I'd dig them up while you have time today and cut the pots to strip them off. Some people here haven't had problems with the peat pots, but I did a few years ago when I had banana peppers in them, even slitting the pots before planting, they never grew well, when I pulled them out the roots hadn't gone out/down farther than the pots and the pots were still mostly intact. The peppers that I had in plastic pots and taken out to transplant did great.

That sounds drastic! It sounds as if you did everything right. Did you check to see that they didn't suffer from cutworm damage? It seems odd that they would be lying on the ground.

Linda

I assumed they were severely wilted, not broken/cut off at the soil line.

Had you soaked the pots before they went in the ground? Or just watered the ground after sticking them in the holes? Edge of the pots are buried, not sticking up?

Pictures would help.

Since they have been in the ground less than 24 hours, yes I would dig them up and remove those PITA pots. Before using them again check out all the discussions on the many forums here about the problems they create. There is so much discussion about them on garden forums all over the internet that sometimes we mistakenly think that everyone knows about their issues.

Assuming the plants are not physically damaged in anyway then before you replant them water them well and make sure the planting hole is well watered too.

Dave

I still use the peat pots for some seedling but never for toms. Last year I had some in them and they were either waterlogged or too dry and the seedlings were sickly. I transplanted them into 6" plastic pots and they all got happy. This year I discovered solo cups as seedling pots so most of mine were started in 6 cell packs and transplanted into the solo cups.

The plants I do use peat pots for I always strip the pots, same with any plants I buy in them.

Thank you everyone for the advice! I had no idea pulp pots had such a spotty record. It's the first time I ever used them. They just kind of seemed convenient when I saw them at the store.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the advice to dig up the pots and remove them until it was too late - I won't have a chance again until the weekend. Fortunately, though, I started more plants than I needed (I was still looking for some poor sucker to take my tomato starts) so on the weekend I can dig up and replace the plants I put out. The ones in the garden did perk up a tiny bit, but they still look dreadful and bedraggled. I don't think they are going to do very well.

Interestingly, I put a couple of extra seedlings in plastic pots after I ran out of the pulp ones. The ones in the plastic look much, much happier than the rest.

Oh, and cutworms was definitely my first thought when I came out the next day and saw my tomatoes looking like the aftermath of a massacre, but it was just severe wilting.

Still you can do something, without digging them out. Here is how:

--- Water them real soaking good, let the pitas get soft, mushy.
--- Take scissors, cut the edged of the pitas(The plastic part) at 3 to 4 places and twist, pull the pieces out gently. You can use a pencil size stick to push them aside and fish them out.

--Then just level around the plant and slightly pack it

The type of pot that your plants are in is not the reason why all of your plants are wilted. If they looked fine before planting, then the culprit is probably something else. Did you water them in well? Is NONE of the peat pot above ground?

I've used "Dot Pots" and "CowPots" for the past 5 year's with no problems. Who was the maker of your pots?

I've been using Fertil Pots which I think are the same as Dot Pots, and they are fantastic. Roots grow right through them even before I plant out. I just soak them before plating in the ground and have zero transplant shock.

My seed starting indoor growlight kit came with peat pots that I initially tried for my tomatoes. But I found I had better results with regular plastic transplant pots. The peat pots seemed to take too long to break down in the garden soil and impeded the growth. Also, I noticed that when professional landscapers were planting my fruit trees that were in biodegradable pots, they would stab a bunch of holes in the pot before lowering the tree into the ground. Perhaps they too knew that the pots needed to be "aerated." Just my observations.

Well, it's not the pots. It's damping off. :(

The new tomatoes I set out to replace the other ones are, one by one, wilting and flopping over. The stems go all brown and from the soil line to two or three inches above, the plant starts to tip over and wilt, and within a day or two it is deader than dead.

I don't think it's anything in my seed starting mix, since the tomatoes have all been fine until I put them out in the garden, and other seeds started in the same mix/conditions are doing great.

But I also transplanted some basil and marigolds into the same bed around the tomato seedlings (really far apart, honest; I don't think crowding is the issue), and they all look great.

Does this just mean that there is some kind of fungus in that part of my garden that likes to kill tomatoes, and tomatoes alone?

One or two tomatoes are still alive. Do they have a prayer? At this point, I'm willing to say the heck with organic and hit them with whatever unholy toxin might help.

If there's no hope for my tomatoes, can I direct sow some pole beans next to my tomato stakes instead? Or will my killer soil fungus get them too?

Thank you for all of the help everyone. I'm a bit discouraged. I really gave it my all with those stupid tomato seedlings.

PS. At first I thought it was cutworms, but I don't think that's it. The stems look sick/rotted, not chomped on. And I can't find any worms.

I'm so sorry that you lost your plants.

Just for your information, cutworms are in fact caterpillars that live in the soil.

Was the manure close to the stem? Perhaps it caused the damping off. I've had problems like that, when using aged cow manure.....

I have read that others have used a weak bleach solution on their soil before planting. Perhaps you could try that if you are concerned.

Linda

Labradors,

Actually, if it was the compost, that might explain why the marigolds and basil plants are thriving while the tomatoes all keel over dead. I worked the composted manure in when I dug holes for the tomato stakes, but I didn't really get the whole bed.

Damn it. Is there anything that can be done? I have two plants that still look alright and one starting to go south.

You could try pouring some hydrogen peroxide around the stems. People say to dilute it 90 percent HP to 10 percent water for little seedlings to prevent damping off on them. It might just do the trick!

Linda

Put soil over the stem above where it toppled over and water it every day or so as you would a brand new rooting. It will survive but it will take long time for it to thrive again. Few of my tomatos toppled with damping. I did that and after a month or so now they are starting to grow. If you want to just buy new transplants from garden shop and plant them, that will save you time.

As far as the peat pots. This is for the first time I bought few "bonnie brand" plants in the 4-5" peat (I am saying peat but I don't know what they use) pots. That is the only thing they are selling now. Home depot, lowes, walmart they all had only that brand of plants. Any way, none of those plants have grown even an inch and they all look sick. I had taken at least some of the pot pieces off before I planted them. Today I dug up couple that looked really horrible to take them back for a refund. The roots have not grown at all in places where the peat was still intact and grown little bit in bare areas. So, next year, no peat pots.