in years past...did you ever cut a main stem of your tomatoes and see brown vascular tissue?

are you overwatering? how often do you fertilize? what do you use when you do fertilize?

when you use containers...do you sterlize them each year before re-using?

although..i'll say those darned mites can decimate a beautiful garden if you let them go even for a few days! i get them every year too! (i don't have a secret weapon yet either) and they cause all of those symptoms..yellowing, browning, wilting....

I did cut the stems and did not note any brown tissue. I did the stem in water tests also and did not see any stuff come out as far as oozing. I did take some pics of the stems and maybe I just don't know what I am looking at.

As far as watering, I tried letting them wilt due to lack of water then I tried watering more, but neither issue seemed to make a difference. As far as fertilizer, we use a general granular 10-10-10 with some applied at transplanting out(mid April), some about a month later and some just recently, but usually less than the package says to put on. This is the same we use for the chile plants, the potatoes, all the veggies in the garden. We also dosed the tomatoes with the calcium-magnesium mix we use on peppers just in case.
We don't sterilize the pots between uses but leave them outside during the winter with just the soil in them and they have only ever had tomatoes or chile peppers in them. I realize that if there is something in the pots (i.e. disease) it could come back the next year.
There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the problems (i.e. one container one year has the problem, but the mater in that container this year doesn't however a completely different container has the problem instead). And when I transplant peppers into the same pots that had wilty/dieing tomatoes, I don't necessarily get problems with the peppers.

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kendra

What are you using for soil in the pots? What have you added to your soil in pots & in-ground?

The soil in the pots is a combination of sand, mushroom compsot, potting soil, composted yard waste, and possibly something else I am forgetting. It has a nice texture and peppers, herbs, and other veggies grow well in them
The beds are a similar combination with extra compost. The bed has been growing things wonderfully for 5-6 years now and we just amend as needed with compost, yard waste, the occasional newspaper/cardboard mulch. The beds grow beautiful healthy peppers, onions, lettuces, cabbages, etc.
I am sure we added some free city compost years ago when we first built the beds but by now that should essentially be gone although I understand that diseases could still be there from that free mulch.

thanks
kendra

Green lacewing bugs love eating mites and their eggs. They work great for me. You can order online from many different suppliers.

are you replacing the soil in the pots each year? i thought i read that you are re-using it?

if you aren't replacing the soil, that could be the problem right there...just not enough nutrients. potting mix of any kind is basically garbage after one growing season.

if this is the case...try this experiment...take a couple of plants and completely replace the soil and see what happens. if they perk back up, put on new foliage and start producing, you know it was your old soil that was the problem.

That root system is awfully small for such large plants. Or is it from a smaller plant?

The pots look small for the large plants, too. I'm wondering if it boils down to limited roots unable to keep up with the top's demands.

Just a note on mushroom compost--it's not as great as everyone thinks. It's basically spent compost--it's usually for sale because the nutrition in it was used up and is changed out for fresh stuff. It's basically a good soil conditioner with little nutritional value by the time consumers get it.

How old are those roots and are you changing the mix in the pots every year or are you reusing it?

No, we have not been changing out the soil every year, just adding fert., fish emulsion, new compost etc. What do you guys do with all the potting soil you through out and how can you afford to get more every year (we have 50+ pots every year)?

jean>>the plant was started in early March and when I pulled it out of the ground to take those pictures it was as tall as a regular size tomato cage (maybe 3-3 1/2 feet tall?). That one was in a pot (the last two pics on the orginial post are that tomato) and the orange pots in the pics that all the potted tomatoes in are 16inches across (inside) and 15 inches tall.

I just don't understand about emptying the potting soil. How could it be the soil in the pots that is the problem when everything else I grow in them does fine including items like peppers which are in the same class. Also not all the tomatoes (like the green zebras pictured above) are in pots at all. They are in the raised garden beds.

(chanting to myself) I refuse to be beaten by tomatoes, I refuse to be beaten by tomatoes....:)
kendra

I grow about 40+ tomatoes and about 20+ peppers, most in 4 gallon buckets. Every year I replace the soilless mix! The year I didn't I had really poor results, disease, etc. BUT, I do recycle it. The mix is about 50-60% ProMix BX (or Fafard's #2) and the majority of the rest is municipal compost, which I buy by the rubbermaid containerful ($1.50) or pickup truck bedful ($13.) I dump the old mix into the pumpkin patch and start a fresh batch.

