14 Reasons Your Tomato Plant is Wilting & How To Save It 

After tending to your tomato plants day in and day out, it can be incredibly disheartening to see them wilted. 

Don’t fret, we’ve got your back! We’ve listed a ton of possible reasons your tomato plant is wilting and what you should do to save it.

Reasons Your Tomato Plant is Wilting & How To Save It

Wilt in tomatoes is typically caused by the following:

Reason	How To Save It
Overwatering	Stop watering immediately.Set it outside where it’s sunny and warm.Check in on your plant every now and then to assess the progress.
Underwatering	Give your tomato plant a thorough and deep water, puncture a couple of holes through the soil and loosen it up a little.Afterwards, put your tomato plant’s pot into a larger container filled with water. Allow the plant to deeply soak in all of the water until there are no more air bubbles left. Then remove your pot and allow the water to drain slowly.
Transplant shock	Give your plant proper care until it has established a good root system.
Extreme temperatures	For plants suffering from extreme cold, move it to a warmer location such as indoors. For plants in extreme heat, relocate it to an area with better shade or install an umbrella.
Poor companion planting	Planting alongside vegetables from the Brassica family Separate them immediately since plants from the Brassica family are heavy feeders.  Move your tomato plants to another pot or bed with a ton of nutrients to make up for any deficiencies.  Planting alongside corn If nothing drastic has happened to your tomato plant yet, simply transfer it to another location away from your corn. But if you’ve got an infestation of the Helicoverpa zea pest, you’ll need to get rid of the infested tomato fruits.  Planting alongside eggplants, potatoes, and peppers Ensure that there’s enough space between each plant to increase ventilation and air circulation.Ensure that the soil isn’t constantly wet. Nevertheless, avoid planting them next to one another moving forward.  Planting alongside fennel and walnuts Growing tomato plants alongside fennel or walnuts cause irreversible damage, so it’s only a matter of time before your tomato plant dies. Moving forward, grow your tomato plants and walnut plants at least 75 and 100 feet apart from one another.
Root bound	Gently remove the plant from its container and carefully gently massage away the compacted soil. Afterwards, you have a couple of options moving forward:Gently massage away the old soil and simply repot the plant.Prune the thread-like roots and then repot the plant.
Tomato spotted wilt virus	There is no treatment for the tomato spotted wilt virus.
Verticillium wilt	There is no chemical treatment available in the market as of writing.
Fusarium wilt	Unfortunately, there isn’t a treatment available for fusarium wilt at the moment.
Bacterial wilt	There aren’t any effective methods to treat bacterial wilt in tomato plants or any other plants.
Southern blight	There are barely any effective products on the market.
Bacterial canker	Unfortunately, there isn’t a complete fix to bacterial canker just yet.
Stalk borers	On most occasions, gardeners will have no choice but to chuck the entire tomato plant.  This also entails properly getting rid of the tomato borer inside.
Root-knot nematodes	There’s only one full-proof way to save your tomato plants – growing marigolds.  While you’re at it, get rid of any grass or weeds as well since root-knot nematodes will feed off of these, too.

Don’t worry, this is just a brief summary. Read on as we discuss each one in more detail.

Appearance of Wilted Tomatoes

Tomatoes that appear wilted will have a droopy stem and branches. They will limply hang onto one side.

Apart from having a wilted appearance, there are a couple more distinguishable symptoms that could help you identify the main culprit. 

14 Reasons Your Tomato Plant is Wilting

Luckily, most wilting tomato plants are able to make a full recovery, especially if you address the situation sooner rather than later.

Here are some possible reasons why your tomato plant is wilting. 

1. Overwatering

What is overwatering?

Overwatering is, well, just that – overly watering your plant. It’s when your plant receives too much water that it can no longer absorb any more. 

Over time, this could actually drown your plant. Waterlogged soil means that there aren’t enough air pockets for oxygen to penetrate through the soil for your plant to take in. 

What are signs of overwatering?

Since tomatoes are water-loving plants, how can you tell if it’s been watered too much?

Well, here are some signs to look out for that suggest that you’ve been overwatering your plants:

• Droopy leaves that are yellowing
• The stem and branches of your plant is hanging limply
• The base of your plant along with its roots feels mushy, soft, and slimy
• The soil is constantly wet and clumped together
• Foul, sour odors coming from the plant

The first thing you’ll notice when your plants are overwatered is that its leaves will change to a pale yellow color. 

Afterwards, you’ll begin to see that your tomato plant’s stem is drooping and hanging limply. 

The base along with the plant’s roots will feel soft and mushy. This happens because the constantly moist soil will cause the roots to catch diseases and die. 

Another obvious sign of overwatering is soil that’s constantly wet and clumped together. In fact, you may even be able to spot mold at the base of your plant. 

Once you remove an overwatered plant from its pot, you’ll notice that the soil actually smells quite funky. It’ll smell sour, somewhat similar to sewer water.

How do I save my tomato plant from overwatering?

The first thing that you need to do is to stop watering immediately. While it may feel somewhat counterproductive, this is actually what your plant needs the most. 

As mentioned earlier, overwatering can cause severe damage to your tomato plant’s roots, especially after catching a disease. This makes their damaged roots no longer able to take in water.

While it sounds completely logical to give your tomato plant more water, this actually makes the situation worse as you’ll end up completely drowning your plant.

Your plant needs the water in its soil to completely dry out first before it can take in more. You can do this by setting it outside where it’s sunny and warm.

Check in on your plant every now and then to assess the progress. Pay attention if the soil has begun to dry up and break apart when you pick it up and if your plant appears more vigorous. 

Keep in mind that it should take about 10 days before your plant begins to show any signs of progress, so don’t be disheartened. 

Once your plant begins to look like it’s usual self, establish a more consistent watering routine to avoid another episode of overwatering.

Planter’s Tip: When watering your tomato plant, avoid watering the stem directly as this could cause the stem to rot. Apart from that, it could cause the soil around the base of your plant to wash away. 

Instead, water the surrounding areas of your plant gently and allow the soil to soak up the water, eventually leading to your plant’s roots. 

How do I prevent overwatering?

Luckily, overwatering can be addressed and avoided so that it doesn’t happen again. 

It’s important to highlight that overwatering doesn’t mean that you’ve given your plant too much water in a single sitting. 

Overwatering is when you haven’t allowed the water in the soil to dry up completely before giving your plant another bath. 

#1: Limit the frequency of when you water your tomato plants.

Having said that, the best way to fix overwatering is to limit the frequency of when you water. To do so, it’s recommended to set up a consistent watering schedule.

The best time to water your plant is early in the morning when it’s bright and sunny out, but not too hot that the water will evaporate before your plant gets to soak it in (which is most often during lunch hours). 

Though, depending on the weather, you may be required to give your plant another helping, especially during the summer. It’s important to note that tomato plants need around 1 to 1.5 inches worth of water weekly.

