A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Fusarium and Verticillium Wilt

It's happening again. I filled it with beautiful bought topsoil mixed with compost.
I still wonder if it is infact this disease or pehaps it's the neighbours walnut tree causing this??
The plants still produce beautiful tomatoes and right now my plants are PACKED!!!
I'm just so frustrated...so upset!!
Too ashamed to even post pics.

It's possible you're bringing the disease in with seedlings or it may be already present in the soil. If your plants are otherwise healthy though, it may not be wilt. Go on, take a foto.

I feel your pain. I had the same thing happen AGAIN this year and I live 400 miles from where I did last year. I can't figure it out either. My leaves all died but the tomatoes look great. If you ever figure it out please let us all know.

Sorry to hear that Christina. Wilt is a soil borne disease. It can be transferred even by garden tools, re-used stakes, etc. Could be anything. Did you mulch your beds? That's probably the best thing you could do. You could also try solarizing the beds. That may help too. Post some pics when you get a chance. Good luck with your plants.

Thanks for the info John. I didn't know it could be transferred so easily.
I'll get pics tomorrow...it's raining out right now (I might melt )

I didn't know it could be transferred so easily
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if you use cages or stakes and the plants have wilt, then the stakes are toast. If you use them again it's more of the same. Anything which has been in the soil can be a carrier and even a pair of secateurs can carry the diseases. I hate wilts.

Here's a few pics I took...I'm sure it's wilt. I used the same cages as last year...of course not knowing how easily this can be transferred. I'm so disappointed.







10 of my 24 plants seem to be affected and I'm sure before long, they'll all be.

The stems don't seem to be affected. Is that right Christina? Probably not wilt then. You grew these plants from seed, right? What's your seed source?

I would definitely start removing the affected foliage and discard it. The plants look pretty healthy otherwise. Hopefully they'll hold their own. Don't lose hope just yet.

Plus to cut down on them transferring...
Use a mild bleach solution to your tools, etc after each season..

and use a mulch I used a landscape fabric to
cut down on the water splashing back up on the plants/stems/leaves..

and watch how you water..
Like a soaker/drip hose is best..
And water in the morning.. to let it dry out during the day, so it's not wet and cold over night..

and keep the plants growing distances in mind when actually planting.. remember how bit a tomato plant gets and leave air circulation room between them to promote good air circulation...

And look for seeds that say the letters VFN on the containers, as these are more resistant to the wilts and fair better in producing longer.

Just looking at your fotos, i'm not sure it's a serious problem anyway and like John says the stems aren't affected so no big deal. Sure the bottom leaves will die off but that's not unusual and can be pretty much a part of the aging process of tomatoes. I've found an organic fungal spray like bordeaux will help keep this problem minimized enough to allow you a good harvest. I think it may be a fungal problem and not a wilt which i think is a viral problem. (Not sure 'bout that).

Hmmm..like I mentioned, this is just the beginning. This is how it started last year and before long, they went "kaput!"
I took these pics in the morning. They always seem to look better in the morning and by afternoon, they look completely dried out and all the foliage just "hangs"....as if they haven't recieved water in days!! I'll take more pics this afternoon to show the difference.

Weezie...I remember you saying last year that your plants seem to always get wilt. Is it happening to yours again this year? And as far as the seeds labeled "VFN"...all mine are! I really don't think it makes a difference. I took all the precautions you listed because I learned so much about it last year but as John said about how easily it can be transferred..I didn't even think about the cages! Silly me.

Mine suprisingly enough are fairing quite nicely this year... but I planted them VERY LATE..

My VFN's did end up getting it last year,
but they took one veryyyyyyyyyyyyy longggggg time to get it compared to the other kinds..
(but the one kind I got, Beefsteaks VFN's,
they were so unbelievable hard to get off the vine, I wasn't sure I wanted to grow them again)

Christina, I was looking at my plants this morning and I noticed the EXACT same symptoms on one of my plants. Gonna have to see what happens.

