Tomatoes suddenly wilt and die within 24 hours (forum)

Tom5051 starts with ...
Hi,
I'm an experienced gardener, 40 years old, but I am having a problem with my raised garden bed.
I grew 18 Tomato plants from seed of 9 different types, Mr Fothergill seeds from Bunnings.
The plants appear healthy and green one day but one will suddenly wilt and die within 24 hours starting at the top and working down to the lowest leaves by the end of the day. Lost 7 over the last 14 days. Watering does not make any difference.
I cut the affected plants stems and there are no signs of brown streaks etc. They all look perfectly fine. Compared to a healthy plant taken from a pot, the stems appear the same.
Also put the stems in a glass of water but there is no white ooze to be seen.
The types that have been affected so far are:
3x Tommy Toe (all dead)
1x Siberian (other 2 ok)
3x Ferline F1 (all dead)

Time: 3rd December 2017 7:59pm

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Fruitylicious1 says...
As far as I know there are only a few causes of sudden death in tomatos excluding lack of water.
1. Vascular wilt - (verticulum and fusarium) cutting thru the lower stem will reveal a brownish discoloration. It's a tomato death sentence.
2. Walnut toxicity - cause by a chemical called juglone which is fatal to tomatoes and it's family.
3. Stem borer - the moth larva (caterpillar) tunnels into the stem and into to the stalk. Difficult to detect the entry point.
4. Bacterial wilt. Tomato plant suddenly dies without apparent external symptoms. Look for darkened tissue at ground level and suspend the cut stem in water. If white slime oozes it's cause by bacterial infection. It's terminal.
Bacterial and vascular tomato disease is Unsurviveable. The best treatment is cultural: crop rotation , good hygiene like cleaning all tools and equipment including clothes and shoes stakes etc . Solarise the affected area by covering tightly with white transparent plastic during summer to kill all the bugs and weeds in the area.
Happy Gardening hope this helps :-)


Time: 5th December 2017 10:19am

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Original Post was last edited: 5th December 2017 3:39pm

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