If you do so, ensure that it’s earlier in the afternoon as there won’t be enough time before night falls. Moist soil at night time will make your plant susceptible to a variety of fungal diseases.

#2: Check your pots for adequate drainage.

If you’ve watered your plant first thing in the morning and the soil remains soaked until nightfall, then that may be a sign that your pot doesn’t have enough drainage holes.

You can use your own judgment to tell whether there are enough drainage holes that correspond to the size of your pot. 

Should you feel that they’re lacking, you can puncture more holes or simply repot your tomato plant into another pot that has better drainage.

#3 Till the soil

Tilling the soil is a great way to add air pockets and loosen up clumped soil. It’s normal for soil to compact after a while, which makes it crucial to till it every now and then.

If not, compacted soil could reduce fertility, increase soil erosion, poor root growth, and oxygen deficiency. 

2. Underwatering

What is underwatering?

The complete opposite of overwatering, underwatering is when your plant doesn’t get enough water in a day. 

Tomato plants are known to hold water in their cells, which are what keep them upright and give them a plump appearance. Having said that, the lack of water in their cells will cause them to wilt. 

When they’re water-stressed, they’ll begin to conserve water in their roots. This will cause their leaves to turn yellow and curl upwards like a bowl. 

What are signs of underwatering?

It may be difficult to tell the difference between overwatering and underwatering since they share similar symptoms. But if you look closely, you’ll be able to distinguish the two.

Here are a couple of symptoms to watch out for that could mean that your plant is underwatered:

• Leaves are changing color to a pale yellow
• The outer parts of the leaves are curling inwards
• The stem and branches are droopy
• The soil is dusty, cracked, and has a sand-like texture
• Roots are curling together

More often than not, underwatered tomato plants will begin to droop first before the leaves begin to change into a pale yellow color. 

If left unaddressed, the wilting will worsen and the leaves will turn brown and eventually begin to fall off. 

Having said that, your plant will also exhibit stunted growth and inability to flower. This is because it’s focusing its energy on conserving water, which interrupts its ability to correctly photosynthesize.

You’ll also notice that the soil is dusty, cracked, and has a sand-like texture. When you water your plant, come back after about 10 minutes to see whether the bottom half of the soil has received water.

You can dig about 2 to 5 inches from the top to see whether the soil is moist from your last watering session. If not, then that means that the bottom half of your plant’s roots aren’t receiving enough water.

How do I save my tomato plant from underwatering?

How do you save your under watered tomato plant, you ask? Well, water it! 

However, you can’t just douse your tomato plant in water and call it a day. To ensure a thorough and deep water, puncture a couple of holes through the soil and loosen it up a little.

When doing this, you can use a fork or a stick, but make sure to be gentle to avoid disrupting or breaking apart its already fragile root system.

Afterwards, put your tomato plant’s pot into a larger container filled with water. Allow the plant to deeply soak in all of the water until there are no more air bubbles left. 

Then remove your pot and allow the water to drain slowly. Come back in about 30 minutes and you’ll notice that it has perked up nicely and will be looking a lot healthier already.

Planter’s Tip: When watering your tomato plants, avoid getting the foliage wet. Leaves that are constantly wet promote the growth of fungal diseases, which could kill your tomato plant and spread throughout your garden.

How do I prevent underwatering?

Underwatering can be caused by poor watering techniques or high temperatures. Either way, there are easy fixes to these problems.

#1: Establish a consistent watering schedule.

To avoid underwatering your plant, establish a consistent watering schedule along with the amount of water that’s sufficient for the size of your pot and the tomato plant you’re growing.

The best time to water your tomato plants is early in the morning when the sunlight isn’t too harsh. This also gives your plant enough time to soak up all the refreshing water before it evaporates. 

Hence, you should try to water your plant every morning for a couple of minutes depending on how deep the soil is. According to experts, each square foot should require about 1.5 inches of water per week. 

Alternatively, you can install a drip irrigation system, which is one of the easiest ways to water plants, especially during the summertime. You can purchase a DIY kit or make one at home with spare materials that you have on hand. 

#2: Provide more shade from direct sunlight.

If you’ve been deeply watering your plant at the proper times but it’s still showing signs of underwatering, then your plant’s probably in a spot that’s too hot. 

Since underwatering symptoms primarily appear during the summertime, this may be a sign from your plant that it needs more shade from direct sunlight.

Too much sunlight could be causing the water to evaporate quicker than your plant can absorb it. 

Having said that, your best course of action would be to provide your plant with more shade. 

You can do so by purchasing gardening umbrellas, using a regular umbrella and properly driving it into the soil, or get creative and create a makeshift shade using old cloth (the opportunities are endless!).

During warmer months, it may be essential to water your tomato plants a bit more frequently. Just remember to do so a couple of hours before it gets dark to avoid moist soil throughout the night. 

#3: Add mulch to the top of your soil.

Mulch is every gardener’s best friend as it’s a cost-efficient way to keep the moisture in your soil at a healthy level. 

It also prevents water from splashing around and getting your foliage wet. This is great as moist foliage is an invitation for fungal and bacterial growth. 

Here are a couple of materials that you can easily find in your garden or at home to use for mulch:

• Straw
• Grass clippings
• Shredded fallen or dry leaves
• Newspaper or cardboard 

Simply add about 2 to 3 inches’ worth of mulch onto the top of your soil. This helps regulate the temperature of your soil, keeping it moist and cool for longer periods, especially during the summer months. 

3. Transplant Shock

What is transplant shock?

Transplant shock is the stress that your plant experiences after being transplanted when it hasn’t properly established an extensive root system to fully support itself yet.

Because of this, the plant can’t keep pace with its needs, such as water and nutrient absorption. As a result, your plant could be more vulnerable to catch diseases and illnesses.

The shock happens when moving it from one location to another – from indoors to outdoors, warm environment to cold environment, and the like.

Apart from a change in environment, transplant shock can also be due to poor root handling. You may not have noticed that you accidentally damaged part of your plant’s roots while moving it.

Thankfully, tomatoes are pretty resilient plants. So with the right growing conditions moving forward, there’s little to nothing to worry about.

What are signs of transplant shock?

Plants suffering from transplant shock will show any of the following signs:

• Withered branches and stems
• Droopy and yellowing leaves
• Fallen leaves

The symptoms of transplant shock typically have minimal damage to your plant. Hence, your tomato plant should be returning to normal after a couple of days as it gets used to its new environment.

Even so, it’s important to keep in mind that even with very similar transplanting conditions, the result can differ from plant to plant. In more serious cases, leaves may drop from their branches. 

How do I save my tomato plant from transplant shock?

As mentioned earlier, transplant shock does little to no actual damage to your plant. Well, unless you’ve completely destroyed its root system while prying it out of the soil. 

