I don't know what the problem could be, but could you hedge your bets and grow some tomatoes in containers next season? You would have to buy soil-less potting mix, and you would have to grow "compact" varieties, but at least you would have some tomatoes.

In the meantime, could you take a picture of your plants now, or take a piece of the stem to your local Ag. Center for diagnosis. They might have an idea of what the problems are in your area. That would help to know what the problem is so that you can fix it.

I'm a little concerned about your use of un-aged compost on your plants, even though you didn't dig it in, it could be that your plants were burned from that. If you get some of that again, it would be a good idea to put it in an area where it can sit and mature for a year.

Linda

photo

another photo

I tried to embed photos in the post but can't seem to figure it out.

I don't think it's fertilizer burn because this has happened for three or four years like clockwork and this is the first year I top dressed with chicken litter.

Thanks for your time and suggestions! I am considering doing a late planting in containers. :) Or possibly trying a spot on the other side of the yard, as an experiment.

hostalover, putting photos in is easy if they are saved to your computer. Just start a post, and click on the Photo lcon. A browse field will come up. Find your photo. Click Save, and it will load into the post.

I am so new to tomato growing, it's hard for me to give any advice, but being new, I read that tomatoes are heavy feeders, and they TAKE from the soil. You should rotate your crops and plant veggies that GIVE to the soil the next year and put the tomatoes somewhere else. You probably knew this and did this, but just my two cents.

Good luck to you!

I've tried that option for photos and nothing happens :(

Are you using a phone or a laptop?

Here are your photos. Agree it appears to be a combination of over-watering and nutrient deficiency. Strip off all the damaged foliage, feed them well, and watch the watering.

Dave

My container tomato(early girl) has the same problem. It died after giving 3-5 ripe tomatoes and maybe 5 unripe ones. My plant was so healthy and beautiful until one day it stopped to grow and leaves turned yellow and then died..:(

I didn't feed the tomato regularly(my fault).. I think my plant was exhausted after the fast growth and producing,and it just quit...

Thanks so much for all the input! I took some soil samples to the county extension today to be tested. I also some cuttings from some affected plants and the master gardener thought it looked like a nutrient deficiency, not a disease. The soil tests will tell us more, I hope.

Labradors, I will try the Epsom salts. It will be 10 days till I get my results back and I'm afraid my plants will be dead by then, so I will try whatever I can to possibly bring them around.

Suzi, I am on a laptop. It might be something weird going on with my computer.

I live in SC. How much do you water? I have only had to water six or so times since 15 March.

One more vote for over watering, water logging.

Over watering in containers can lead to leaching the nutrients especially Nitrogen.

More plants suffer from over watering than under watering ...Amazing.

Sey

I don't think it's overwatering but I could be wrong.... They get watered three times a week by overhead sprinklers. When we get a good rain I turn off the sprinklers for a few days. Also they are in raised beds (not containers), and when I dug down for soil samples several hours after watering the soil was not wet 6 inches down. Somewhat damp but not wet. One bed I sampled from the soil was rather dry. The soil in the bed is loose sandy loam high in organic matter. Underneath the beds (which are 12" high") is red sand clay.

We are in the Midlands of SC. It's rare for us to have too much rain in the summer. With the unrelenting, searing heat, I've found plants need all the water they can get.

My vote is underfed and over watered.

I really appreciate all the feedback, but I can guarantee that it's not overwatering. Like I said they are in 12" high raised beds, soil is sandy loam high in organic matter. Just to be sure, I dug down into each bed and the soil is damp but not wet. The two beds most affected are actually on the dry side.

Also if it was overwatering, wouldn't the entire plants be pale? Unaffected parts of the plant are deep green and healthy looking!

Underfed I believe is a possibility, although I did some DIY nutrient testing yesterday and N, K, P all seem to be good. I don't totally trust those results though... When I get my testing back from Clemson we will see how accurate those tests were. :)

I am interested in knowing if anyone has any thoughts on my theory on low pH affecting the uptake of nutrients?

hostalover1967 I don't think it's overwatering but I could be wrong.... They get watered three times a week by overhead sprinklers.

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Three times a week could be over watering , depending on the temperatures, amount of sun ...container size.

I would not water tomato plants by sprinkler for a couple of reasons. First I would want to know how much water actually is getting into the soil/container. Second, I try to keep the leaves dry as much as possible.

The more you water, the more you have to fertilize in containers. Simply put , too much water will rinse the soil (Leaching nutrients).

Sey

Hello Sey, thanks for replying. :) I have checked the soil multiple times in the last few days, and it's not soggy in the least, actually kind of dry in the beds most affected.

I do not water by sprinkler on purpose--my raised beds are just on a part of the property that the lawn sprinklers happen to hit! I am hoping to install drip irrigation by next spring... and possibly have the sprinklers re-configured to accommodate...

The leaching of nutrients is very possible though, because my beds are very well-drained and situated on a slope.

Anyway, today I did something radical and I pulled up and destroyed all my tomato plants in four separate beds, because apparently I have the wilt in all of those beds (which may or may not be a separate thing from yellowing problem) and possibly more. I am going to cover them with plastic and let the sizzling southern sun cook the nasties out of them. :)

I am kind of discouraged that I failed again to grow tomatoes, but I will not give up! I never had such problems with vegetables till we moved to the South. Where I'm from, (PA) you just put things and the ground and they grew!

