What is wrong with these young tomato plants?

[PunkRotten]

Hi,

I got two tomato plants that are droopy/wilted. I am not sure what is going on. I am thinking it is over watering. Can they be saved?

[applestar]

Could it be overexposure (too much wind maybe?)

In the photo the soil medium looks dry. Heft them and if they feel light, they need to be watered. Set them in a container of water and let them soak up as much as they want in 15 minutes. Put them in less intense light for a day to let them recover. If it was too much wind, put them in more protected location.

[PunkRotten]

I thought they looked too dry too. And I did heft them and they felt light. I don't use a fan on my seedlings (yet). So I guess I will water and see what happens. Thanks for the tip.

[rainbowgardener]

Agree. It's tricky. You may have been so worried about over-watering, that you didn't water enough. The good news is that under watered plants can look pretty terrible and perk right up when they get thoroughly watered.

[TZ -OH6]

Overwatering is difficult to do with tomato seedlings in my experience, especially if roots can grow out drain holes.

I started a bunch of tomatoes and peppers (hundreds) for a student club to sell a few years ago. They sat in water the whole time (six pack units sitting in flats of water). This was after watching a botanist grow research seedlings (wild cotton relatives from dry habitats no less) the same way, little pots sitting in flats filled with water the whole time. I guess enough oxygen gets into soil of little pots as opposed to big pots. I don't recommend growing this way. I was using an evil oven of a greenhouse at the time and if the plants went dry on a sunny day they were toast.


Maybe 25% of the 'wet' peppers didn't germinate. I put the soil cubes in a pile on the greenhouse bench and ignored them. Once they dried out they all sprouted... after somethiing like a month of being waterlogged. Drying out soil/pepper seeds when they are reluctant to germinate has worked for me since then.

[gixxerific]

Turgor Pressure