If you’ve done all the right steps to safely and gently transplant it into its new location, then there’s nothing to worry about. 

In fact, transplant shock is sometimes completely unavoidable. Even we, humans, get a bit shaken up when first entering a new environment such as a new school or workplace. 

Nevertheless, your plant should perk up and grow as normal with the right growing conditions. Give your plant proper care until it has established a good root system.

Though, if your plant, unfortunately, doesn’t make it, it’s definitely a good idea to try and figure out why. 

Try to ask yourself the following:

• Did I remove the plant from the soil gently? Pay attention to whether your plant has an injured root system.
• Was my tomato plant’s new location (or container) big enough for its roots to develop properly? Keep in mind that tomato plants need quite a deep pot to develop a sturdy and healthy root system.
• Did I give my plant enough water and sunlight? Tomato plants love water and sunlight. In fact, they need about 6 to 8 hours of sunlight daily and about 1 to 2 inches of water weekly.

How do I prevent transplant shock?

As mentioned earlier, sometimes transplant shock is inevitable even when you’ve done nearly everything right. Nevertheless, here are a couple of tips to lessen the chances that your tomato plant experiences transplant shock.

#1: Only transplant in warm or mild weather.

The best way to prevent your tomato plants from getting transplant shock is to transplant in mild or warm weather such as during the summertime. 

It’s a big no-no to transplant your tomatoes, or any plant for that matter, in fall or winter. A plant’s roots, especially that of a seedling, is very sensitive and susceptible to catching diseases and illnesses. 

#2: Prepare the soil before the actual transplant day.

Loosen up the soil of your plant’s bed every now and then before the actual transplant day. This way, the soil isn’t compact and it’s loose enough that you won’t have to forcefully pry the plant away.

If you’re too harsh, you could damage the plant’s root system, which can affect your plant’s ability to properly intake water and nutrients from the soil. 

4. Extreme Temperatures

What are extreme temperatures for tomato plants?

Just like with humans, extreme temperatures can negatively affect our overall well being. While tomatoes are pretty resilient plants, too much heat or cold can cause them severe stress. 

This is most often seen in young tomato plants that have yet to establish a strong and stable root system. 

Which, understandably, makes them more vulnerable to the effects of extreme weather, especially after transplanting too soon.

Apart from that, stress from extreme temperatures also happens during intense heat waves and snowy winters.

Having said all of that, your tomato plant will start feeling stressed out when temperatures drop from about 60°F or 15.5°C and go over around 85°F or 30°C. 

What are signs my plant is suffering from extreme temperatures?

If your plant is suffering from extreme temperatures, you’ll notice any of the following symptoms:

• Wilted branches, leaves, and stems
• Stunted growth and fruit production
• Catfacing fruit

When faced with freezing temperatures, the leaves and stem of your plant will begin to turn dark and mushy. Once they wilt and fall over, this means that your growing season has likely finished. 

On the flip side, tomato plants dealing with extreme heat will have curling leaves that’ll turn brown. For more severe cases, they’ll develop burn spots. 

How do I save my plant from extreme temperatures?

If you’ve acted quick enough, you may be able to still save your tomato plant from the effects of extreme weather.

For plants suffering from extreme cold, move it to a warmer location such as indoors. If not, you can add mulch on the topmost layer of soil along with black plastic film to preserve heat. 

For plants in extreme heat, relocate it to an area with better shade or install an umbrella. You’ll also likely have to water your plant twice a day. 

Ensure that you’re watering your plant before the afternoon sun hits so that it has enough time to properly absorb the water before it evaporates.

Planter’s Tip: Put a shallow saucer underneath your tomato plant’s pot to collect excess water. If your soil is still dry after a thorough watering session, it’ll simply gobble up the excess water from the saucer.

How do I prevent extreme temperatures from harming my tomato plant?

More often than not, gardeners have a rough idea of when the cold will begin to settle in or when heat waves are most common. Hence, it’s important to prepare your garden in advance to avoid innocent plants from suffering from extreme temperatures. 

For colder temperatures

As winter draws near, it’s probably a sign to refill your garden bed’s mulch. Alternatively, you can use old fabrics from old pillowcases, bedding, and towels.

Another popular way to preserve moisture and retain heat is to cover your plants. Most opt for cardboard then a black plastic cover since darker colors can absorb more sunlight.

Ensure that the cover reaches the bottom and all sides of your pot. While you’re at it, relocate your plant to a warmer area in the meantime if you can.

For warmer temperatures

The same thing goes for when you know summertime is fast approaching. It’s time to pull out the umbrellas and give your plants some nice shade from the harsh sun.

You can also invest in a drip watering system that slowly delivers water to your plants. What’s great about this is that it keeps your soil moist, but not soaking wet and with little to no effort from you at all.

5. Poor Companion Planting

What is companion planting?

In a nutshell, companion planting is when you have a bunch of different kinds of plants grown in close proximity to one another, sometimes even in the same garden bed. 

While it’s lovely to have a garden full of different kinds of plants, proper companion planting is essential to ensure that having an array of plants together is beneficial to their health and reap better harvests.

Proper companion planting helps drive away pest infestations and decreases vulnerability to illnesses and diseases. In a way, they’re friends helping out one another. 

On the other hand, poor companion planting is when plants that aren’t compatible with one another are grown closely or in the same bed. As a result, both plants will end up with deficient growing conditions.

What are signs of poor companion planting?

It’s important to note that the signs of poor companion planting may differ depending on the companion that you’ve grown alongside your tomatoes. 

Nevertheless, here are a few symptoms that encompass the effects of having a variety of bad companion plants:

• Wilted stem, branches, and leaves
• Stunted growth

Here are some plants that cannot be planted near or alongside your tomato plants if you want a healthy growing environment:

Bad Companion Plant	Effects on Tomatoes
Cabbage, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, turnip	These cause stunted growth on tomato plants because they’re also heavy feeders.
Corn	Corn invites the corn earworm or  Helicoverpa zea which is actually the same insect as the tomato fruitworm.
Eggplant, potatoes, and peppers	These along with tomatoes are easily vulnerable to catching early and late blight.
Fennel and walnuts	They secrete substances from their roots that cause stunted growth in tomato plants. Tomatoes are also vulnerable to catching walnut wilt.

How do I save my tomato plants from poor companion planting?

The probability of being able to save your tomato plant will depend on the enemy it was up against. 

Planting alongside vegetables from the Brassica family

If you planted your tomatoes alongside veggies from the Brassica family, then the best course of action is to separate them immediately. 

Since plants from the Brassica family are heavy feeders, they’ll take up all the nutrients from your garden bed, leaving your tomato plant with nothing. 

Instead, move your tomato plants to another pot or bed with a ton of nutrients to make up for any deficiencies. Water and care for it as you normally would and you’ll see your tomato plant perking up within a couple of weeks.