Last year, for the new batch, I reused some of it... 1/3rd old mix, 1/3rd new ProMix, 1/3rd municipal compost. This year, I made 10 gallon batches in a cement mixer: 5 gallons new ProMix, 4 gallons municipal compost, 1 gallon bagged $1.64 1-1-1 cow manure. I added a cup or 2 of kelp meal and a handful or 2 of a granular fertilizer, like 9-12-12 from Walmart. I add water to moisten it, but when I transplant the plant, I often drench it with some Maxicrop. This year I also tried a starter fertilizer, I think it was called Jump Shot or Jump Start (3-10-3 w/B1) per directions.

Peppers don't need as much as tomatoes and another way to reuse your old mix is to use last year's tomato soilless mix for this year's peppers, plus some compost. I also don't rely on the initial fertilizer added to the container and fertilize nearly everything daily thru drip fertigation.

I've learned my lesson not changing to fresh mix the hard way when it comes to tomatoes.

Hope this helps.

Mark

The term "potting soil" is often used rather loosely. I never use potting soil in containers for fruiting vegetables! (tomatoes, peppers, melons, etc.) Potting soil is best left for houseplants.

Mark - that is an interesting note about the soil mix getting used up in a season. I re-use container mix, but add horse manure and homemade compost to it, also coffee grinds if I have them on hand. It seems to work out well that way for me, which is similar to your recycling system, I also have the bottoms of many of my containers drilled out so that earthworms can enter, which they do, and leave their castings behind. This is only possible, though, if the container bottoms contact the earth. I commend you for all the hauling you must have to do to keep all those buckets etc. filled with good fresh mixes.

tomatoes are super heavy feeders...they need good soil. peppers are smaller plants and require less nutrients.

if you don't want to replace your potting mix every year...maybe you should dig out a plot in your yard and start ammending your soil for an in-ground garden. this would be more cost effective in the end and probably more rewarding.

another thing, IF the problem is actually some kind of fungal wilt that is attacking your tomatoes...then it will just live on in the potting mix year after year. v-wilt and f-wilt live in the soil for years.

at the end of the season, when you pull your tomatoes out of the containers, are they root bound? i'm wondering if the roots are all bound down on the bottom of the container and not getting any nutrients at all... i don't know how many gallons of soil a 15 inch diameter container holds. i'm not sure it's big enough for a tomato or not. most people use four or five gallon buckets for tomatoes.

another thing that has happened to me with other types of plants when they were root bound and subject to hot weather was...they literally have cooked! no matter how much i watered them...the container would heat up and sort of cook the roots and cause the foliage to yellow and then turn brown.

i dunno...at this point, i'm just sort of brain storming and trying to help you problem solve. i hope some of this might help..

Maybe I'm wrong here, but that soil looks very dry. The soil should always be moist to the touch in my experience (which is limited I'll admit). My potted tomatoes went wilty and yellow in a single day of extreme heat because I missed a day watering. I make sure that the top is always moist to the touch. I seriously doubt this is a soil issue. I'm growing mine in unfertilized potting mix with a 10-10-10 granular and slight applications fo miracle grow once in a blue moon. My indeterminate cherries are in small hanging baskets with very little room and need lots of water.

Thanks everyone so much for trying to help, I really appreciate it.

andreajp>>we actually have over 600 sqfeet of raised garden beds. The pots are because we can't seem to say no to a plant..:) Actually the tomatoes we grow in the beds (like the pics of the Green zebra above) are being grown in raised veggie beds and still wilted. I have never noticed the maters being root bound in the containers and they are actually larger than a 5gallon pot. We grow our chiles in 5 gallon pots and they are smaller than the tomato pots. I really appreciate your "brainstorming" it is helping me review other problems..:)

korney>>wow, that is quite an operation. I just don't have anywhere to dump the mix at the end of the season, which is partially why we reuse it and just amend it with more compost, fert, etc.

wild forager>>maters can have a prob if they are kept too wet also, generally my rule of thumb is to stick my finger down into the soil and if I feel moisture before I get to my hand (i.e. by the 3rd nuckle) I don't water. I do this everyday so the very top of the soil may look dry but I know there is moisture underneat. I also use the 10-10-10 fert and have begun to like it (at least as far as the chile peppers go)..:)

well, I am going to try and get ahold of someone at the county extension office to see if I can send plant samples in of the Azoycha (picture above) to test for F.wilt. The symptoms seem to match and nothing else has worked...we will see.

kendra

good luck kendra!!

i'm rootin for ya!

btw...i can't ever say no to a plant either..........i just wish i had a garden as big as yours!

