big growbag, it is basically impossible to overwater. I grow mainly in 25g grow bags, and I use a soil that I mix up that has about 10% perlite. I use drip irrigation with a 360⁰ emitter on a timer and water for long enough, so water flows visibility from the bottom of the bag. This also helps with salt build-up. They are watered every day mid-morning.
But in all cases, the “fix” is to water the plant a few times with enough water to give the soil a good flush and really get things saturated. If it is a fungal infection, the roots are damaged, so watering it more may help for a bit. Eventually, the plant is likely a goner, but then at least you know. If it is a viral wilt virus (very doubtful), you won’t see a response, and the plant will be dead pretty soon. But if there is an issue with salinity in your soils or if it just needs more water it should perk up pretty quickly. Then you may want to try increasing your watering moving forward.
Sometimes it just happens… plants naturally wilt in hot weather as a physiological response to protect them. The best thing is to not overreact and definitely don’t overwater it
Could be overwatering? Your potting mix sounds like it probably retains a lot of water and tomatoes don’t like to be constantly soaked. Could be causing the roots to struggle.
How are you fertilising?
EDIT: I forgot to say, I don’t trust those moisture meters at all. Mine lies to me all the time. It looks like it’s on the high end of moist, which if you haven’t recently watered probably means it was very wet and is now only wet.