Planting alongside corn

If nothing drastic has happened to your tomato plant yet, simply transfer it to another location away from your corn. 

If not, it’s important to note that the worst part about the Helicoverpa zea pest is that it damages the tomato fruit from the inside out. 

They’re yellow-white larvae which makes it often difficult to tell whether you’ve got an infestation or not until it’s too late. So if you’ve got an infestation on your hands, you can say goodbye to any potential harvest. 

Apart from simply getting rid of the infested tomato fruits, you can introduce plants that bring in their natural predators to get the job done for you.

These include Hyposoter exiguae wasps, pirate bugs, and big-eyed bugs, to name a few.

Planting alongside eggplants, potatoes, and peppers

Since tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, and peppers are all from the nightshade family, they’re susceptible to early and late blight.

If you don’t want to move your tomato plants, the best course of action to take is to prevent your plants from catching these diseases.

Ensure that there’s enough space between each plant to increase ventilation and air circulation.

Having said that, ensure that the soil isn’t constantly wet. Fungal bacteria thrive in humid and moist environments, so ensure that you don’t get the foliage of your plants wet when watering them.

Nevertheless, avoid planting them next to one another moving forward. Also avoid planting them after one another in the same bed of soil as this will increase the likelihood of early or late blight development.

Planting alongside fennel and walnuts

It’s truly unfortunate news that most tomato plants that attempt to grow alongside fennel or walnuts don’t really live a long life. 

Walnut plants secrete juglone, a chemical that’s toxic to tomato plants. Once your tomato plant has absorbed all the juglone in the soil, it’ll slowly kill the plant, hence the wilting. 

This will result in irreversible damage, so it’s only a matter of time before your tomato plant dies.

Moving forward, grow your tomato plants and walnut plants at least 75 and 100 feet apart from one another. 

How do I prevent poor companion planting?

The best way to prevent poor companion planting is to do a quick Google search on whether the plant you’re thinking about growing alongside your tomato plants will yield a beneficial impact.

These include:

• Low-maintenance pest and weed control 
• Improving soil health
• Enhanced flavor
• Larger plant diversity within the garden
• Productive harvests

To make things easy for you, here’s a comprehensive list of the best plants to grow alongside your tomato plants along with the benefits they bring:

Good Companion Plant	Effects on Tomatoes
Bush beans	Bush beans help promote air circulation around your tomato plants.  Apart from that, they invite bumble bees to help with pollination.
Clovers	All types of clovers are capable of adding nitrogen to the soil. They also deter weeds, to boot. Aside from that, they attract bumble bees to aid in pollination along with several other beneficial insects.
Marigolds	Marigolds are great at deterring root-knot nematodes, which is brilliant as they’re typically found inside the soil.  Another bonus is they look lovely alongside juicy red tomatoes.
Mint and garlic	Because mint is so, well, minty, the strong scent drives away pests such as aphids, flea beetles, and ants, among others. In a similar vein, garlic has a rather pungent smell which drives away a variety of insects such as moths and beetles.
Dill, oregano, basil, and cilantro	These lovely herbs invite a ton of beneficial insects that are natural predators of tomato plant pests. Basil, in particular, is known to repel insects such as thrips, mosquitoes, and whiteflies.  Meanwhile, dill is known to attract ladybugs.  To boot, they also enhance the flavor of the tomato fruits.
Carrots	Planting carrots helps loosen up the soil around your tomato plant.  However, be careful not to plant them too close together as your carrots may not grow that big. You could also disrupt your tomato plant’s root system whilst harvesting your carrots.

6. Root Bound

What is a root bound plant?

Just as it sounds like, a root bound plant is one whose roots have not been able to properly develop any further. This is usually because of a constricted space such as a pot that has gotten too small.

Root bound tomato plants are usually a normal occurrence when purchasing seedlings from a nursery. This is because gardeners typically keep them in cheap disposable plastic containers that buyers can take home.

However, it’s expected that once you take home a tomato plant seedling from a supplier that you change its pot into a larger one. 

What are signs that my tomato plant is root bound?

While some plants are totally okay with being root bound, tomatoes aren’t quite fond of it. If you see any of the following symptoms, your tomato plant may be telling you that its pot needs an upgrade.

A root bound tomato plant could show one or more of the following signs:

• Wilted stem and branches
• Yellowing or browning leaves
• Compacted soil 
• Stunted growth

Since root bound plants don’t have much space to grow, expect them to have stunted growth. This is primarily because the size of your pot will determine how much space the tomato plant has to grow bigger. 

Having said that, the smaller the pot, the slimmer the chances are that your tomato plant can grow to its full potential. A great rule of thumb to follow is that the bigger the pot, the better it is for your plant. 

How do I save my root bound tomato plant?

Luckily, it’s pretty easy to save a root bound tomato plant – all you have to do is to get down to the root of the problem (pun intended!). Additional good news is that your tomato plant should also be expected to make a full recovery.

To save your root bound tomato plant, gently remove the plant from its container. If this is proving to be too difficult to do delicately, you may not have a choice but to break the container to free the plant.

Once you’ve gotten your tomato plant out, gently massage the compacted soil. This may take a while so try to be patient as plants that are severely root bound will be rather difficult to take out.

Afterwards, you have a couple of options moving forward:

1. You can gently massage away the old soil and simply repot the plant.
2. You can prune the thread-like roots and then repot the plant.

How do I prevent my tomato plant from getting root bound?

It’s quite simple to prevent your tomato plant from getting root bound – plant it in a big pot . Always remember: the bigger, the better.

Identify the kind of tomato plant variety you’re planting to better determine the plant’s environmental needs as they can grow anywhere from 3 to 12 feet high. 

Determinate or bush tomato plant varieties grow up to a fixed size. They would require a pot with at least an 18-inch diameter. 

On the other hand, indeterminate or vine tomato plants continue to grow even after bearing fruit. Given this, they’ll require a bed that has at least a 24-inch diameter.

When it comes to depth, your pot or bed should be at least 5 gallons or 12 inches deep. 

7. Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus

What is the tomato spotted wilt virus?

The tomato spotted wilt virus is a serious disease that’s seen across every garden all over the world. To make things worse, they don’t just affect tomatoes but different plants, too.

They can affect peppers, tomatoes, along with various herbs and flowers. Because of this, plants affected by the spotted wilt virus will require immediate intervention to be saved.

The tomato spotted wilt virus is carried by thrips, a small, flying pest (tomato pests). They’re primarily transparent but come in various shades of gray, green, yellow, black, and brown.

They transfer the tomato wilt virus as they suck the sap out of your plant’s stem and leaves. 

What are signs of the tomato spotted wilt virus?

Evident in the name of the disease, the tomato spotted wilt virus will cause your plant to wilt. You’ll also possibly notice a couple other symptoms depending on the strain of the virus.