I live in Florissant and have the exact same problem. Good luck with the extension service. I sent them 5 photos of my plants a month ago and haven't heard a peep out of them! I wonder if they are baffled too?

well, pulled the above pictured Azoycha today. Roots looked good with a large tap root but no way it was hitting the bottomm of the pot. I think I figured out the pots must be 8-10 gallon pots. These have to big enough. I didn't see in signs of damage when I sliced the stem open, but it was definitly toast.

Out of 23 plants in 8 varieties I started with, I have 8 plants in two varieties left alive in my yard.
The Old Brooks seems to just keep pluggin along it hasn't had any wilt probs and the spider mites don't seem to be decimating it (there are some but they just don't seem to be taking over like on other plants). The Manyel is delicious and loaded with fruit but the plants themselves are overloaded with spider mites. I have been trying to keep it under control until the fruit ripens and I must say they are hanging in there, the two in pots are looking quite a bit rougher than the ones in the raised beds.

The above pics of wilted plants have all died and been pulled. Still don't really know what the prob is but next year maybe I will stick to Old Brooks and manyels and they will get new potting soil mix or a new unused spot in the garden beds.

kendra...:)

On a hot day, no wind, lots of sun, the roots can be cooked very quickly in a small dark colored pot.

dcarch

dcarch>>pots are 8-10gallons and light orange in color and when I stick my fingers down all the way on the hottest day, the soil is cool.
also none of the roots to the plants that were pulled seemed to be abnormal.

thanks
kendra

kendra,

what are you using for your spider mite issue?

i have mites too....and i HATE THEM with a passion!

i've been using neem and it's been very effective! i DO have a little bit of a problem with getting the spray UNDER the leaves....but i try my best.

what i also do is rinse the plant down with my hose...(i use a shower head end) about two days before i'm going to spray with neem. i'm sure to do this first thing in the morning so that the plant will have time to dry out and not get fungus. it's much easier to shower the undersides of the leaves than it is to spray with neem...or any other spray for that matter!

between doing both of these things, i've kept the mite situation to a minimum. i DID have russet mites for a little while, but once i knew what they were, i kept the same regimen and they're gone now.

maybe you can try this on your mite infested plant and hopefully you can buy some time until harvest...

~a

8-10 gallon pot should be OK temperature-wise. Just in case, you may want to stick a meat thermometer to check for sure.

10-10-10 fertilizer may not be the best for tomatoes. You may want to try some with high P & K proportions (like TomatoTone)

dcarch

andrea>>yes we use neem or rotenone-pyrethrin if necessary. I try to spray the bottom sides of the leaves with the hose nozzle (we have one of those multi nozzle sprayers). I know that alot of plants get thrown out and we had to rip out two whole rows of potatoes because the spider mites decimated them.

So far the Old Brooks is holding up well and seems to be resisting the spider mites pretty well and the Manyel seems to be trying to fight back but I feel like now that I started to spray, I have to continue spraying and I just don't like that.
Still no probs whatsoever with the chile pepper plants that are all interplanted with the spider mite infested plants....don't know what the deal is there but maybe I just need to grow chile peppers exclusively.

haven't heard anything from county extension office
kendra

if you decide to grow big jims...i have WONDERFUL recipes for green chile chicken enchiladas and green chile chicken stew!!!

my best friend is from santa fe, nm...she has shown me the wonders of green chile!

andrea>>I love big jims and we have grown them, actually have a freezer full from last year. This year we are growing one of my fave numex styles, Sandia....I love this chile since it is a bit spicier than the others. My BF grew up in El Paso....but please I would love new recipes for the chiles....:)
thanks

kendra

I feel your pain Kendra! I used to love growing tomatoes but never got good results because I always had the same kind of problems you do.

I get same results for both in-ground and pot grown, so I could not blame it on the soil, figured it must be something air borne. But my neighbor two doors down can grow disease free toms, so go figure.

cjj>>exactly my thoughts, how can it be soil born when I grow in pots and in containers and some in each are okay and some in each are exhibiting these same probs plus other plants in the same class (peppers, eggplants, and herbs) all grow just fine in the same pots/spots...You say use USED to love growing, did you stop or give up..:) I swear those maters make me want to swear even more..:)

kendra

well, looks like mater season is almost over here in my yard...:)
Waiting for the last few manyels to ripen, but the plants are pretty much gone for now. The Old Brooks continue to hang in there, but no new flowers for a couple weeks and the maters seem stuck at golf ball size. They are the only ones left alive.
I am ready to give up and start planning next year but I was still hoping that Dr. Carolyn might get time to look at the pics and offer some insight.

I want to thank everyone again for how helpful and responsive you all were. I really appreciate it and I still have faith that someday I will have more tomatoes than I ever want to eat in one season and big beautiful plants..:)

kendra