Help With My Wilting Tomatoes

Not Enough or Too Much Water

• All plants need water to survive, especially during the hot, sunny days of summer. If you do not water your tomato plant regularly, it starts to wilt. This also happens if you give the plant too much water. Give each tomato plant one inch of water each week. Tomato plants may need a bit more water during the hot summer. Water the soil with a hose or sprinkler. Try to avoid spraying the leaves. Most wilting plants perk up after a watering.

Toxic Plants

• If you planted your tomato plants next to a black walnut or butternut tree, these trees likely caused the plant's wilting. Butternut and walnut trees create a chemical called juglone that poisons nearby tomato plants. It also affects peppers, eggplants and potatoes. Juglone-poisoned tomato plants have wilting and yellow leaves, as well as stunted growth. Poisoned plants eventually die, since there is nothing you can do to remove the poison. Plant tomatoes at least 20 to 25 feet away from butternut or walnut trees to prevent this problem.

Diseases

• Tomato plants suffer from several wilt diseases. Bacterial wilt, for example, causes rapid plant wilting and death. Bacterial wilt hollows out the plant's stem, killing it. Spotted wilt is another common problem. Infected plants display stunted growth purple spots on the foliage. Your tomato plant may have Fusarium or Verticillium wilt if it wilts during the day and recovers at night. Even if the plant appears to recover, it gradually wilts more and eventually dies. If your tomato plant has a wilt disease, you usually cannot save it. Do not plant more tomatoes near the diseased plants.

Pests

• Small, winged insects called thrips spread spotted wilt disease. Insecticide helps control thrips, but it is not completely effective. The stalk borer is another pest that preys on tomato plants. This white and purple caterpillar makes a tiny hole in the plant stem. It then burrows inside the stem and feeds on the plant material. If certain parts of the plant start to wilt, cut them off and destroy them. If you remove and kill the stalk borer, the plant could recover.