Other symptoms may include any of the following:

• Leaves developing black spots 
• Leaves turning yellow or brown
• Leaves curling upwards
• Stem and branches drooping
• Fruit developing ring-shaped marks 

These developments are most evident in younger plants or the portion where your tomato plant is growing.

How do I save my tomato plant from the tomato spotted wilt virus?

Unfortunately, there’s no cure or treatment for the tomato spotted wilt virus. As a result, gardeners have no choice but to properly dispose of any infected plants as soon as the disease is spotted.

If left alone, the disease will continue to spread and will eventually wreak havoc on your entire garden. Hence, proper disposal of the damaged plants is vital to ensure that there are no remaining contaminants. 

Even so, some gardeners still try and attempt to get rid of the thrips during early infestations where not much damage has been done yet. 

These can be through the form of:

• Horticultural oils such as neem oil
• Pesticides such as piperonyl butoxide, azadirachtin, and pyrethrins or that contain active ingredients such as spinosad

Ensure to properly read through the instructions and follow the application directions as prescribed. Having said that, some pesticides may need to be diluted in water while others can be used as in. 

Also, only use these pesticides as instructed as overdoing it could kill beneficial bacteria and microorganism in your plant’s soil. 

Planter’s Tip: Spray pesticides when there aren’t any active pollinators around such as bees. The exposure to pesticides are harmful to pollinators and other beneficial insects and could eventually kill them.   

How do I prevent the tomato spotted wilt virus?

The only way to prevent the tomato spotted wilt virus from entering your garden is to ward off its carriers – thrips. Here are a couple of ways you can stop them from setting foot into your garden:

#1: Treat it with pesticides.

To get rid of thrips, treat infested plants with pesticides such as piperonyl butoxide, azadirachtin, and pyrethrins. Alternatively, pesticides that contain active ingredients such as spinosad.

It’s important to read through the instructions carefully as some pesticides have special application methods. For example, some pesticides need to be diluted before use while others can be used on the spot.

#2: Grow plants that invite the natural predators of the thrips.

Companion planting is an easy, low-maintenance way of safeguarding your garden from thrips at all life stages. Luckily for you, thrips have several natural enemies.

These include:

• Euseius species mites
• Swirski Mite
• Thripex
• Ladybugs
• Predatory mites

Having said that, here are a few plants that you can bring into your garden that will naturally attract these predators inside:

• Coriander
• Dill
• Cucumber
• Eggplant
• Zucchini
• Sweet pepper

Planter’s Tip: Companion planting is an uncomplicated and trouble-free way to get rid of a bunch of garden pests. 

For example, plants such as dill and cilantro naturally invite ladybugs which prey on pests such as aphids, whiteflies, spider mites, and thrips, among others.

8. Verticillium Wilt

What is the verticillium wilt?

Verticillium wilt is a soil-borne disease that comes from two different fungal pathogens: Verticillium albo-atrum and Verticillium dahliae. 

These pathogens survive on a plant’s roots or in the soil as microsclerotia, which are small seed-like structures that can live for a long time.

The fact that plants can contract them through the soil, leaves, or stem, makes it difficult to manage protective measures.

They’re also quite difficult to spot because they act slowly, so you’ll notice your plant’s health declining slowly over time. 

In the long run, they will reduce your plant’s vigor and yield. Having said that, gardeners only notice that their tomato plant is infected when they notice fruit damage.

They also have a wide host range. This means that they prey on a variety of other plants apart from tomato plants such as potatoes, strawberries, and linseed, among others.

What are the signs that my tomato plant has the verticillium wilt?

The symptoms of verticillium wilt are difficult to differentiate from the signs of fusarium wilt. More often than not, to properly identify which disease your plant caught, you’ll have to send it in for laboratory testing.

Nevertheless, here are a couple of signs that can indicate that your plant is suffering from verticillium wilt:

• V-shaped lesions, most especially evident in older leaves
• Yellowing and eventually browning of leaves that could lead to defoliating
• Wilting leaves, branches, and stem

The first signs that will appear on an infected tomato plant will be the yellowing and eventually browning of your plant’s leaves. 

This is typically seen at the lower half of your tomato plant as this is where the older leaves are. Eventually, these leaves will soon die off, resulting in defoliation, and in the end, death. 

Since the pathogen targets the plant’s vascular tissue, this affects its ability to properly absorb water and nutrients from the soil. 

After a while and as the disease progresses through the plant, you’ll notice that the plant will wilt in the afternoon but perk up in the morning. 

However, when you cut off the plant’s stem and look inside, you’ll be able to see the signs of the pathogen’s destruction through brown or creamed-colored vascular streaking.

How do I save my tomato plant from verticillium wilt?

Unfortunately, plants suffering from verticillium wilt can no longer be saved. There is no chemical treatment available in the market as of writing. 

Nevertheless, you can save other plants from getting infected by properly disposing of the damaged plant. To ensure that the fungal pathogen dies, you will need to destroy the plant by burning it.

It’s also vital that you properly cleanse the materials that you used when handling the infected plant. This way, the fungal pathogen doesn’t have anything to latch onto whilst waiting to get transferred to another host.

How do I prevent verticillium wilt?

#1: Don’t excessively fertilize your plants.

While it’s completely understandable that you want your plants to have the best growing conditions, overdoing it is bad for their health, too. 

Too much fertilizers, specifically too excessive nitrogen and potassium, in the soil makes plants more susceptible to getting verticillium wilt or any other fungal infection.

#2: Rotate the soil to nonsusceptible crops.

As mentioned earlier, the fungal pathogen can live in soil in the form of microsclerotia. To make things worse, they can survive without a host for about 10 years (or longer) despite drought and extreme temperatures.

Having said that, it isn’t a wise decision to replant tomato plants into soil that has a history of verticillium wilt, especially since they’re susceptible crops.

By the same token, you shouldn’t plant the following vulnerable crops either:

• Potato
• Pepper
• Eggplant
• Cucumber
• Pumpkin
• Melon

Instead, plant crops that aren’t as easily vulnerable or immune to catching verticillium wilt. These include:

• Sweet corn
• Rhododendrons
• Dogwoods
• Willows
• Azaleas

#3: Constantly keep your gardening area clean.

It goes without saying that a garden should be kept clean to reduce the likelihood of diseases and pests from wreaking havoc on your lovely plants. 

While many gardeners can relate to the fact that it’s difficult to maintain with all the soil and debris, cleaning your garden area along with your tools is a must. 

It’s a good practice to thoroughly rinse and sanitize pots before using them. For extra measure, you can treat them with a 70% alcohol or 10% bleach solution. 

The same thing goes for proper disposal, especially of infected plants. Verticillium wilt isn’t the only disease that comes from fungal pathogens that can survive without a living host.

9. Fusarium Wilt

What is fusarium wilt?

