I found this thread when I googled tomato plant wilting at top. One of my plants was severely wilted this morning. Fearing something that might spread to the others, I pulled the plant and prepared to take it in to the county extension office. Then I realized it is Friday, and they don't accept samples on Fridays, since they would not be able to get them to VA Tech in good shape, if the local office can't diagnose the problem. My problem sounds exactly like the ones described here. The only other clue I have, which may be unrelated, is that this particular plant had some damage three weeks agonwhich looked exactly like hornworm damage, but I was unable to find any pest. Following suggestions on this thread, I cut off the top of the wilted stem and placed it in water. No cloudiness came out, and six hours later, the piece in water has recovered from the wilt, and looks great. I cut the main stem at several points, and it looked normal. I then slit the stem for about eight inches. Again, nothing out of the ordinary. I will dig up the rest of the rootball for any further clues. It is clear the top of the plant was not getting water, but I don't know why.

Cyrus- the insecticide is called Organocide. I bought it at Loew's. The manufacture does say some tomato plants could be sensitive if over sprayed. I know I did not over spray, but then again what one thinks is just enough could be considered overkill by another... Anney- thank you for the advice. I am still very new at gardening and I didn't think that I might be killing beneficials by spraying the Organocide. They market it to be so safe that I assumed it would only kill the bad bugs. I will be more diligent about recognizing the bug I have before acting next time. My plants definitely do not look like the picture with the flea beetles. That does not look like my bugs at all. I do believe the wilting is from the spray and not a disease simply because the wilting started a couple hours after spraying the plants and they were extremely healthy up to that point. I am going to try a foliar spray of vermicompost tea to see if those leaves will come back. Does anyone recommend removing the "bad" leaves if they do not respond to the foliar spray? I greatly appreciate any advice. I am trying to learn as much as I can. The best way to learn is by making mistakes or learning from others mistakes, but I don't want to loose my plants in order to learn. Thank you everyone.

Ok. No problem. I should be a pro at this by now since I have had so many problems this season. It just seems never ending. But on the bright side I do have successfully pollinated peppers and I believe my FIRST TOMATO!!! starting to grow. Sorry, I'm really excited about that, it's a Big Rainbow Tomato. I'll get pics of it tomorrow too so I can make sure it is healthy. Anyway, the following pictures I have attached are not of the originally wilting plants I mentioned. These pictures are of the other tomatoes I planted on 5/8 in a raised bed across the yard from the other tomato plants. So far in this bed I have had to pull one tomato due to something burrowing into the stem and eating it hollow (never figured out what it was but found the entry hole right below the first stem, so ruled out disease). Also found a small black catapiller with I believe 2 green stripes on the sides eating one of my plants. I was surprised it wasn't a hornworm as I have spotted them already as well. Otherwise these problems have just arised in the last 3-4 days probably. I also have leaves that are not pictured that have a "shot hole" like appearance. I thinking that may be from flea beetles as the eggplants have the same "shot hole" spots, but haven't seen the flea beetles yet, so not 100% confident about that. These plants have not been fertilized yet as they were just planted 2 weeks ago and most of the have the yellow-green color you see on the single leaves. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions! Also, the pictures of the beds were taken 5/9 so everything has grown a couple inches since these pics. Here is a link that might be useful: Plants and problem leaves Pics

Tomato flowers don't last long -- maybe only one day? -- before they are past the window for pollination. If pollination hasn't taken place (for whatever reason), the blossom will fall within a few days. (Don't mistake the yellow petals falling for blossom drop. If the end of the stem -- the part with the green sepals -- breaks off at edweather's "knee": that's blossom drop.) Unlike many other plants, tomatoes are usually self-pollinating. Many tomato flowers are shaped so that insects cannot access the pollen. Bees or other insects may be able to pollinate some tomato flowers, but pollination usually takes place without them. However, if the air is particularly still, a bee or other insect investigating the flower may, by vibrating the blossom, shake pollen loose from the anthers onto the stigma. [Some GWebbers -- on the "Better safe than sorry" theory -- visit each of their plants daily and give the stem (or the stake or tomato cage) a little shake. Fans serve the same purpose in a windless greenhouse.] Once a tomato flower has been fertilized, it will be several days before you notice the growing fruit. But more than pollination may be needed: sometimes even after successful pollination, the plant isn't ready yet to support a growing fruit. Maybe the plant was too recently planted, and lacks a large enough root system. Or maybe it's a variety with a longer DTM (days to maturity) -- the average number of days from the time a tomato is set out in the garden until the first fruit ripens. Temperatures too high can result in pollen that clumps, which will prevent pollination. Your daytime temps aren't too high yet; I'm not sure if the 50* nighttime temps are a problem.