A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum The Tomato Forum Tomato plant leaves keep dying

I am growing tomato plants in my backyard. The area is southern California. I planted them in soil that I bought from Home Depot - whatever the organic stuff is for vegetables. I also added some organic tomato fertilizer, about a large pinch per plant. The plants are in the middle of the yard so have full sun, and are watered every other day from the sprinkler system for about 10 minutes.

I have a problem where the leaves keep dying. What happens is a new stalk is produced, with many leaves and healthy looking branches. However in about two weeks the branches start dying, from bottom to top, until all that is left is an empty stalk. First the stalk turns yellow, and if I don't pick it off, eventually dries up and turns brown. This is a chronic problem - it does not kill the plant, but it hurts production because the plant's energy is spent growing new leaves that die in about two weeks.

Here are the leaves I picked off 4 plants this morning, all of which were dead or dying
www.rakkar.org/tomato1.jpg

In this picture, in the lower right you see a dying branch. The next branch up will usually start dying a few days later.
www.rakkar.org/tomato2.jpg

Here is a plant that has been devastated by the problem. For example, the stalk in the middle bottom is barren. The same is true of the stalk holding the red tomato - there are no leaves left.
www.rakkar.org/tomato3.jpg

has this been going on all summer? Or just recently. Ours have been acting hat way for a few weeks but here its due to the end of season.

Welcome to the Gardeners Forum.

I feel your pain...gardening at this time of the year is very challenging.

If you are open for suggestions, see comments below.

1. cover the tomato plant with more soil and add 3" thick mulch to conserve moisture.

2. first check to see if the top 3 inches of soil is dry or almost dry before turning your sprinkler system. Why water every other day? Over watering can cause the tomato leaves to turn yellow [and brown later].

3. unusually hot temperature in Calif.. yesterday, the Los Angeles area had 113*F temperature; in my area it was 103*F. if you have a way of shading the tomato plants, it might help minimize the drying effect of the heat. i moved my tomato plants [grown in containers]under the shade because of the heat. for the peppers, i used patio umbrella for shade.

I planted it in the summer. Why do you think it is acting that way?

I have another plant on the side of the house on a drip system. I wouldn't say that it gets more water, less if anything. But it is growing huge, every time I see it it is bigger. The main differences are that the side gets less sun, and the dirt is root-free while the other ones are planted where a tree used to be.

Your soil might not be as good where the roots are...also depending where you live, sometimes your plants can get too much sun/heat.