Fusarium wilt is a soil-borne disease that comes from the fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum sp. Lycopersici.

It’s known to be found in warmer regions. It also develops more in soil with higher levels of nitrogen and lower levels of potassium.

Similar to verticillium wilt, the fungal pathogen in fusarium wilt can live in soil as microsclerotia for up to 10 years, even without a living host.

Having mentioned that, the fungi enters the plant’s vessels through the roots. Unfortunately, symptoms are typically only noticeable during the later stages of the infestation.

However, one difference is that fusarium wilt is rather host-specific. Aside from tomatoes, they’re also known to infect asparagus, beans, basil, and peas, to name a few.

What are the signs of fusarium wilt?

The symptoms of fusarium wilt are incredibly similar to verticillium wilt. Hence, the only spot-on way to tell which one your plant is infected with is to send a sample over to a laboratory to get some tests done. 

Nevertheless, here are a few signs that would suggest that your plant has fusarium wilt:

• Yellowing and eventually browning of leaves that could lead to defoliating
• Wilting leaves, branches, and stem

Symptoms typically begin taking place after the plant’s fruits have matured. You’ll notice leaves of the plant begin to yellow and eventually brown and fall off.

This is seen on the older leaves, which are usually at the base of the plant. Because of defoliation, you’ll barely notice any fruit production and stunted growth.

Apart from that, there will be wilting from branches and stems, so your plant will hang limply onto one side. If you cut the stem off, you’ll see brown, vascular tissue, which is an indication of infection.

How do I save my tomato plant from fusarium wilt?

Unfortunately, there isn’t a treatment available for fusarium wilt at the moment. However, you can save the rest of the plants in your garden by properly disposing of the infected plant. 

The best way to ensure that the fungal pathogen has been completely eliminated is by burning the plant. 

Aside from that, ensure that the gardening materials and equipment that you used with the infected plant has been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected to avoid recontamination. 

How do I prevent fusarium wilt?

#1: Avoid excessive fertilizing.

Soil that has high levels of nitrogen and low levels of potassium have been known to be a great combination if you’re looking to grow fungi.

Hence, don’t overdo it when you fertilize your plant and only give what’s necessary according to the package’s instructions.

If you think that the levels of your soil are off, you can do a test to see if your soil has any deficiencies or surpluses of certain chemicals or nutrients.

#2: Rotate your crops.

Solanaceous plants or those that belong to the nightshade family are susceptible to catching fusarium wilt among other kinds of fungi diseases. 

Hence, avoid planting these again in the same plot of soil that had an infected plant as it’s likely they’ll get infected, too. Some of these are:

• Potatoes
• Peppers
• Eggplants

Instead, you may want to consider replacing the soil altogether. However, if that isn’t an option, you can opt to plant less susceptible plants instead such as:

• Watermelons
• Pear
• Lilac

#3: Maintain a clean garden area.

This one’s quite obvious since a clear garden area significantly decreases the likelihood of any bacteria, fungi, or pests getting into your garden.

Since you’re dealing with a fungal pathogen, it’s even more difficult to get rid of because of their ability to survive without a living host. 

Hence, it’s crucial to consistently clean your gardening tools and equipment before using it on another plant. 

10. Bacterial Wilt

What is bacterial wilt?

Bacterial wilt is another soil-borne disease that’s caused by the bacterial pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum, formerly referred to as Pseudomonas solanacearum.

Since it’s a fungal disease, it thrives in environments that are humid and constantly moist. 

Under these favorable conditions, the bacterial pathogen will enter the plant’s system through its roots or through microscopic injuries caused by pests or even transplanting.

Apart from that, it can also reside in other solanaceous plants, which makes it easier to infect others. These include potatoes, peppers, and eggplants, among others.

Once the pathogen has entered your plant’s system, it’ll prevent water and nutrient intake, which will kill your plant.

What are the signs of bacterial wilt?

Here’s what to look out for if you suspect that your tomato plant has bacterial wilt:

• Wilting branches and stem
• Green foliage

What sets bacterial wilt apart from other fungal diseases is that once the pathogen reaches your plant, you won’t see yellowing or browning of the leaves. 

Instead, you’ll notice wilting right away, specifically from leaves at the end of branches or the plant’s youngest leaves.

Don’t be fooled when it suddenly begins to perk up at night as this is only temporary as due to lesser water needs when it’s humid. Hence, they’ll wilt once again in the afternoon when the plant requires more water. 

When you uproot the infected tomato plant and cut through it, you’ll notice discoloration on the vascular tissue. 

Another tell-tale sign of an infection is if white, goo-like stuff comes out of the stem if you submerge it in water.

How do I save my tomato plant from bacterial wilt?

It’s sad to say that there aren’t any effective methods to treat bacterial wilt in tomato plants or any other plants. Hence, it’s quite difficult to manage a garden once an infection has started.

Nevertheless, it’s important to properly discard the infected plant to prevent cross contamination and the situation from getting out of hand. Having said that, you cannot compost the infected plant.

To do so, you’ll need to burn the damaged plant completely. This will ensure that the bacterial pathogen is properly eliminated.

When you’re done, thoroughly disinfect all of the materials that came into contact with the infected plant along.

Despite all of these steps, it’s still going to be hard to tell whether the pathogen has been completely eliminated.

How do I prevent bacterial wilt?

As mentioned earlier, once a plant has been infected with bacterial wilt, that’s pretty much the end of its life. Hence, it’s important to put into place preventive measures to ensure that recontamination won’t occur. 

#1: Space your plants apart generously.

It’s no secret that you need to ensure that there’s enough space in between plants to ensure that they have enough space to properly develop their roots and to promote air circulation. 

Without proper ventilation, this enhances the chances that fungi and other bacterial pathogens can develop. 

#2: Rotate your crops.

It’s important to do thorough research on the types of diseases plants are susceptible when you’re reusing soil beds. 

In this case, you cannot grow plants that are vulnerable to bacterial wilt. These include:

• Potato
• Pepper
• Eggplant
• Cucumbers

Instead, till the soil and plant unsusceptible plants such as:

• Sugarcane
• Cabbage
• Beans
• Corn

#3: Keep a clean garden area.

Though it’s understandably a challenge to keep a garden clean, it’s an essential part of the work as bacteria and fungi can easily wreck havoc on your garden once they’ve found a host.

It’s good to practice proper disinfection before and after using a gardening tool, especially ones that involve penetrating your plant such as shears.

Try to always rinse your pot before replanting, too. This way, your plant has a fresh environment to grow in.

11. Southern Blight

What is southern blight?

Southern blight is a soil-borne disease caused by the fungal pathogen, Athelia rolfsii. It’s also referred to as stem rot, southern rot, and tomato southern blight, among others.

