tomatos wilting

My Filipino friends are losing their tomatos. Good size, seemingly healthy plants about 1 foot high are just "melting". The plants act like they a. are not getting enough water or b. drowning. The plant stays green, no spots, stems still sturdy, but they just wilt. Roots do not have the reddish brown color generally associated with fulsarium wilt. Is there anything they can do for the remaining plants and/or to help with future plants. I don't know if any of the seeds he is using are the resistant kind. I do know I sent him some heirloom seeds.

Anybody got any advice I can pass along. This is the first time planting in any of the the beds, but the soil is local. Has some compost and bat guano, quartz dust. The marigolds and basil planted in the same bed are going strong.

I'm assuming that your friend has gone through all the normal checks (water, NPK, etc, shade) & it sounds like this is affecting multiple plants?

Also, is the wilt uniform or does it start at top and spread progressively?

My suggestion would be to pull an entire plant (one), roots and all.

-Cut the main stem at about 3" above the soil line ....rinse the base, inspect the roots (your looking for egg sacs or remnants), then look for any damage at the soil line (it will look like you ringed a barked plant, if insects have been working on it.

- From the section you cut off, look down the stem at the cut ... your looking to see if anything bored down the center. If you dont see any tunneling/boring, keep cutting from bottom to top at about 2" increments (critters don't always enter from the bottom, especially if you trim the plants).

If the plant looks fine, it's probably not insects ..... so you'd be looking at V-wilt (verticullium), F-wilt(Fusarrium).... sometimes the discoloration doesn't come until after the wilt has progressed). Trouble is, unless you can get it analyzed....it's just an educated guess

There's another form of bacterial wilt and another type of fungal/viral wilt, but the bacterial is hard to diagnose (supposedly able to water test yourself, but I've never been able to get the "indicator results) and the other looks like dampening off and/or insect damage (sometimes the ring will be white & look like mildew).

Again ... really hard to self-diagnose tomatoes because there is just so much that can go wrong, above/below the soil.

Do you have any pictures? We really need to see what the plant looks like.

Pass this link on to your friends.

http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/diagnostickeys/TomWlt/TomWiltKey.html

This site lists most of the diseases that affect tomatoes and has pictures of each. Tell them to have a look at the virus section, and in particular, the curly top viruses.


Also check this site: http://www.absp2.cornell.edu/projects/intersect.cfm?productid=3&countryid=3

It mentions tomato yellow leaf curl virus as one of the leading causes of tomato loss in the Philippines. It's at the bottom of the page.

This site has more detail regarding TYLCV: http://www.seminis.ru/resources/disease_guides/Tomato/tomato_yellow_leaf_en.asp

HTH

In general the following site seems full of good info on plant diseases that are prevalent in Europe and Asia. Have your friends sift through it.

http://www.seminis.ru/resources/disease_guides/tomato/tomato_en.asp

Filipino friends consulted with the organic teacher and decided it was a worm in the roots. He sold them this

and recommended a compost tea with yogurt and molasses in it. He also gave back seedlings from some tomato seeds I had sent and he started in his greenhouse. He was very interested in the heirloom hot climate tomatos and is testing them for use in PI.

My friends started a new mater box with compost from Western Philippine University's agri program and the Genovese tomatoes.


After losing more than half of his original planting, the remaining have perked up and are doing well for now.

Oh, and the dog was chasing a critter and tore up almost all of the herb box. So they are planting again. Kale is still the best crop and corn has started ears.

Kay

The wilting tomatos are getting well. Here is the first bloom



And here are what's left after losing most of the crop.




including some replacements

Those are looking very sturdy. Seems like the crisis has passed and the teacher's treatment worked.

That compost in the new tomato bed looks so rich and loose. Here's hoping they do well.

Alas, the treatments did not sustain. All the tomatos in the original beds are gone. But the tomatos in the new bed are doing well. Cukes wilted as well and are gone.

It has been decided that the local dirt has something in it and to not use it for tomatos again. However, it is doing well for kale, lettuce, basil and chard. Beans will be the next crop tried.