I will not be defeated. I will try and update here if my soil tests enlighten me at all on the problem.

soil solarization

I wonder if you are planting out too late. I am not a sc native and it took me a while to fully appreciate when I need to start in my new zone. The first year I started way too late. The plants grew, but once the heat set in, fruit set was impossible and the plants looked stressed so I watered more. The answer was understanding I had missed the actual plant out date by about 45 days.

watching my plants now, after getting started back on 13 March, and harvesting 85% by 10 June, the plants are entering a new phase with the heat. Pollination is way down, fruits are smaller, and there are leaves dying at the bottom of the plant. I am not over watering, I anticipated this steep drop in conditions, it is the normal cycle here. It is not the time to expect much from the plants, they are not dormant, they are now in a poor environment due to the normal climate change.

Just sharing to help you assess where the issues might be. In our zone, now is the "pause" time for me. I let what looks promising finish, and plan for the second season. That is the big plus- we get a second chance. Next plant out date is just around the corner. I doublecheck Clemsons guidance to help me pick seed starting dates. Plants will grow ?July and August, fruit set will start again in Sept when temps drop. Ripening from late sept to mid-late Nov, depending on your zone.

How do you know that you have Fusarium Wilt?

ncrealestateguy: I really don't know anything for sure! I do know that before the yellowing problem started, I had three other plants wilt and die over the course of a few days.

Also, on closer inspection yesterday, I found a lot of weird things going on. I will try to post photos of what I mean.

And since I don't have room to rotate, I chose to do the solarization instead. Which needs the hottest days of summer to work. So I couldn't wait to see what developed with my plants.

Instead I am being proactive and trying to cover all my bases to increase the chances of success next year. :) What I have been doing hasn't been working so I am trying something new...

Are you able to grow any other type of plant in those beds or in other beds that share the same soil ?

I see mild leaf role in one photo. It seems to be fairly common that one or two plants will exhibit this for many growers.

In all the other photos I see healthy leaves that are yellowing. This is a sign of over watering. Too much water can interfere with the roots being able to function. I believe that is why your plants are wilting.

What was your plant out date?

do you water three times a week without checking for moisture? An automatic watering schedule is a sure means to kill healthy tomato plants.

Here is a link for a zone map:.

http://www.plantmaps.com/hardiness-zones-for-charleston-county-south-carolina

And here is Clemsons plant out dates per zone. For my zone, they have 25 March. I take that as a conservative suggestion and can usually beat it by two weeks.

http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/vegetables/crops/hgic1323.html

Since you're certain you're not overwatering and you've checked the soil moisture, I'll go ahead and pass that up as a possibility.

But that very last photo you posted actually looks like herbicide damage. Does the property where you live spray for weeds? Could it be that there may be some drifting onto your plants?

Look around your area and see if anything else is wilting and dying like that?

Janice: According to Clemson I was within the planting window but towards the end ( I am in the central area). I planted April 15th (planting for my area is April 5-25). But you do have a good point about planting earlier. I usually like to plant at least some early (in March) under row covers to get earlier fruit.

I do know that this year fruiting (and also my leaf yellowing problem that seems somehow linked to fruiting) is at least a few weeks later than normal. But I chalked that up to the high-nitrogen chicken manure which caused a lot of green leafy growth at the expense of fruit.

Two years ago I grew peppers with great success, I've tried squash and cucumbers in these beds 2 or 3 years ago which both failed miserably. But I have added a lot of lime and fertilizer since then. My pH in these beds 2 years ago was 4.0 -5.5 so one would not expect squash to do well. Last two or three years these beds have had tomatoes and peppers, because I care the most about tomatoes and wanted to put them where there was the most sun.

Thanks so much for your time. It's been very helpful. :)

To those who think it is overwatering: How deep do tomatoes need well-drained soil? The reason I ask is because I do have 12" high raised beds and the soil in them is not wet or soggy, but they stand on red clay subsoil. And this morning after the sprinklers ran, the lawn near the raised beds was squishy/soggy.

Do tomato roots go deeper than 12 inches?
After being so sure it wasn't overwatering, now I am not so sure!

xclumsy: Hi thanks for your input. The wilting that photo is similar to how my other plants looked that wilted and died within days. I suppose it could be herbicide damage, but we are on 27 acres, with large stands of trees between our yard and the closest neighbors. So it would have to be something that I sprayed, and I haven't used any roundup in 3 weeks, and not near the tomatoes. (I've learned that lesson the hard way!)

Does anyone see tobacco mosaic virus in the third photo?

Could possibly be tobacco mosaic. It doesn't look like herbicide damage to me as the leaves are not distorted.

Linda

Could be a virus, with that squiggly mottling and the leaves starting to distort. Could be a virus on top of a nutrition/watering problem?

I had to go 3 feet below my beds to even the drainage. I had similar results to yours my first year. Drainage was not even, and it was hot. I had to pull back the top layers of amended soil and then I had to till, and dig. I then incorporated the amended soil as I back filled the bed, and tilled in the soil to mix it well. In the 3 years since all I have had do is run a mantis over the top. Plants, qnd yields have been far better since then.