Tomato stem primordia may develop all along any tomato stem regardless of its proximity to the ground. Often it is a response to high humidity levels in the air or to excessive watering/rain around the roots. The plant attempts to compensate for the excess moisture around its soil roots by developing more roots. But the root initials themselves are not harmful to the plant. They are normal. If you have a section of the garden that is showing a greater number of primordia and is also having wilt problems then it is likely that it is too wet there for some reason - poor drainage, too much watering or rain, etc. Diseases are more likely to develop there too. Remember that roots need air as much as they need water and excessively wet soil deprives them of that needed air. More plants are killed by overwatering than by underwatering so when in doubt - don't water and pray for less rain. ;) Dave

Ok, I know this is a wierd question. This year, I did not get to plant as many tomato seeds as I would have liked with my 2 year old in his terrible stage. Since I could not find varieties that I really wanted locally, I bought some heirlooms through the mail. I have received the plants, they are all on the tall, leggy, side,I am sure from being stuck in a greenhouse. While the people seemed to take great care and time to pack each plant separately, the whole plant rolled in moist newspaper,I am not sure that this was the best way. When I received the plants and unwrapped them, several plants had all their leaves severely wilted, beyond repair. Not from disease or anything, but I think from the leaves laying on the moist paper for several days, it made them wilt. But the stems of the tomato plants are still very stury with no problems. So my question is, is it possible for these tomato plants to grow new leaves from the healty stem, even though there are no leaves currently on the stems? Talking to the lady who sent them to me, she says they will be fine and will sprout out new leaves from the stem. She seemed like as if it was no big deal. So I wanted to know what you guys think since I cannot seem to find anything on this subject. Even if new leaves will sprout, will it take a long time for it to happen, pushing the harvest dates further back? Thanks every one! WOW! Exact same thing happened to me, same source I bet too! I have a Black Plum that looks deader than dead. The others are about 16 inches tall and very leggy, a couple leaves on each of the others is dry like the Black Plum, could this be something serious and able to take over the others? Does the bad one need to be separated from the others? With the plants being so leggy just plant them as deep as possible or should I just start over? I would prefer to have strong, healthy plants if I am going to put the time in. I guess lesson learned though. Thanks!

If it were me I'd call it a season, harvest what you can and then dispose of the plant since you haven't indicated what disease you think it might be that's affecting the stems and I suppose leaves as well. My guess would be one of the two common fungal doseases, either Early Blight ( A' solani), which can occur early OR late in the season, or Septoria Leaf Spot, and not Late Blight ( P. infestans), which can also occur early or late in the season, b'c if it were the latter no new stems would probably be appearing. Carolyn

"based on my research, it is advised that people start tomatoes indoors so they can have fair sized plants once the temperatures are optimum. the second reason, which this question is going to revolve around, would be that it allows you to rebury the tomato stem which forces roots to shoot out in the spot thats been covered, allowing for a stronger and sturdier rootball" So the OP believes that the 2 main reasons tomato plants are started indoors is so you can have leggy plants that allows you to bury the plant deeply and have fair sized transplants. Am I understanding that correctly? If not, ignore this. If so, then both underlying assumptions are wrong. Plants are started indoors so that the environment needed by very young seedlings can be more easily controlled and the young plants protected and provided with optimal growing conditions. That is difficult, if not impossible, to do outside. If they end up with good sized transplants when temps are optimum, great. But 2" or smaller plants started indoors can also be transplanted at the optimum time. And burying plants deeply has nothing to do with if they were started indoors or not, leggy plants may develop indoors but can also develop outside, and millions of tomato plants are successfully grown annually without burying them deep. Dave