Stem is turning brown and breaking at base

[GrowerC86]

I have a few tomato plants I am growing upside down in containers and so far 2 of them have had something strange happen and I don't know why. At the base of the stem just before the soil the stem is turning brown and seemingly dieing. It withers up and begins to dangle the plant and eventually break off. This happened first with a better boy plant I had growing upside down where one morning I went out to check on my plants and I saw it on the ground and didn't know what happened. My only guess was a bug or bird bit it off. The plant actually survived because I shoved the stem back into the container and now a week later it has nice yellow blooms on it so this didn't kill the plant, even though it had even withered up from being on the ground over night. I figure it had something to do with the stem when I saw it happening to one of my cherry tomato plants I'm growing upside down today. I took a picture and the stem was almost ready to break in half. I detached it and shoved the stem back into the container so more roots would grow.

My question is, what is this and why is it happening? I have about 5 other tomato plants I have growing upside down and they are doing very good. I'm worried this may happen to them as well so I check them everyday. If anyone knows what is going on, let me know. Thanks!

[applestar]

Although we tend to think of it as disease for seedlings, I'm pretty sure this is damping off fungus, resulting from soil that is not draining well and staying too damp. What kind of potting mix did you use?

I've never tried the upside down tomato growing method, but I can see there would be inherent tendency to moist soil constantly staying in contact with the stem since this is the bottom of the container.... Other issues I've heard about are related to other soil-borne diseases raining down on the foliage as the water drains from the container.

[GrowerC86]

Although we tend to think of it as disease for seedlings, I'm pretty sure this is damping off fungus, resulting from soil that is not draining well and staying too damp. What kind of potting mix did you use?

I've never tried the upside down tomato growing method, but I can see there would be inherent tendency to moist soil constantly staying in contact with the stem since this is the bottom of the container.... Other issues I've heard about are related to other soil-borne diseases raining down on the foliage as the water drains from the container.

A few different kinds. For the first one this happened to, I think all I put in the container was compost from our compost bin. The water damping thing sounds like what probably is going on here. Growing the tomatoes upside down is something I am only trying to see how well they do and how much maintenance they require. So far it has been easy going and they are growing well except for this one issue so far. I get a lot of milk jugs so it saves a lot of money buying containers. If this happens again I will probably just put them in pots right side up unless I can figure out a way to stop this.

[GrowerC86]

In the picture above, the only thing that is in that container is Black Kow compost manure.

[rainbowgardener]

You filled a container with manure? Way too heavy and moisture holding. Manure is meant to be a soil amendment, not the soil. In containers, you need soil-less potting mix, which is very loose and fluffy and well-draining.

And I agree about the damping off and that growing upside down would tend to promote that, since water is always flowing to the bottom, so the bottom is the wettest/ most consistently wet part. We have had a number of people write in about the upside down containers (though not for awhile, I thought maybe that trend had died out) and always reporting a lot of problems with them.

[pepperhead212]

I had this same thing happen with just 2 varieties out of 20 this year, and both plants of both varieties! Yet not one other plant, in the same mix, trays, lighting, etc. had it happen to them.

As rainbow said, that compost is just too heavy to plant those in. I planted in UD containers for many years, and used many potting mixes (whatever I would find at half price at Lowe's or HD, because they had been broken open! LOL), but I always added extra perlite, and some worm castings. The tomatoes did better than the ones in the ground, as a rule. But, be forewarned, you will have to water frequently - those things dry out quickly in the summer. I hooked up a drip line across all 15 of them, so that I didn't have to worry about it.

[xtgold]

It happens right side up also,if the soil is too wet.

[GrowerC86]

You filled a container with manure? Way too heavy and moisture holding. Manure is meant to be a soil amendment, not the soil. In containers, you need soil-less potting mix, which is very loose and fluffy and well-draining.

And I agree about the damping off and that growing upside down would tend to promote that, since water is always flowing to the bottom, so the bottom is the wettest/ most consistently wet part. We have had a number of people write in about the upside down containers (though not for awhile, I thought maybe that trend had died out) and always reporting a lot of problems with them.

Not really manure. It was composted so it was a lot lighter and softer. Its the Black Kow composted manure. But it is a lot heavier when wet. I understand now about the soil and using the right kinds for upside down growing. Any suggestions for cheap effective soil-less potting mix?