If you don't tell us where you are, or what plants you're talking about, it isn't easy to give advice. Just sayin' ...

A mole could do it. It wouldn't be eating the roots but in the process of tunneling it would damage them. If you suspect the wilting is because of a mole tunnel then just step lightly on the soil near the plants. If your foot compresses the soil easily there is a tunnel.

Rodney

Given that this is the tomato forum, I guess I have to assume that these are tomatoes. Certainly moles are a possibility. I suggest you pull up or dig up one plant. If there is root damage it will be obvious, and you may open up a mole hole. Tomatoes that are dry, or have root damage, will recover some if water is applied. Tomatoes with serious fungal infections usually get worse.

Agree with all of the above but many things can cause root damage to a plant while not affecting the one next to it. And most of them are far more common than the more rare diseases. And the possible diseases have additional symptoms besides wilting when it comes to diagnosing them so much more info would be necessary.

Dave

Okay, here is more information that i have discovered today.

fruit on this plant seem abnormal. the 2 plants are the same variety (the IS tomato plant i posted about a few weeks ago). the IS plant that is planted further down the row is unaffected it seems.

if you look at my row the other plants are going berserk and getting huge, while the first two in the row look well... you tell me. should i remove the plants? i haven't even been able to get them to recover. they aren't getting better, pretty much stopped growing in height, and seem to be getting a bit worse since the wilting started about 10 days ago.

i don't see any raised mounds on the soil to indicate recent mole activity. soil looks more or less undisturbed.

how the other plants look further down the row.

welp, i went ahead and pulled two of them out.. guess this rules out rodents. no sign of them and tons of worms around the roots which was is a sign there probably wasn't any moles directly around the plant

now the question is should i remove the last one showing some slight signs of the same behavior? i have no idea is this is going to spread.

there is one thing about the spot these plants are in... there might be more compost that i dumped here.. probably six 5 gallon buckets of compost in a 3x6 area.

this is the last of the one showing some signs, but no where near as bad as the two that i've removed.. should i leave it and see if it gets worse then remove it or, will it inevitable get worse and might as well just remove it?

Maybe I am misunderstanding something or not seeing what I'm supposed to see in the pics but all your plants look fine and healthy to me. Way over-crowded IMO but with good color and nice sized fruit. What is IS tomato?

What you are calling "random wilting vine" just look like a random wilted leaf to me and that happens all the time for all sorts of reasons - most of them environmental damage issues like wind or a random bug or even your string - so you just pinch it off and move on.

I do think the root mass in those 2 photos is quite small and I don't see any real tap root formation. Plants seldom grow as perfect specimens but they still do just fine when it comes to making fruit.

Dave

Maybe the ones growing in more compost are just having more problems retaining moisture now that the weather is hotter and drier? I don't know where you're located, but where I am, the natural soil is loamy but with a high clay content, and the areas I amend with more compost drain much more quickly than other areas. But I'm not sure that explains the stunting, which I can't see in those photos, but if it's actual stunting and not just looking shorter due to drooping.

i'm in southern CT. temps around 85-90.
the last plant i left that was wilting the least amount, starts to wilt a bit more throughout the sunny afternoon, the remaining 7 plants remain perky.

this years spring we had lots of cloudy days. i do not know how that affects root mass/size, but perhaps that has something to do with it and the plant can't fully take up all the water it needs due to the smaller root structure?

Dave. IS = India Stripe
i kind of agree that it looks a bit crowded, but i think the angle of the photo make it appear a bit worse and there is a lot of foliage. the Mortgage Lifer is huge and is almost 7 feet., i recall spacing them around 32-36" inches apart maybe i should of gone with 40-46 inches.

took down last of the 3 showing signs of wilt. it wasn't going to get any better i don't think from what i just discovered.

besides the noticeable interior, there is a mark around the vine from the jute string i had tied around it for support. i had noticed the other day that i forgot to check if it was too tight (as the plant grows the string tends to tighten) so i loosen it a bit and noticed it has bruised the vine a bit, the cut vine you see is from the base of then plant.

it was a little tight, don't think enough for it to have been critical and have basically strangled the plant?

The brown vascular tissue and wilting without chlorosis makes me think it's bacterial wilt. Did you do the water test?

you mean cut off the plant from roots and stick it in water? didn't get a chance.
last year part of this planting area i grew beans and peppers with no problem. does the same diseases affect peppers?

the last remaining six plants are perfectly fine at the moment.

what is odd is the three removed plants were perfectly growing like weeds about 2 week ago. hell, one of them was the biggest of them all and was already 4 feet tall when suddenly it began go down hill. i would of thought a diseases like BW would of shown sooner when the plants were much younger.

the only other thing i can think of is while pruning some of the lower vines i sicken it with dirty shears. i don't remember if i disinfected them which i had been using for other general yard pruning..

<i recall spacing them around 32-36" inches apart maybe i should of gone with 40-46 inches.>

Unless you are an aggressive pruner, which I am not, I can remember growing tomatoes planted 4 ft apart each way but not being able to walk between them after they reach maturity.

I also tie jute twine around my plants but always make that first tie around the stem loose, very loose.

stevie: what is odd is the three removed plants were perfectly growing like weeds about 2 week ago. hell, one of them was the biggest of them all and was already 4 feet tall when suddenly it began go down hill.

This is exactly how BW strikes. That's how my CPs went down from it last year.

If it happens up here in the north, it will happen when plants are loaded with fruit and large, because it waits for soil temps to become very warm.

does the same diseases affect peppers?

Yes, bacterial wilt affects peppers.

And it does often affect single plants without bothering those around them at all. It's also not consistent from year to year, at least not up here. You could have a pepper or tomato go down from it one year, but in the next year have no problem in the same spot.