Similar to other fungal diseases such as fusarium wilt and verticillium wilt, the fungal pathogen that causes southern blight can remain dormant in soil for a long time. 

Because of this, many gardeners are wary of their environmental conditions as fungal diseases often develop during prolonged favorable conditions such as wet and humid weather.

Hence, they’re quite prevalent in tropical and subtropical climates wherein rainy weather is followed by high humidity levels.

Unfortunately, southern blight doesn’t only affect tomato plant varieties. They can also host sweet potatoes, melons, soybeans, and peppers, among others.

What are the signs of southern blight?

The first thing gardeners will notice is the yellowing and/or browning of their plant’s leaves along with the wilting of foliage.

Since most fungal diseases have quite similar symptoms, what sets southern blight apart is that it creates white lesions around the base of the plant’s stem. From the soil line, these collar-like lesions can grow up to several centimeters high. 

You’ll also notice seed-like patches of mold on the soil called sclerotia. These are usually white or brown and are transmissible to other plants.  

Any crop, whether it be from your tomato plant or another vegetable, that comes into contact with the sclerotia will soon rot. It’ll only take about 3 to 4 days before the foot will finally fall off.

Overall, here are signs you should keep an eye out for:

• Wilting of the leaves, branches, and stem
• White lesions surrounding the plant’s base or collar
• Patches of mold on the soil that are usually white or brown and resemble seeds
• Yellowing and/or browning of leaves
• Stunted growth
• Rotting or decaying fruit

How do I save my tomato plants from southern blight?

As with any other fungal or bacterial disease, prevention is better than treatment as there are barely any effective products on the market. More often than not, they’re expensive, time-consuming, and just waste your time. 

Nevertheless, if you’re adamant to try your hand at a fungicide, look for ones with the following active ingredients:

• Difenoconazole + Benzovindiflupyr
• Fluoxastrobin
• Fluxapyroxad + Pyraclostrobin
• Pentachloronitrobenzene (PCNB)
• Penthiopyrad
• Pyraclostrobin

Though, to ensure that you’ve saved the rest of the plants in your garden, it’s vital that you properly dispose of the infected plant by burning it. 

You cannot add it to your compost bin as the fungal pathogen can survive without a host for a couple of years. 

Apart from that, they don’t just target tomato plants so it’s best to keep them out of your garden at all costs.

How do I prevent southern blight?

Given the horrors that fungal diseases can bring, prevention is essential to ensure that they don’t come back.

Here are a few practices that you can do to prevent southern blight from reentering your garden:

#1: Sterilize your gardening equipment.

When it comes to dealing with fungal or bacterial pathogens, sterilizing your gardening equipment is a no-brainer. Working with infected materials on all your plants is the easiest way to spread the disease.

However, most tend to forget to do this regularly even when there isn’t an outbreak in their garden.

It’s a beneficial practice to constantly sanitize your gardening equipment and clean up the area. This is especially important when the season has just finished and you’re getting rid of dead plants.

#2: Practice crop rotation.

It’s important to practice crop rotation to reduce the population of pests and diseases in the soil. This is because several pathogens, including the fungal pathogen that causes southern blight, can survive without a host for several years.

Hence, by rotating your crops, this prevents a pathogen build up by suppressing these soil-borne diseases.

After planting tomatoes, you can opt to plant these non-susceptible crops next:

• Corn
• Onions
• Wheat
• Barley

In the same vein, avoid planting vulnerable crops such as:

• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Beans
• Peas
• Peppers

Though if you still want to plant tomatoes, grow them in a different location a bit farther away from where you last planted them.

#3: Promote air circulation.

It’s important to remember that fungi thrive in environments that are wet and humid. To avoid making the perfect breeding ground for them, promote air circulation. 

You can do this by adequately spacing your plants and ensuring that their foliage doesn’t get wet. This can be done through putting your tomato in a tomato cage (tomato cage) or installing something similar such as a trellis or stake.

Apart from that, ensure that the soil isn’t constantly wet. Deeply water your tomatoes early in the morning to ensure that it has completely absorbed all the water by nightfall.

As an extra measure, add some mulch on top of your soil. This prevents water from splashing onto the bottom-most foliage.

12. Bacterial Canker

What is a bacterial canker?

Any gardener that has grown tomatoes has heard of the infamous bacterial canker. It’s a seed-borne disease caused by  bacterium Clavibacter michiganensis sbsp. Michiganensis or alternatively referred to as CMM.

They’re known to spread quickly through a variety of ways – when transplanting, via infected materials (such as gardening equipment), or by water droplets.

Hence, it’s perfectly normal to freak out after discovering an infected tomato plant given that they’re easily transmissible.

What are the signs of bacterial canker?

What makes bacterial canker so destructive is that their form of torture is quite brutal – they clog the veins of your tomato plant. 

Because of this, your plant can’t get any water or nutrients into their system. This results in the following symptoms:

• Wilting of the leaves, branches, and stem
• Yellow, brown, or white spots on the leaves
• White lesions or net-like stripes on fruits

How do I save my tomato plant from bacterial canker?

Unfortunately, there isn’t a complete fix to bacterial canker just yet. While there are a couple fungicides on the market that claim to treat bacterial canker, these aren’t very effective.

Nevertheless, you can try out fungicides that contain fixed copper if you’ve caught the infection early. Even so, this doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be able to save your tomato plant. 

The best course of action is to properly dispose of all of the infected plants and materials. Burn these to ensure that MCC doesn’t make its way back into your garden.

How do I prevent the spread of bacterial canker?

Since bacterial canker doesn’t have an effective fungicide just yet, prevention is the best way to ensure that you don’t have a full-blown epidemic in your garden.

Here are a couple of ways to prevent bacterial canker:

#1: Regularly clean your gardening tools and area.

MCC and most fungal and bacterial pathogens, whether soil-borne or seed-borne, can survive on non-living hosts for quite a while. 

In fact, some can even survive several years through drought and extreme weather. In all honesty, their determination is quite admirable in a way.

Going back, it takes just one infected gardening glove or debris from an infected plot of soil to bring MCC back. 

While it’s quite laborious, regularly cleaning your gardening tools and area will help prevent this from happening.

You can opt for a plant-safe cleaning solution to wipe down your trellises, tools, and other materials that you’re constantly in contact with. 

It’s also a great practice to hose down pots and turn the soil before putting in a new plant. 

#2: Promote proper ventilation.

Proper air circulation is important to ensure that your plant’s soil and foliage aren’t constantly wet. Watering your plants first thing in the morning is the way to go so they’re dry by nightfall. 

A humid and wet environment is the perfect recipe for breeding bacteria and fungi. So keep your beds and foliage at the right moisture level, especially in the evenings. 

#3: Only buy seeds from a trusted supplier.

As straightforward as it seems, it can definitely be tempting to purchase seeds from a random supplier when they’re cheaper and more convenient. 

