# Troubleshooting: Tomato Plants Wilting & Dying
Tomato plants, with their abundant vines and bright-red, tasty fruit, are staples of the summer vegetable garden. Although they are generally not difficult to grow, they can be stricken by conditions that cause them to quickly wilt, and even die. Wilting and death can be caused by a variety of causes, including diseases and improper gardening practices. To decide on a course of action--whether it be destroying infected plants to save the rest of your tomato crop, treating a disease or correcting poor conditions--you must first identify the problem.
Instructions
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1
Cut open the stem of a wilted plant. If a slimy, gray substance oozes out, the culprit is probably Southern bacterial wilt, an infection that owes its name to the fact that it is more common in Southern states. If there is a brown color inside the stem, your plant may have verticillium wilt.
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2
Check your tomato plants for the location of the wilting leaves. If they are on the lower part of your plants, this is another indication of Southern bacterial wilt. There is no cure for this disease, and tomato plants with bacterial wilt should be immediately destroyed and disposed of.
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3
Check for blotches on lower leaves that could indicate verticullium wilt. These begin as yellow blotches, progressing to brown veins, then dark-brown dead spots, followed by wilting. If you have been over-watering your tomatoes and over-saturating the soil, this is a contributing cause of verticillium wilt.
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4
Pull up a wilted tomato plant, and examine the roots. If they are chocolate brown and mushy, your tomato plants probably have Phytophtera root rot, a fungal disease caused by water-logged or compacted soils. Brown lesions on the stems are another indication of root rot. Let the soil dry between waterings, and reduce the amount of water you are giving.
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5
Check the color of the wilted leaves, the roots and the plants in general. If the wilted leaves turn from yellow to brown and then die, with symptoms beginning on older leaves first, your plants might have fusarium crown rot, a fungal infection. Roots will be brown and rotten, and often there will be dark brown lesions--similar to that of root rot--on the stems near the soil line. This is in contrast to Southern bacterial wilt, in which the plant wilts and dies without changing color.
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6
Put a hole in your soil with a screwdriver to 3 or 4 inches deep, and feel the soil to check the amount of moisture available. If the soil is powder-dry and your plants are wilting, you are under-watering--the most easily corrected cause of tomato plant problems. Water your plants thoroughly, and irrigate more consistently in the future.
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7
Look for the presence of walnut trees nearby. These trees cause a condition called walnut wilt by secreting juglone, which is toxic to tomato plants. If your tomato plants seem fine in the morning, but wilt the heat of the day, walnut wilt--also called afternoon wilt--is even more likely.
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8
Evaluate the amount if fertilizer you are giving your tomato plants. Too much fertilizer--especially if given to young plant--can burn the roots and cause wilting.
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