I don't think it could be a caterpillar as there is no soil in my basement, and I am growing with aeroponics. Here are some more details and pictures. I am growing using aeroponics (low pressure). The plants are wilting from the bottom branches upwards. As each branch wilts and dies the next one up does the same. The leaves are also curling downards and curling in on themselves. The bottom most leaves are tough and leathery and have purple and yellow color. The main stem is purple near the bottom. The person at the hydroponics shop said that he believes my nutrient tank is getting too cold. I checked the temperature and its 70F during the day. I know the air temperature under the 400W HPS lamp remains around 74F during the day, but goes to about 64F at night. Lowest nightime air temperature in the last 30 days was 61F. I am uncertain what the temperature of the water (nutrients) goes down to at night time. I am growing these in my basement and the nutrient tank is sitting on the cold concrete floor of my basement. I have tried two different fertilizers and have grown the same tomatoes in deep water culture without issue using the same fertilizer. I have tried adding hydrogen perioxide to the nutrient water but it did not help. The roots are white and look healthly although the number of roots seems to be stunted as I would expect more roots after 30 days of growing than I am seeing. I have tried regrowing the same tomato plants several times and each time I have cleaned my system out completely, yet I still end up with the same issue. The only thing I can think of us that the water is getting too cold at night. I have my aeroponic sprayers running 1 minute on and 5 minutes off, 24/7. My 400W HPS lamp runs 16 hours on, 8 hours off each day. Running about 700PPM right now, ph is around 6.3. I have tried higher and lower nutrient levels and higher and lower ph levels which did not appear to help. Here is a link that might be useful:

I dont know why it happens but I can say I've seen it happen with some of my plants as well. Every plant has a 'timer' that goes off and will eventually start setting/growing fruit. Be patient it will happen. Good luck. Damon

Alikhat, I see that you recently joined GardenWeb, welcome to the Tomato Forum. Everyone else that wants to read this post may want to grab a cuppa, it will probably be kinda long.  What part of California are you in? There's a lot of growing zones in California, all the way from 4a near Yosemite to Santa Monica's 11a. What works in one zone, may have no relevance to another zone. If you'd like answers from other GW members that are useful to you, its a good idea to include your location and/or zone in your profile so it shows on your posts. Now, on to the problems at hand. Even though kellogggarden.com lists their GARDNER & BLOOME® POTTING SOIL Natural & Organic For All Indoor & Outdoor Potting as "Ideal for indoor & outdoor potting, container planting, raised bed applications & an excellent addition to existing garden soil.” I have to wonder if that isn’t part of the issue. It is described as ”Organic, long-lasting ingredients including chicken manure, peat moss, worm castings & kelp meal. Perfectly balanced with essential plant nutrients & special water-saving formula features for excellent growth.” Mixes with manure in them tend to compact and not drain well. Your leaves could be droopy and the plants stunted from not enough air and too much water at the roots because of their water-saving feature and compaction of the growing medium. If you are in a zone like 5 or 6, and the weather has been cool, watering every other day may be fine. But, on the other hand if you are in zone 10 or 11, the plants may appear droopy because they aren’t getting enough water. GardenWebber sprouts_honor (Jennifer from Cleveland) had a wonderful suggestion on how to tell whether or not you need to water your tomatoes, and I quote here: ”Get a wooden dowel rod (or two) and sink it in the ground near a plant or two and leave it. Pull it out when you think you need to water. If the top is dry and the bottom is a little damp, it’s time to water. If it looks dark and feels saturated, wait to water. I use this technique with potted plants that don’t like being over watered and it’s helpful with in ground plants too.” If your moisture is right, it may likely be that your plants are starving. As edweather indicated, plants that are grown in any kind of container will need feeding more often than plants that are grown in the ground because each time they are watered, the water run off carries away vital nutrients. Many container growers will use a dilute solution of a liquid fertilizer every week or so depending on the condition of the plant. Additionally, they may not be able to utilize the nutrients in the “organic” mix you have them planted in because containers don’t usually have the “micro-herd” found in soil that helps plants use many types of micro-nutrients other than NPK. Looking at the stems of your plants, I am surprised the stems are not sturdier. When my tomato plants are that tall, the main stems look almost like small trees, and are 2 - 3 inches (or more) in diameter, the fine stems are possibly another indicator of the need for feeding more often. I don’t see any leaf roll, but I do see droopy leaves: When you've checked the moisture level of the growing medium 3-5" below the surface, you may have an aswer to what is going on with your plants. If it is soggy, they are drowning (and the paleness of the leaves could be an indicator) if it is dry, they need more water, if it is just right, something else is going on. Betsy

I don't see any spots or specks that would indicate a disease (either fungal or bacterial). If it's just the lower leaves, they do that with age. If more than a few (hard to tell from 1st photo - is that sun glare or are the upper leaves on the half of the plant near the fence yellow?), could be insufficient nitrogen. The leaves at the top of the plant (left of photo) in 2nd photo/post look healthy. Can't say why fruit tasted bad, could just be the variety. What's in the new mix besides peat? Have you tested it? Have you fertilized? How big is the bed and how many plants do you have in it? Looks like a lot of suckers/foliage crammed into a 3-ring tomato cage. While it doesn't look like disease from what I can see of the leaves, you could prune a little for better air circulation, esp. given the rain we've had lately. This post was edited by ajsmama on Fri, Jul 5, 13 at 11:42