Is there any chance the soil is draining poorly and is staying much too damp about 6 to 8" down? If not, it likely is one of the wilt diseases, but I don't know which ones are common in your area. Here in my area, Bacterial Wilt pops up occasionally, especially when it is hot and we've just had rain.

Is the whole thing wilting? Only one branch? Only one side? Or, one branch is significantly worse but it all is wilting? Sometimes with a wilt disease, you get the wilt the first day and then more wilt followed by yellowing first and then browning on successive days.

I've linked the TAMU Tomato Problem Solver and you might look at both the stem and leaf pages to see if any description of a problem detailed there sounds like what you're seeing.

I don't know how much wilting you see on a regular basis, but my plants tend to wilt whenever our highs go over about 105 because they're transpiring out moisture more quickly than the root and vascular system can absorb and transport more. However, they do recover at nightfall and overnight. If your plants are starting out wilted early in the day, that is more worrisome.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Problem Solver

If anything, the soil wilts too well. Looks like the two tomatoes in that corner are goners. Nearly dead by this morning. I really hope that somehow, I missed a day watering them and somehow didn't pick it up until after. Had watered, as I have the drip hoses crossed and think I'm watering the end row instead of the middle, for some goofy reason. The only other thing I can think is that those two are getting blasted by sun. I probably should hang a sheet, as that end is on the south west and gets the most sun, despite the overhead sun.
I'm going to yank those two tomorrow morning and have a funeral. Will put them in the trash rather than compost.
I have some seedlings that I can plant. August 1 is our earliest fall planting date but I'll probably try next weekend, as we have another short cool spell coming up next Saturday it looks like. Today until next weekend is 111-113, unfortunately.
Wonder if that rain may have done something bad?
The only other thing that may have happened is I put some rotting alfalfa pellets on all my plants, may. Have gotten too hot on those two plants when they got watered, between the extra sun they get and the wet pellets.

You know, it could be that I just forgot to run that length of hose on the watering schedule one day. As little water as I allow my tomatoes, one day off the schedule would probably do them in with our heat. I just noticed that a basil plant which had been doing great all week which I transplanted about a week ago crumbled up and died. It's on the same drip hose as those two plants. May be I didn't check the soil for dampness until after I started the water, and again, I have those two hoses swapped at the beginning of the line, so I may have been confused, thinking I was checking the dampness before they had been watered and they had already just been watered.
Gees, I feel like such a ditz right now. Could I have just killed two huge, healthy tomatoes after all this time? What an idiot!

Tracy if it was watering I'm surprised they didn't respond when you watered them unless they were dead. I've watered plants especially in pots I thought were goners and watering was a waste of time and they rebounded. How wilted were they when you watered? I lost some of the tips on two of my plants last weekend. I had mentioned on another thread that the forecasters were mentioning a possible cooldown for the end of this week. Which never came. Unless you call 100 a cooldown. Tomorrow might be 98 and Monday 97. I used the MG bloom setting foliar spray instead of the Fertilome I usually use. The MG is higher in N. I had 2 plants I felt needed a boost from the MG. Should of sprayed them and then sprayed the others with the FL. Instead I thought I would be ok. For some reason those 2 took a growth spurt. The foliage out grew the root system. Which can happen easily with a growing plant in this type of weather. Some of the tips wilted and died. I trimmed them off and now the plants are fine. It is hard to decide what to do in extreme heat. I received a much appreciated rain Wed evening. But I had just watered one side of the plants Tuesday night. My sand drains well so that helps. I had trouble deciding whether to side dress some early plants this morning or not. I went a head and side dressed 11 plants. I will know in 7-10 days if it was the correct decision or not. After side dressing today I won't feed them again. The main reason I did these is I didn't add anything to the hole of most of these when I transplanted them. The rest I did. And I did have passed these plants although they were transplanted later. Hopefully it was just water. That is the best case scenario. I fought diseases the last 3 years. So I know all too well how devastating they can be. I hate to say anything as I don't want to jinx myself. So I will knock on wood. But to this point I'm very surprised and happy with my plants, their health and their performance. Hoping they can continue to maintain their health over the next week and then hopefully we might see some slight moderation of temps. I changed my watering method and fertilizing products this year. I have replaced 2 plants I believe so far besides the ones the hail slaughtered. And only one of those had possible disease issues. So knock on wood I'm very satisfied to this point. Jay

Tracy,

Stop beating yourself up. You know that sometimes you can do everything right and plants still struggle or die. That's nature for you.

