Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi

This is the first year I have grown greenhouse tomatoes and am concerned as the growing tips are very floppy. I have 3 different varieties, 2 of which have perked up a bit over the last couple of days, but the Ildi are still not looking great. The leaves are still green but limp (just at the top of the plants).

The plants are all about 60cm high with flowers (some open some not), and apart from the wilting they look ok. They are all in growbags.

Any suggestions would be appreciated as I am stumped!

Thanks

456cat

They may be too wet. It's been cold lately so their growth rate will have slowed down and they won't be taking up as much water. If they're too wet this makes the roots rot, which causes wilting.
That's the only answer I can think of.

I have grown a variety for the last 2 years which are a very heavy, dense plum tomato for drying and sauces. They needed lots more water than any others and regularly wilted when everything else was fine. It took me a while to realise what was going on. If yours are similar, that might be an alternative reason - and quite opposite! Isn't it confusing?
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Granny

Yes, one or the other most likely. A poke of a finger in the compost should tell you. It should be damp, not wet.

Thanks for your replies. I know they were damper than I would want them when the weather turned cold. If this is the cause, does anyone know if they will recover?

Dear 456Cat, they should recover once we get some warmer weather, but if the growing tips do die back, a side shoot will take their place.

Yes, they should be fine. Apart from not liking the cold tomatoes are pretty tough plants. Just leave them be would be my advice then resume normal watering when the weather warms up a bit or when you notice them putting on new growth.
You could go to the effort of taking them out of the wet compost but this'll give them a little shock and they'll probably be fine anyway.

Hello 456Cat
I agree with the others. Its almost certainly over-watering and this has caused some root damage. It's very tempting when you see that a plant is wilting to give it more water. In this case though it's the worst thing to do! I would stop any further watering and allow the plant's compost to dry out (not completely of course). Then restart watering by giving a good soak, allow the plants to become reasonably dry again then give another good soak and so on - this way they should make a good recovery.
Have you punched a few holes in bottom of the growbags to let surplus water drain away? If not the roots will sit in water quite often and get damaged.

John

I stopped watering when the weather got colder and most of the plants do seem to be recovering. There are holes in the growbags so drainage shouldn't be an issue. Hopefully the plants that are still wilting will pick up again when the weather warms up.

Thanks everyone.

456cat