I don't have any ideas but I'm having the same problems this year and it's really bad. Out of 9 plants 2 are on death's doorstep ready to be pulled and 2 more are getting symptoms so whatever it is it might be spreading. I suspect blight. We had tons of rain last month (over 10 inches). When my plants had those yellowing leaves like yours I pruned them off. This was 3 weeks ago. The pretty much dead plants just kept going downhill. I was going to search the tomato forum to figure out what I did wrong and maybe try not to do the same thing next year. BTW: Due to all the rain here in Chicago, I have mushrooms growing out the drainage holes in many containers.

The sun damage would be consistent with our weather ��" there have been a few consecutive sunny days lately and until then the plants had been in a sunroom waiting for nighttime temperatures to drop. I filled in the zone box. Missed it when posting from my phone and didn't even think about the importance. Hopefully it doesn't show much more about me other than being new to the art. Thank you all! Looking forward to learning a lot more this summer. Dave

You are right to differentiate here widespreadpanic, and I need to correct as follows: You probably deal with two kinds of fungal infections and the one of the clones would fit in the "damping off category" and the one your "bucket plants" have got, have characteristics of what is commonly called fungal wilt. That's the thing with fungi, they can be present in multiple forms and on top of that they can, actually are often carried by- and introduced by bugs. The key and the actual cause of an outbreak always are the favorable conditions. In other words, with cloning it is key to work clean and with growing plants it is about avoiding moisture. I also believe these organic plugs aren't the best thing to use in the future, as they stock too much humidity. Again, I recommend the use of preventive Trichoderma harzianum inoculation for both - unfortunately you can't treat plants with it - well you can, but it will not cure them. I am a fan of so called Heirloom varieties as well and I have tested and grown a lot (mainly hot chilies and quite some tomato varieties as well). But I come to believe that growing those is a good thing and not such a smart thing at the same time. Why? Simply because even though they have their qualities, among them supposed greater resistance against this and that, - it doesn't mean that all of it is general and valid anywhere. What you actually do is taking them away from their origin and expect them to grow to something special. This outcome might be the case or it might not be... Don't forget, most so called Heirloom varieties were often a local specialty and selected over generations for their qualities ON SITE and in a specific macro climate. They weren't actually supposed to be widely spread (commercialized) and adopt to any climate or condition, like they are now. Some people who pretend they would be more adaptable than others, are simply falling for a speculative assumption I guess. Still, nothing wrong with Heirloom tomatoes at all, - but you may have to try a bunch of those, to hopefully find a variety that looooves you and your "garden" back ;-) Hybrids are falsely underestimated, but this is because what people mostly understand by Hybrids, - are commercial crossings of already degenerated varieties. Those are bread to fix a few "genetical mistakes due to over-breading" to vitalize them again... But you can have wonderful Hybrids from Heirlooms or let's say LOCAL ancient varieties with some random others. I've got a Hybrid which is a cross between a tiny semi-domesticated (wild) tomato and Oaxacan Jewel, - and it's indeed very robust, early even in poor conditions and tasting very special ... ;-)

i am new to home gardening and i have five heirloom tomato plants growing...one is a beefsteak tomato plant that has basically taken over the garden..the others are caspian pink and two other heirloom reds(i forgot the names of them) regardless on the beefsteak and the larger of heirloom red tomatoes i have noticed over the past few weeks alot of discoloration in the leaves and some of the stems seems to be cracking...this all started after i had recaged the already humongous over growth of the beefsteak plant...all plants are producing tomatoes and some are begining to ripen...i would like to save what i can of the plant...i have pictures that i can email if they dont upload here...any help from anyone would be greatly appreciated