With the temperatures you've been having there, it is understandable that some plants will struggle. As Jay mentioned, in a hot climate you have to be really careful you don't water and feed so well that that topgrowth exceeds the rootgrowth. When that happens, there is a lot of wilting, curling and dieback because the plants' vascular system cannot absorb or transport water quickly enough sometimes during long, hot, dry periods. When this is the case, all you can do is wait for the root system to grow enough to 'catch up' with the foliage.

As long as your plants are basically healthy, they should be able to overcome the wilting if it is just an issue with watering. And, if it is a disease issue, they likely won't. Once again, that's just how Mother Nature works. I hope your plants rebound, but I don't think you've done anything wrong. I bet it is the heat.

Dawn

It looks like those two plants are dead. May never know what hit them. Hopefully nothing contagious. Nothing on TAMU looks similar, except for Southern Wilt. I didn't see any slimy gray substance, and they were really kind of getting dry and crispy by the end of the day.
Who knows? This heat is not forgiving to plants. Hopefully, whatever it is was not contagious. I was going to pull out the nasty Chiquilteberries (big mistake!) and I'll pull those two plants as well. I have some seedlings that should be ready in a few weeks if I repot today. I may hang a sheet down the side of that end of the garden, too, since it seems to bake the soil and plants badly, despite the overhead shade.
Maybe I can put some basil down for a few weeks and get a quick pesto crop, too, until the tomatoes get bigger in that area? I've completely run out of basil and space for basil, in pesto quantity, which is not good.

Tracy,
I hate to hear that passed on. I transplanted around 40 pepper plants last weekend. Most everyone will tell you it is too hot to be transplanting. But due to circumstances that was the best time to do it. We received 8 tenths Wed. I have kept a constant monitor on the soil. It felt ok. I ended up pulling two plants that was very wilted a while ago. What happens is even though the soil around the plant can be soaked the potting mix that is around the roots gets dry and they haven't established a root system outside that area yet. Out of 40 plants there were 5 in one area that was wilted bad. I ended up watering all the new transplants a little. I will water them better tonight. I've transplanted so many in the heat I usually don't have trouble. A rain always throws me off some. It will soak the upper few inches but doesn't deep soak. I ended up putting one in a container and watered it well to see if I can pull it out. The other was far enough gone I just replaced it and added it too the compost pile. So yes it could of been that dry. I sure let this one fool me. And not sure why because it is hard for me to overwater the way my soil drains. I will hole water instead of using the soaker hose for 7-10 days. By that time the roots should of ventured out some. Not sure why the plants in that same area were the only ones affected. Jay

Yeah, it's really weird that two plants next to each other and none of the others on that row look bad, except the young, transplanted basil. The only other thing, is that they are on the SW corner, so they get baked a lot worse than the rest of the garden if they missed a day of watering in the schedule, it would have effected that end before the rest. I noticed today that another tomato near them has a little leaf curling, not bad but bears watching. They were on the end of the soaker hose and it could be the hose is dying, although the top of the soil was slightly damp. I'll pull the hose and replace before any new transplants are planted.. Before doing any transplants, I'll be sure to add a side shade to that side, to help out until it cools off. Those plants on that end have the added issue of a seven foot concrete block wall which retains tremendous heat.
Just surprised they looked so good through our bad heatwave and succumbed after a week of halfway reasonable weather. Kind of wondering if the inch of rain we received caused an issue.

Yeah, it's really weird that two plants next to each other and none of the others on that row look bad, except the young, transplanted basil. The only other thing, is that they are on the SW corner, so they get baked a lot worse than the rest of the garden if they missed a day of watering in the schedule, it would have effected that end before the rest. I noticed today that another tomato near them has a little leaf curling, not bad but bears watching. They were on the end of the soaker hose and it could be the hose is dying, although the top of the soil was slightly damp. I'll pull the hose and replace before any new transplants are planted.. Before doing any transplants, I'll be sure to add a side shade to that side, to help out until it cools off. Those plants on that end have the added issue of a seven foot concrete block wall which retains tremendous heat.
Just surprised they looked so good through our bad heatwave and succumbed after a week of halfway reasonable weather. Kind of wondering if the inch of rain we received caused an issue.

Well, apparently, others in AZ commonly get wilting diseases and lose tomatoes at this time of year. Not sure if it's bacterial or fungal wilt. I guess the heat, small amount of rain, increased need to water to keep the plants alive with the high heat is just a set-up for these diseases.

Oh my god! Now I know what it's like to get hit by late blight. This isn't late blight but it's similar on the devastation scale. Just took out 5 tomatoes and 5 Chiquilteberries, all next to each other in two rows. There are several more tomatoes with severe leaf curl, all on the sides of the plants closest to the plants I removed. Debating just going ahead and yanking them, too.
Even worse, the soil is white with mold in this area! What the heck do I do about it? It's really not very damp, just slightly damp to the touch, but very hot,unfortunately, much hotter than I ever would have suspected, almost like the mold is heating the soil?

I walked through the garden today and saw a bell pepper with sunscald. Since I knew it would soon ruin on the vine, I picked it. When I got it in my hand, it felt like it came out of the oven. I don't know how the plants can even survive when they get that hot.

When I put tomato plants into the ground in the Spring, I almost never water them in. Our Spring is normally so damp, that extra water isn't even needed. Since they don't have to search for moisture, I think it takes them awhile to establish additional roots. If they don't dry out a little before the heat comes, they probably don't have enough root to sustain them in my climate and I think that is some of the problem with my vines this year. Since they were floating, they didn't have to send out roots.

Tracy, the soaker hose is a hard one to solve. It seems if that hose goes up an incline at all, the lower plants will get most of the water. I bought two new hoses this week and they are smaller than the others I have in my garden. I tried to link two together and the second hose didn't get nearly enough pressure. Tomorrow we are going to pull one of the hoses, and reverse ends so it can be hooked up separately. I have one plant that I need to pull also and it is my fault. I swirled soaker hose around in one are to make sure the thirsty plants were getting enough water and failed to include one plant. Most years that wouldn't have mattered much and it would have just produced a little less than those that were getting more water, but this year with very little rain, it was wilted before I realized that it didn't have a hose close enough to it.

I am not a big MG user but I keep it all of the time. I have used it more than once in a weaker solution to spray plants that were so wet that they couldn't take up nutrients. Sometimes it gives them a quick 'pep' drink until the ground dries enough that they again can take up nutrition through their roots. So while I am accustomed to treating plants with too MUCH water, I am struggled to provide enough water this year.

It's like I always tell Jay, you have to be a good gardener to have anything survive in your climate. I don't know if I would have the courage to try. Although we are having hot humid days, we are going into the 70's at night, so there is a little relief for the plants.

You know, I wonder if a touch of a weak MG solution may help the survivors to be strong and fight this off? I've noticed since the rain last week that some plants, especially the oregano, has chloriosis. I'll give them a drink of MG. Or, maybe better, the high phosphorous bloom booster with iron? I wonder if that would help more? It seemed to really green up the long beans and Armenian cucumber that I used it on last week.
I'm considering drenching the soil with Daconil or a 10% bleach solution. If it's Southern blight, it probably won't help but if it's just some mold, maybe it will. I also have serenade, wonder if the good bacteria in that would help, after the drench.
Taking any and all advice! Planning on planting tomatoes in a different garden for the fall. I'll stick my brassicas or garlic/onions in this garden. Probably solarize it first. Maybe, plant a grain for a quick cover crop between now and November, assuming I lose all the tomatoes. I could plant a grain in the section that has died at least, I've heard grains somehow help with southern blight.

Looks like two more are circling the drain. I drenched all the living tomatoes with Daconil. Probably too little too late.

My tomatoes are also wilting in the extreme heat, but so is everything else in the garden, so I can't say it's a tomato problem. As soon as I get the water running, everything perks back up.
I also found sunscald on peppers today. Several of the banana peppers had it.

Not realizing what a stretch of heat and drought was coming, I seem to have made a big mistake in the way I sited the garden. The tomatoes are in the rows closest to the back wall of a metal shop building that bounces heat at them all afternoon. Not a very wise choice under the circumstances. Now I'm wondering if it would do any good at all to give them some protection from the afternoon sun. None of the big yellow ones are setting, but the Sweet 100 are really trying. The harvest has been pitiful, but I want to give them every chance to produce.

What got me thinking about shade for them is that we have volunteers every year beside the front porch. I had used a topsy-turvy planter there and of course it dropped a few fruit and seeds on the ground. I usually leave a couple of the volunteers, and last year they were still producing on Thanksgiving. It's in a SE corner that only gets morning sun, but they are extremely happy.

Does anyone have any thoughts about that? My garden plants still look healthy enough, in spite of the heat and the grasshoppers, just as long as I can keep them watered. So far the red spider mites have only hit the giant marigolds and left everything else alone. Might it help the tomatoes to survive and give them a chance to produce if I offer some shade?

Pat

Tracy,

I am so sorry to hear the problem is spreading. And you've been having such a good tomato year too, haven't you?

White mold in the garden could be Southern Blight but there are other white molds as well.

Southern Blight is common in hot, wet soil. Y'all may not have southern blight there in Arizona though. I always thought Southern Blight needed high humidity in order to thrive and grow. I haven't seen in often in anyone's plants, and have only had it on one plant in my garden in all my years of growing both in Texas and here, but it can be very common in hot, wet springs and summers. Ironically, the name of the tomato plant killed by Southern Blight was Southern Night! I'll link the part of the TAMU Problem Solver section about Southern Blight. The good thing about southern blight is it has very distinct symptoms so you can rule it in or out easily.

I'd still think it is more likely your plants have bacterial wilt or fusarium or something else unless you definitely see the southern blight symptoms described by TAMU. The one time I had it, it killed exactly one plant. It was my first year to plant tomatoes in that spot and the soil was not yet as well-amended as it would be after a few years of soil amending, and I had problems that first year or two here(including cotton root rot) that haven't been a problem since then. Once I fixed the soil, they went away. Hopefully whatever is killing your plant is not something systemic that can persist in the soil. (You'd think Arizona's heat would naturally solarize the soil and prevent most diseases!)

Here's a more detailed description of southern blight from my tomato disease book: The first symptom on seedlings (it can cause damping off in seedlings) is a dark brown lesion at or below the soil line. Stem tissue is invaded completley, causing plant death. On older plants the lesion girdles the stem which can cause the plant foliage to wilt without a change in the color of the foliage. Severe infection will cause the plants to die. Over time the brown lesion expands and causes root rot below the soil line and can extend several centimeters above the soil line. When adequate moisture is present, a white fungal growth will cover the surface of the lesion and sclerotia from 1-2 mm in size are readily produced.

If your infected plants had fruit on them, you can see lesions and the scleroria on the fruit too.

Since the fungas is an efficient saprophyte, it can survive for several years in soil and plant debris. (I wouldn't compost the sick plants!) Disease development is favored by high temperatures (85-96 degrees) and high moisture levels in the soil.

Usually when a commercial field is hit with southern blight, the solution is a three year crop rotation program with either corn or sorghum being grown in at last one of the other years. They used to use field fumigation to fix the infected soil when I was a kid growing up in Texas, but I don't know if they still use those soil fumigants in commercial production or not. They stopped selling them to home gardeners long ago.

Take your soil's temperature and see what you get. Most years, my plants have 4" of mulch atop the soil surface to keep their roots cool. On a hot day when the high temperature hits 105 or higher, my soil can easily hit 110-120 in unmulched areas. You can use an everyday kitchen meat thermometer with a probe. In Oklahoma, the OK Mesonet weather monitoring sites take the soil temp at various depths--I think it is 2", 4" and 10", and it always shocks me how hot soil can be when it is bare. It is somewhat better underneath sod and much better under deep, thick mulch.

