Katgarden
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Troubled gardener

I have harder off my plants and then planted in gareden about a week ago. The leaves started to wilt so gave them water. Then the leaves turned brown. Lost three of six. Now I have another one going wilty leaves yesterday, brown today. Only two plants left.
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Vanisle_BC
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Katgarden, that's very sad, you must feel discouraged. I'm no expert; others here will give good advice but my first guess would be that these plants were starved for water after being (trans?)planted. If you didn't water till they wilted was it too late? Did you raise them from seed or were they purchased plants? Post some more information - I'm sure you'll get helpful advice.

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rainbowgardener
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What I can see of the soil looks very dry and hard. You can't just stick plants into terrible soil and expect them to do well. Your garden lives or dies by the soil preparation you do. And watering your plants takes a lot more water than you think. Try watering the way you usually do. Then turn the hose off and dig down, see how far down the soil is moist. You may be very surprised to find that you have only moistened the top half inch or so of soil.

Katgarden
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Thank you all for your help. I water them every other day in the evening so the sun is not directly on them and it give the water a chance to get down in to the soil the last two weeks the temps have been getting very high during the day. I give them a full watering can each. Right now I have to do it manually till our sprinkler system is fixed. I did start them inside from seed. I also gave them some miracle grow when transferring them to the garden. I’m hoping the last two plants will make it they seem to look ok for now but so did the others just before they wilted. My yard is usually very wet so had to raise up the garden a bit. Everything else in the garden is fine except the tomato plants. I just don’t seem to have much luck with them.

imafan26
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I think they probably were not hardened off enough. You should try to transplant on a mild day not a very hot one. A cloudy day would be best. If you don't have cloudy days coming up then provide a temporary shelter for a few days. I agree the soil does not look very rich. It needs more organic matter. You should make sure the soil is fertilized at least 4-6 weeks before you outplant and that the soil is moist and friable when you do plant. Tomatoes can be planted deep and the plant looks like it was being grown in a pot a long time. Younger and smaller plants will transplant better than older ones. I usually transplant seedlings that are 6-8 inches tall and I remove all the lower leaves and bury them up to about an inch of the top 4 leaves.

Don't be discouraged. Tomatoes are not easy plants to start with. Choose a variety that is suitable for your climate and plant at the right time of the year. Tomatoes can be grown when temp are between 50-75. If temperatures are above 85 degrees for summer, look for heat resistant varieties. You can look up varieties for your state if you have an extension service or look for a place that has similar weather to yours and look up varieties that can be grown there. In Hawaii, I have a local extension service that recommends locally adapted tomatoes. I have also used Texas, Louisiana, Florida, and Purdue for recommendations. It still does not always work since I need tomatoes to be both heat and disease resistant (VFFFNTAY). Finding a tomato that grows well and tastes good... well I am still looking for more of those.

Ksk
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One thought. Try to water early in the morning, at the bottom of the plant, keeping leaves dry. Water is like a magnifying glass on a new plant and will cook the plant. If the plant is delicate and not completely hardened off it will die fast. :cry:

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rainbowgardener
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I just bumped in to this again.

If it isn't the conditions, water, soil etc, then it might have been one of the tomato wilt diseases.

Image

Plant on the left has fusarium wilt.

I didn't think about it, because I mainly grow hybrids and they usually have resistance to fusarium wilt and verticellum wilt bred in to them (as does the plant on the right in the picture). But if you are growing heirloom tomatoes, that may be what happened to them.

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Gary350
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I always make a donut shape levee around my new tomato plants so I can fill it with 2" of water every evening 1 hour before dark. In about 1 week when I notice leaves getting greener I know new roots are starting to grow. About 1 more week of water I see plants have grown about 1" or 2" taller. That is when I stop watering my plants I let mother nature take over. If your soil is hard roots may not be able to grow if you stop watering plants will die. If you transplant late in hot summer weather plants have no established roots so you may need to water all summer every day to keep plants alive. One thing interesting about tomatoes they do very well with too much water my new plants are sometimes standing in 2" of water for 2 whole weeks from all the rain we get and plants never die from too much water. It is better to give tomatoes too much water than not enough water. Never give tomato plants very much nitrogen fertilizer.

imafan26
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Disease resistance does make a difference. It usually takes longer than a week and the diseases usually start to hit in hot and humid weather.

You should choose a variety suited for your area and plant at the right time. The soil should be prepared in advance and amended with organic matter and the fertilizer of your choice weeks in advance. The soil should be thoroughly moistened before planting. It is hard for a pampered plant in a pot that has been sheltered and watered daily to go to a harsh environment with a less than ideal soil. It is always better to transplant younger plants rather than older ones. Older ones may be stressed from being in the pot so long and they don't adapt as well as younger ones. A cloudy day is best, but transplanting late in the day and making sure the plant gets a good drink after it is transplanted helps. If it is hotter than you would like, a temporary cover will help it to acclimate. Usually if plants are hardened off properly, they should be ok.

I burn plants by moving them two feet so even a small change in location may need acclimation. I usually leave the plant in the pot on the site where I plan to plant it for a few days after I harden it off to make sure it is acclimated to the exact location. I try not to plant anything out in summer in full sun. I will pot things up into pots but I will leave them in a sheltered place until the weather cools before transplanting them.

Mulching helps keep the soil cool and any surface roots shaded and moist. Some plants like trees and shrubs which I might plant out in early summer usually have to be watered 2-4 times a day for a few weeks until the roots start to move into the soil. It helps to mix some of the same potting mix into the planting hole with the native soil so there is not a big difference in the soil type so the roots will want to move into the surrounding soil. Pre moistening the soil where you are going to plant helps a lot especially in summer when it is hot and the soil is dry.



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