Good lord, you're going to drown the poor things! :) One good, deep watering when you planted would have sufficed, no need to mist tomatoes, in fact, it's better to avoid wetting their leaves unless you are doing a foliar feeding. Wet leaves invites all sorts of problems, especially with the temps still cool and the weather wet.

Depending on the type of soil you have, you might be ok with the potting soil. If you have heavy clay as I do, You might consider digging them up and replanting in something less likely to retain water.

Chances are your plants will perk up when the temperature warms. In the meantime, don't water so much. You might also consider, if you haven't already, something along the lines of actinovate or daconil; especially if that weather persists.

I have never used a soaker; I plant my tomatoes in 3 ft deep holes and water once a week, between three and five gallons if the temps are under 85 and twice a week with about three gallons each time if the temps are over 85.

Just let your soil dry out and your toms should start picking up amd growing wildly

Thanks for the responses!
I will try cutting back on the water until it starts warming up more.
How do you feel about those soil moisture meters? Are they even worth investing in to keep stuck out in the garden? Maybe that would give me an idea if my soil is too drenched.

Well, I haven't watered in about 2 days....I went to check on them tonight, and I'm still very concerned. I stuck my finger in the dirt next to the plant, and the soil still feels what I'd consider "moist" but not saturated by any means. But about half of my plants the leaves are turned upwards, and they are pale yellow on the ends. The Patio Tomatoes don't seem to be having this problem...they actually look surprisingly good, but the Super Sonics, and Joliets are turning up their leaves. What should I do at this point?

What should you do? Nothing right now as they are still over-watered and trying to recover - that's what the turned up and yellow leaves means. Given all they have had they 'might' need some water next week.

A "schedule" of watering never works. You water when, and only when, the plants need it, when the soil 6" down no longer feels cool and damp to the touch. And the goal is to get a consistent soil moisture level and is lightly moist only. Not wet, not soggy or drenched, not damp, just barely cool and moist.

You may lose many of the yellowing leaves but the key will be when you see new, good green growth. When that appears then back off on your watering a bit more, do not feed until you have a good amount of new dark green growth.

Then take a small tuna or cat food can and bury it so the top is right at the soil level 1/2 along your soaker hose (which sounds like it needs to be replaced by the way). When you water, water only until that can is full. Until the really hot 100 degree days of July and August that is usually all they need per week.

Hope this helps.

Dave

I checked my tomatoes tonight, and a lot of the leaves are still curled/yellow tipped. I stuck my finger down in the dirt next to the plants, and the soil is still pretty moist, and I haven't even watered in a few days! I hope I didn't make too much of a mistake by using what I had on hand when I planted them, which was potting soil. It has "moisture guard"...I hope it's not retaining too much water.
Here are some pics I took.

What fertilizer did you use? That looks a little like the problem of too much nitrogen.

I have not used any fertilizer, except the stuff that would have been in the bagged soil I used. I think it had slow release fertilizer in it. But I have not added anything additional. The soil just seems to be staying wet, and not drying out....I am trying to just leave them alone....but always have that urge to mess with things.

but always have that urge to mess with things.

Ah,ah,ah. There is a lesson to be learned here about doing that.

Like I said above, maybe by next week you'll begin to see a bit of improvement IF the weather cooperates and they don't get more water and/or rain. But these are severely stressed plants with a fair case of root rot going on so luck is also going to be a big part of their recovery.

But it isn't going to happen over night or even within a couple of weeks so you need to either quit hovering over them or plant some replacement plants somewhere else.

Dave

It's supposed to be scattered T-storms tonight :-(

Question.....since we do seem to have heavy, muddy, clay soil here in Ohio.....If we were to dig up these plants and try to start over, or just plant some new ones somewhere else, is there any bagged mixes that you guys recommend to plant the tomatoes in? Thanks.

The soil has been tilled last year and the year before, but we didn't do it this spring....but the soil currently is already pretty loose....I don't know if this helps with my question about bagged mixes.

I checked my tomatoes today and they seem to be getting a little better. The leaves aren't really curled up anymore, and there is not as much yellowing. I haven't watered in 4 days. Cloudy and cooler weather today, but supposed to be blistering hot 94 by Thursday!

I plant in large containers, about 15 gallons or so and use nothing but 100% miracle grow potting soil with the moisture control and then top it with 2" of cypress mulch.

I water my plants HEAVY every single day and in the summer when it is 90 degrees plus I water TWICE per day.
All the excess flows right out the bottom and the plants drink the rest everyday.

Tomatoes need lots of water and very good drainage.
You may not have very good drainage in the ground.
If you plant in the ground it is best to dig a DEEP hole fill the bottom with sand and gravel, about 2 feet worth then fill with good potting soil.

This plant was 4" tall about 4 weeks ago.
Its now over 3' tall and about 2+' across.
I net them to keep out squirrels, birds, moths/butterflies.

The other one is over 4' tall (max height it is supposed to get) and has about 60+ tomatoes on it.

A Better Bush variety.

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wow, those plants look great! I tried a bunch of SWC last year and they were an epic failure. I made them out of Lowes paint buckets. I made a custom mix gathered from various postings I read. The plants started off looking great....lots of dark green foliage, but then when they started bearing fruit, I lost a ton of it to B.E.R.
I did not plant bush variety though, and instead just had indeterminate kind.