tomato plant wilt

Question: Hello,

Can you please give advice about what I can do for my tomato plants?  I have a total of three tomato plants.  The plant in the middle looks great.  But the two plants on either end are wilting.  I started all from seed, and everything looked healthy until about 10 days ago.  I thought the wilted plants needed more water, but now I'm thinking something else is going on.  Any suggestions you can provide are appreciated.

Thank you!

responder: Answered by the Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC), University of Maryland Extension. For timely gardening information and tips, subscribe to our Maryland Grows blog and quarterly newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Replied June 29, 2023, 2:28 PM EDT
response: Hi- that is significant wilting. Allthough the middle plant is growing normally, we suggest you dig 6-8 inches down in the soil around the wilted plants to make sure the soil is not dry.  If water is not the issue- Check for signs of animal feeding or other physical injuries near the base of the plants, or borer feeding along the main stem.  The symptoms of diseases that cause wilting in tomato are usually progressive: wilted stems recover at night and the wilt symptoms start at the top of the plant or start on one or two stems. Slice back the "skin" of a few wilted stems and look for tan to brown discoloration of the stem tissue. This would indicate a wilt disease such as fusarium wilt. Verticillium and bacterial wilt of tomato would be two less common diseases causing wilt in tomato.  If the problem is a wilt disease you should remove the plants. If all three plants are the same variety, the middle plant is at high risk for infection.   In the future, select cultivars with resistance to all three races of fusarium wilt disease (in seed catalogs it will appear as "F" followed by 1, 2, 3 in subscript).  Other resources: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/fusarium-wilt-of-tomato Jon

responder: The Question Asker Replied June 29, 2023, 4:18 PM EDT
response: Jon,Thanks for your response. We dug down into the ground and the soil seems moist. Also “skinned” a few of the wilted stems and the tissue underneath is a normal looking pale green. I went back to Burpee’s website and checked to see if these varieties have resistance to wilt. They do not. However, on Burpee’s website I learned that there could be a complication with black walnut trees and tomatoes. Can you verify this?  My next door neighbor has two huge black walnut trees with branches that hang over our yard, directly where my vegetable garden is located. In fact, these trees will drop walnuts into my garden in the fall. Is there a way to tell if the tomatoes are indeed impacted by black walnut wilt?We are wondering if we should dig the plants out of the ground and transplant into containers with potting soil. Thank you again for your timely response. Sent from the all new AOL app for iOSOn Thursday, June 29, 2023, 2:28 PM, Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:

responder: Answered by the Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC), University of Maryland Extension. For timely gardening information and tips, subscribe to our Maryland Grows blog and quarterly newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Replied June 30, 2023, 9:27 AM EDT
response: Hi- the walnut trees are most likely the culprit. Tomato plants are highly susceptible to walnut wilt. Walnut tree tissues contain juglone, a chemical compound that suppresses the growth of competitor plants. This phenomenon has been widely observed and reported wherever black walnut trees grow. I have seen walnut wilt in tomato and asparagus twice in my career.  The root system of the healthy tomato plant may not be in direct contact with the walnut trees' root systems. Juglone in nuts, leaves, and wood chips breaks down in soil but it's also possible that juglone from the localized accumulation of nuts, leaves, etc. has caused 2 of 3 tomato plants to wilt.   We think it's a good idea to transfer the plants to a different site or to containers. Remove excess suckers and dig up as much of the root system as possible when transplanting. The suckers can also be planted separately for a late crop.  https://extension.psu.edu/landscaping-and-gardening-around-walnuts-and-other-juglone-producing-plants  https://lancaster.unl.edu/tomato-sudden-wilt Jon