However, bacterial canker isn’t the only seed borne disease you need to look out for. There are a ton of other diseases that can infect a host of different plants, not just your tomatoes.

Hence, it’s worth the extra effort to do a thorough background check on your seed supplier to ensure they have all the necessary paperwork along with a solid track record.

13. Stalk Borer

What are stalk borers?

A member of the caterpillar family, stalk borers, well, bore into the stalks of plants. In their larval stage, they create a tiny and barely noticeable hole at the base to gain entrance into your plant’s stem and begin tunneling.

Aside from tomato plants, stalk borers also affect potatoes, peppers, corn, and dahlias, among others.

While they’re rather cute and plump critters, plants affected by stalk borers will almost always die. They’ll eat their way through your entire plant before your plant eventually succumbs.

What are the signs I have a stalk borer infestation?

Stalk borers are rather easy to spot thanks to their distinct cream-colored stripes running along their backs, from the top of their heads to their ends. They also have a red or orange coloured head, which contrasts with the green foliage.  

When it comes to your plant, here are a few symptoms that indicate a stalk borer infestation:

• There are wilted leaves, branches, and stem
• Rotting by the stem base
• Chewed and misshapen foliage

More often than not, the first sign you’ll notice are wilted leaves, especially at the base of your plant. This is because stalk borers eat their way up from ground level.

Nevertheless, there are instances wherein some stalk borers prefer to eat their way through the foliage down to the plant’s stalks. This is when you’ll notice a few chewed and misshapen leaves.

On rare occasions, some plants distort near the ground, especially younger plants. Unfortunately, small and younger tomato plants rarely survive a stalk borer infestation.

How do I save my tomato plant from stalk borers?

On most occasions, gardeners will have no choice but to chuck the entire tomato plant. This also entails properly getting rid of the tomato borer inside. 

If there are other nearby plants that appear to be showing similar symptoms, then you’ll, unfortunately, have to remove those, too.

To be completely certain that you have a stalk borer infestation, you’re going to have to slice through your tomato plant’s stem lengthwise to see the insides.

While it’s worth noting that sometimes plants can survive this and be replanted, most don’t make it very long.

How do I prevent a stalk borer infestation? 

Despite the havoc that stalk borers can do, the good news is that infestations are completely preventable. 

Here are a couple of ways you can ensure that these pests don’t find their way into your garden:

#1: Regularly spray insecticides.

The most effective way to prevent stalk borers from entering the stems of your tomato plant is to use insecticides or foliar sprays

If you don’t mind using chemical insecticides, look for those that have any of the following active ingredients:

• Carbofuran
• Diazinon
• Lindane 
• Furadan  

Though, if you’d prefer a more organic solution, foliar sprays are the way to go.

While the use of insecticides provides a relatively long-term solution, they aren’t always the most sustainable. This is because some active ingredients can be harmful to beneficial insects such as bees and ladybugs while others can be toxic to humans. 

#2: Keep your grass controlled.

It’s nothing new that keeping your grass and weeds controlled prevents giving insects and pests a hiding spot. 

Hence, try to keep a regular mowing schedule to ensure your grass and beds don’t get out of hand.

14. Root-Knot Nematode

What is a root-knot nematode?

While there are a variety of root-knot nematodes that are beneficial to the soil, there are several species of root-knot nematodes that host tomato plants. 

They live in the soil where they turn your tomato plant’s roots into nurseries, feeding directly off of your plant. 

They’ll form lesions that can grow to about an inch big onto the roots of your plant which can halt your plant’s absorption of water and nutrients.

Since they work in the soil and are mostly away from human intervention, they can spread pretty quickly over the course of a couple of years. 

Having said that, this makes any neighbors within the same plot of soil vulnerable to getting root-knot nematodes, too.

Unfortunately, leaving them unattended can bring several risks to your tomato plant such as an increased susceptibility to soilborne diseases like fusarium wilt and verticillium wilt.

What are the signs I have a root-knot nematode infestation?

A root-knot nematode infestation is rather difficult to spot since the culprit is hiding well underneath the soil. 

Nevertheless, here are a few signs that could indicate that there are root-knot nematodes on your tomato plant:

• Discolored foliage 
• Wilting of the branches and stem
• Stunted growth

Even so, you’ll only know for certain if you’ve got an infestation if you check out the roots. An infected plant should have white or yellowish galls or lesions around its roots.

How do I save my tomato plants from a root-knot nematode infestation?

When dealing with a root-knot nematode infestation, there’s only one full-proof way to save your tomato plants – growing marigolds. 

Apart from being beautiful, marigolds are effective repellents against root-knot nematodes since they release alpha terthienyl biphenyl compounds. 

If you don’t have marigolds established in your garden just yet and require a quick fix, the best course of action would be to bury marigolds into the soil and allow them to decompose. 

For future use, plant an abundance of marigolds alongside your tomato plants to act as a repellent. 

While you’re at it, get rid of any grass or weeds as well since root-knot nematodes will feed off of these, too.

How do I prevent a root-knot nematode infestation?

As always, prevention is a much easier route than treatment. Thankfully, there are several ways to prevent root-knot nematodes from entering your garden.

Here are a couple of practices you can implement: 

#1: Handle your plants with care.

Since root-knot nematodes are soilborne, they can enter through small cuts and bruises that can occur during transplanting. 

Hence, always handle your plants with care, especially when using sharp tools such as shears. 

#2: Regularly clean your gardening equipment.

Since root-knot nematodes are soil borne pests, it’s important to exercise proper hygienic practices to prevent cross-contamination. 

Hence, it’s best to clean gardening equipment and materials in between each use. This avoids the transfer of unwanted bacteria, fungi, and pests from one soil bed to another.

#3: Practice crop rotations.

Once you’re done harvesting your tomato plant’s yields, it’s time to get rid of your root-knot infestation with plants that aren’t easily susceptible to it.

Crop rotation is a great way of getting rid of several plant diseases and pests. Keep in mind that you’ll have to do this for about a year or so to ensure complete eradication. 

You can choose to plant any of the following resistant crops

• Corn
• Marigolds
• Broccoli
• Beets
• Brussel sprouts
• English peas
• Onion
• Potato
• Hot pepper

However, if you’re adamant about growing tomatoes, you may opt for these resistant varieties for a bigger chance of survival and larger yields: 

• Carnival
• Celebrity
• Early girl
• Lemon boy
• President
• Quick pick

#4: Regularly amend your soil.

It’s important to take care of the healthy and beneficial microorganisms within your soil. In turn, they’ll take care of your plant and ensure a healthy soil environment for it.

Regularly amend your soil with organic materials such as eggshells, shrimp hulls, and similar products that contain chitin. 

The microorganisms in the soil will break these down along with the root-knot nematodes, which is definitely a win-win situation for any gardener.

FAQs About Tomato Wilting