Mine are going to get it now...
We had a gully washer of a down pour..
and I just know that they'll be showing signs of it soon!!!

You know, one other tip/technique I understand for transfering it, is NOT to touch your plants
when they are WET.....or your hands are wet...

I still think my problem is wilt. Here's a couple pics taken this afternoon. They're looking worse everyday!

John and Weezie...I hope so much you won't have the same problem!!







Longy..you still thinks its fungus? I'm still thinking wilt. Like I mentioned (I think twice now)..this is just recently noticed...guarantee within too long...they'll be toast.

Do you have any grubs in your soil?

What kind of soil did you say you used??

A couple of things ive noticed from the pis
1 where the leafs are touching the steel they are damaged, too much heat from the steel killing the leaf.
2 you havent taken off the side shoots either, so this will put a great strain on the plant.
too much foilage + trying to produce fruit at the same time!!!
this will make your plants wilt when the sun gets up.
Try taking off the burnt leafs, then side shoot as well.
do it on 1 plant if you wish to see if theres an improvement, myself i would do it to them all.

No grubs Weezie. All the digging and turning I've done this year..didn't find a one! The soil I bought from a farmer (a truck load). He called it "triple mix"...top soil, compost and manure.
Are you still thinking it may not be wilt? All my other plants (peppers, brussel sprouts, carrots, onions, shallots, beans, lettuce, herbs, etc, etc..) are doing just fine. ???

I'll do just as you say Mark!

Even I think those plants are too close together and I plant notoriously close together. It is a no no.

you still thinks its fungus? I'm still thinking wilt.
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Crikey! They do look pretty bad. And amazingly the one beside looks fine. I think you should rip one of the worst affected plants out and go see someone who can tell you for sure what's going on. Call around any primary industry specialists or similar you may have in your area. Make sure you take the roots too and look for nematodes on the roots. You need to get to the bottom of it because if it is wilt then you have some serious planning to do for future tomatoes. I'm really surprised the stems don't appear to be affected and that's why i wonder about nematodes. For plants badly affected with wilt, the stems go rotten and starve the plant. The fruit rots. It all goes pear shaped very suddenly. I'd take a sample to an expert.

I think it's Walnut Wilt.

Think my neighbour will notice if I cut his tree down.

Christina, The soil you bought could very well have been harboring disease. I really don't think it's wilt though. Those second pictures show completely different symptoms than the first ones you posted. That one plant looks like it's not getting any water, yet every plant around it is unaffected. I don't see any discolored leaves? Is that the only plant you have showing those pronounced syptoms? What variety is that? Does that plant show any improvement in the evening? If it just doesn't show any signs of improving, I would get rid of it.

The walnut toxin you speak of is Juglone. I would verify that the tree is in fact a Black Walnut. For some reason I just can't see that it would affect just one plant, but I guess stranger things have happened.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I hope things improve for you.

I'm at a loss.

Hi John

About the soil I bought...last year all I did was till up the ground. We bought the house at the end of April and we're so busy settling in that I just went and tilled up a garden and planted. This year we added the raised bed, filled it with the new soil and topped the garden with the rest. This problem has happened both summers now.
I have 4 different varieties of tomatoes growing and they're all getting affected (the ones in the garden MUCH worse than the ones in the raised bed!) Of my 24 plants, I think a good 10 are affected.
I know it's strange how some aren't and some are and they're side by side. Same thing happened last year but it wasn't long before they were all affected. (affected? effected? I'll never get that right.)
They all look better in the morning and evening and much worse in the afternoon. It's not from underwatering. This I know.
The tree next door is a Black Walnut.
How are your tomtoes doing?

I could go along with the theory of the Walnut,
but the pictures in the last post on page #1. to me, doesn't look like it...
*for one, I have a ton of black walnut here and even composted some of the leaves and nuts :rolleyes: