Is that granular fertilizer laying all around it? Looks like a lot of fertilizer in direct contact with the plant stem if that is what it is. That could kill it. And the soil seems to be extremely wet too, soaked in fact. How often were you watering it and how much? What soil mix did you use?

More info please.

Dave

Yeah, that soil looks pretty soggy. Tomatoes don't do well in soil like that. Needs to have good drainage (additions of perlite, etc. will help). And I can't tell if that's gran fert or pebbles/gravel on the surface but it's bad news either way. Poor soil would probably be your culprit.

Hello again,

I'm using Miracle Gro's Moisture Control mix. I had just watered the plant when I took the picture. The "rocks" are Pennington Tomato and Vegetable Plant Food. I had just put that down AFTER I realized the plant died.

I think the culprit could be me overwatering it. I usually soak the ground when I water cause I thought tomatoes needed to be completely watered to have nice, juicy fruit.

Tomatoes do like lots of water at times but they also need to dry out some too.

If otherwise healthy, a tomato will tell you when it needs water by getting wilty. From a fairly droopy condition, after a drink they can be full and lush again in a couple of hours if not in the blazing hot sun.

They're more resilient as to rough handling and watering than many realize.

Disease, and pests can make em kinda touchy but otherwise they're tuff but no matter how big and tuff, that was way too much fert, way too close the stem.

Too much water and too much fert, too common a problem.

Try taking one 8 - 10" plant, leave it in the pot it came in, place it in a mixed sun and shade area and don't water it.

The next day, if its not wilted, don't water it again.

Do this until you find its main stem still vertical but pronounced sag everywhere else, the growing tip will be floppy too.

Feel the soil with your fingers, its moisture, heat and firmness. Feel all around and underneath the pot.

Now set that little pot in a bucket with enough water to be just over the top of the pot. A few minutes will be enough. Feel it all over again.

Put it back in its spot and watch it recover and then watch how many days it takes before it needs another drink.

Now give it a drink every day, heavily soaking it. After a few days it will start wilting again but this time from too much water. Stop watering and watch it recover.

If you do all of that, one time, you will never again wonder what the water needs of your tomatoes are.

And just heard a gardening show saying that tomatoes like to be constantly moist. There is always conflicting advice...

Tomatoes are perennial tropical vines, and vines do like steady moisture but good drainage. I grow mine in raised beds and use drip irrigation (soaker hoses) for that reason. I turn on the drip irrigation several hours twice a week when it doesn't rain a full inch.

Yardman,

Of course you wouldn't treat your plants like that during the entire season (or ever again) but its easier to learn where the mid point is if you know how to recognize and treat the extremes.

Overwatering is common and so easy to learn to avoid ...

I dug up the tomato to see what happened. From the pics, I am sure that I over watered it and/or dug the transplant way to deep (more than the 80% coverage).

The roots on the plant look fine. I was thinking about keeping the plant to see if everything grows back. Would you all recommend keeping it or starting all over?

You need to just start all over! That plant is a not looking to good. I would really doubt you could bring it back with much success. It's hard enough to start with a beautiful seedling, much less a stick. Bite the bullet and buy new plants. Make sure you mix the fertilizer in the dirt before planting.
Theresa

Not saying that it can't but I wouldn't bother.

Tomatoes are perennial tropical vines

****

Actually they aren't tropical . They're found in the temperate highlands of mainly Chile and Peru.

But the fully domesticated tomato that we know is far from the wild domesticated species of tomatoes of long ago with respect to some aspects of physiology.

Tomatoes do NOT want to be wet all the time; let them dry out inbetween wasterings. I live where the water comes from the sky and when there was flodding of my tomato field after major downpours and water lay there for several days, trust me, that's not a good situation. ( smile)

Carolyn

I think you loved it to death.

If this is a favorite variety, try another, just go easier on the water and fert.

D

Good advice from many regarding watering. Excess water and too much fertilizer are common problems with growers who are trying hard to take good care of their plants. Tomatoes do better with some neglect.

Also, do NOT bury 80% of any healthy looking transplant. I have no idea why that was suggested. Instead set it into the soil so the first set of healthy leaves is about an inch above the soil surface. Deep burying is used as a remedy for very leggy plants grown with poor lighting. I cannot imagine a Bush Celebrity getting very leggy unless it was grown under terrible conditions. You would not want to buy such a plant. If you replace yours, set it into the planting hole only a little deeper than it is growing in the pot. And don't baby it :)

Sometimes people confuse the advice to provide CONSISTENT moisture with CONSTANT moisture.

Well, I plant my seedlings deep and it works well for me. I think the roots that the buried stem sends out more than compensates for the loss of leaves (over the course of the season.

I may not get tomatoes as early as I could, but I get more overall because of the extra roots.

I should mention that I plant in raised beds and very fertile organic soil and the soil is warmer than planting down under ground level.

Thanks everyone for the help.

This is my first year growing ANYTHING much less tomatoes. And, like someone mentioned, I think I "loved" the tomato plant to death.

I've tossed the plant. Going to get another one that can tolerate the hot summers of Louisiana.

I will also make a point not to overwater the plants.

And finally, I've learned that fertilizer is NOT supposed to touch the plant. (Who knew!). I think the fertilzer was also a definite factor in the death of the leaves. (The fertilzer also destroyed alot of my younger plants).

This has definitely been a learning experience. Thank you everyone for the help.

While you're at it, try a Creole tomato. I found some in Jax, MS at Home Depot recently. Bred for your region. It might work well for you. I'm trying a couple this year. Supposed to really take the heat.

Don

I noticed my plant drooping, I knew it was dead. I gently pulled the dirt away from the base and the stalk above the ground was twice the size of what was under the ground like it had been eaten away. The rest are the same but still alive. What is doing it and is that why it died? I sprinkle some organic stuff called rose glow around the base. Is that the cause?

Tony,

Can you include a picture? I think the organic stuff is less destructive than the chemical fertilizer that I initially used for this plant.