To figure out what to do about the soil, first you have to have an accurate diagnosis from a plant or soil pathologist unless you're definitely seeing the mycelium and sclerotia and there's no doubt in your mind that it is Southern Blight. Do you have a plant pathology lab available to you via your state's Ag Extension Service? It is possible that with the addition of compost and Actinovate or something similar you can rehab the soil.

Do you rotate your tomato plantings to a different area each year? That helps mitigate the tendency for soil diseases to build up to high levels in one spot that it continuously planted.

Carol, I agree with you on the plants' survival. I'm sure I'm spending more money that it is worth to keep my peppers, cukes, melons, okra and southern peas producing, but it makes me happy. I gave up on the tomatoes. No mater how well I watered them, they were just roasting in the heat. A few are hanging in there, probably because they get some water when I water the peppers in the same bed, but anything not watered is a lovely shade of "drought brown" and I can understand why. Today will be our 20th consecutive day of 100 degrees or higher, assuming we hit 100 and I imagine we will. Our forecast for the next week includes highs of 100 or higher every day, and next week the highs will be in the 105 range. FYI, as a former southern Oklahoma, you might like to know that KXII says we've set a new record for most consecutive days of 100 or higher. (sigh) I can't believe that record wasn't set in 1980 or that, if it was, we have already surpassed it. We have another 1 to 2 months of possible 100-degree days ahead unless a major weather pattern change occurs, and none is forecast.

I picked sunscalded bell peppers (the ones from the Goilath seed collection have been producing like crazy despite the insane heat) yesterday, cut off the scalded portion, and sliced/froze a lot of them for fajitas. I harvested 19 bells off two plants, but only the few that were highest on the plant had sunscald.

If you're struggling to provide enough water this year, what hope is there for anyone else? The soil here is the worst I've ever seen it. I'm starting to worry that one of our little kittens will fall down one of the big wide cracks in the ground and disappear.

Tracy, I don't think it will hurt to fertilize lightly, but I wouldn't fertilize heavily. In its own way, fertilizing stresses plants because it pushes them to grow when they'd rather not, and sick plants are already stressed.

Pat, Shade almost always helps. I keep shade cloth in my potting shed for just that purpose, and I don't plant anything near walls here, having learned long ago that the plants next to a wall roast in the summer months. I grow vines on my shed wall to keep heat from reflecting off the shed wall and onto nearby plants.

I have a tall pecan tree west of my garden and use its shade to provide afternoon heat relief to some plants. The ones that get partial shade during the afternoon are much happier than those that don't.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Southern Blight

Dawn, thanks so much for the advice. I'm not seeing the typical sclerotia with mustard seeds, or the rotting fruit. Just a bunch of stringy, white mold on the roots and surrounding soil. I'm going to take the soil temp today. I drenche the soil of the survivors with Daconil, hoping that whatever mold it is, it's susceptible to Daconil. I rarely use chemicals but figured it was worth it. Of course, whatever splashed on a leaf burned the leaves badly in the heat and now I have ugly, brown leaves all over the place, too. I should have known to rinse off the residue after drenching but for some reason, after hauling about fifty gallons of solution in 112 degree heat, since I was mixing the stuff in the shade on the other side of the yard, it just didn't occur to me to spray off the leaves.
I have pine straw mulch, which is about twelve inches or more when I first place it and then compresses down. This is the first year for this garden so nothing has ever grown here. It's a raised bed over gravel and Bermuda.
I'll drench the empty area with a diluted bleach solution..considering planting a quick grain in that area since for southern blight it seems to have some benefit. Maybe buckwheat or a short DTM corn.
Redding- I always shade tomatoes when we hit June or when the temperatures reach 100 degrees consistently, whichever comes first. I use old, white sheets because I have tons of them from a medical clinic I used to own. I keep them up with t-posts and extend the t-post height with one inch PVC, which tucks nicely not the groove of t-post. I zip-tie this and then zip-tie the sheets up.my only problem is the sheets tend to slip off in heavy winds. I need to come up with a better way to attach them.