how do i keep my tomato plants from wilting?

Question

I live in southern missouri and the temperature is reaching about 100 a day right now. My plants start wilting in the midday sun. I water them thouroughly every night. About 3 gallons of water for 3 plants. Do I need more water? less water? should I try to cover them during the day? any ideas???

Answer 1

You can't. Just keep them well watered and all will be well, as long as you did everything else right.

Answer 2

I think I have an idea for you that you havent heard yet. First of all the plants you have now... you need something on the ground to help hold the water in. Try mulch, or when you mow your yard rake some of the grass and put around them or like the answer above use newspaper. You are doing good with watering them at night, a little water in the morning will help too, some wilting is normal. Next year try this little trick. Use a set up something like a wooden clothes line only instead of rope use a bar, kinda like you would have in your closet in your house. . That you can hang several buckets from, in the buckets cut a hole in the bottom. put your tomato plants through the hole in the bottom of the bucket and add a mixture of dirt and potting soil. hang the bucket on the bar so your plant is sticking out the bottom. You will not believe how wonderful this works. I only have 6 buckets and I have more tomatoes then I know what to do with, I have a family of 8 and I am giving tomotoes away we cant eat them all. My plants are hanging 7ft high and has a water hose with little holes that are right over the buckets. Plus the buckets hold the rain water. This is the 3rd year I have done tomatoes this way. Last yr I canned 14 Qts of tomatoes off of 6 plants. Plus all we ate.

Answer 3

Tomato Plants Wilting

Answer 4

Aloha--
I live in Kauai, Hawaii where the temperatures are somewhat more moderate but still pretty high all year 'round, particularly this summer. I have grown tomatoes here for several years. After the first year, when the tomato plants in my garden kept wilting (and some finally died), I found out from a friend who is an Ag instructor that I simply wasn't giving my tomato plants enough water, though I was afraid I was over-watering them. He told me that they need to be watered more frequently--both morning and evening--with about 1/2 to 1 inch of water each time so that the water could soak down to the roots. LOTS of water--tomato plants need a lot of water to keep producing and to keep from wilting. I have to water before the sun gets hot though otherwise I get mildew on the leaves and/or the leaves get sun-burned. It seems to me that my Roma, grape and cherry tomatoes need less water than the Beefsteak and other large "slicing" varieties though, but I'm not sure that this is a "scientific" observation. You didn't say how big the plants are, but 3 gallons for 3 plants doesn't seem like near enough water unless the plants are very small. Are they in pots or in the ground?

Just a thought--you also might want to try some sun protective netting over them to help avoid such intense heat. I know that in the Central Valley of California where they grow lots and lots of tomatoes, the heat gets up over 100 almost every day and I don't think that they use protection but perhaps the commercial varieties that they grow there are a bit more hardy than those that we home-gardeners have available to us.

Can you share any hints on getting rid of the pesky little flies that have attacked a couple of my tomato plants without using commercial poisonous pesticides? I may have to resort to those to keep the plants alive, but right now I don't want to go with poisons if there is another way to get rid of the flies. I'm getting a lot of tomatoes from my plants--I have to give some away--but the plants just don't look very healthy with the small flies on them.

Answer 5

There are a lot of assumptions to consider...

However try these:

1. Loosen the soil around the plant to aerate the roots and to hold moisture. As you do, add enough cow dung to enhance your purpose and provide extra nutrients.

2. Fertilize just enough. Too much fertilizer heats up the plant's body. Appropriate fertilizer (for a composite breed, each plant) is about 150 grams each of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium a week before planting the seedlings; 150 grams each of nitrogen and phosphorus 30 days after planting; and, 250 grams potassium and 50 grams nitrogen when it starts to flower. Fertilize along the circumference of the leaves, not farther or closer. If you're late with the timing, forget what you've missed.

3. Water in the morning, just before the sun gets glaring hot, and don't pour the water directly on the plant. Tomatoes are susceptible to fungal infection and water on the plant's body encourages that. The plant has a natural compensatory ability, so let it work according to its natural process- let the roots regulate the water the plant needs. Prescribed watering method is drip irrigation (water injected to the area where the roots are) or trough irrigation (canals around the plants- dig a deep circumferential canal a foot away from the leaves and about 6 inches deep, and store water there). Tomatoes love the sun, and are relatively productive with the amount of light provided. Water stored in the trough provides for the continuous moisturization of the soil around the roots; keep it available at the plant's most productive period, say, 9am to 2pm.

Answer 6

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
how do i keep my tomato plants from wilting?
I live in southern missouri and the temperature is reaching about 100 a day right now. My plants start wilting in the midday sun. I water them thouroughly every night. About 3 gallons of water for 3 plants. Do I need more water? less water? should I try to cover them during the day? any...

Answer 7

Water in the morning, because watering at night can cause fungus, molds and mildews, as well as assorted tomato diseases.
Make sure you water them deeply, not just shallowly.
If you can provide some shade during the worst of the heat of the day, that would be beneficial. You don't want to use any kind of plastic though, it would just magnify the sun's heat. Check at your local garden centre, see if they have or know of anyone who has a kind of cloth that is light but can filter the sun so that it isn't as damaging. You could set something up so that you can roll it over to cover the plants during the middle of the day, but you can roll up or eaily take off during the early morning or evening. I know I've see something, but it was for protecting people from the worst of the sun. I'll get back to you if I can remember specifics.

Answer 8

i from texas and i work at the plant shed. try watering early morning that way the soil will be still wet if not damp for most of the afternoon. i cannt water at night because of that same reason. and water more depending on how big they are. if they are about a foot an half or more water about 2 gallons. what i so is let the water hose fill the pot up. or get a long stick or something long and straight and stick it in the soil as far as it will go then pull it out. and if it is dry water more slower that way it will have more time to soak in to the bottom. alos stick more holes around the soil to help drain to bottom.

Answer 9

There are different ways to clone different plants; cuttings - as you are doing - work well for some and less well for others. Vine plants like tomatoes are best rooted while still connected to the parent. Bury a branch and wait a week or so. Keep that area moist (not wet). Uncover and you are very likely to see roots developed from the branch. Once the roots are well developed, cut the branch off and move the clone to its new home. Other ways can and do work but this is really easy and works quite well.

Answer 10

My wife and I, over here in Texas, suffering from the same or hotter temps than you in ol' Miss, agree with what you've done so far. I'm not sure what soil your garden has, and that makes a huge difference in that it controls what happens to the water once you water your plants. Make sure you have good drainage, but not TOO good. We're on sandy soil over here and so we have to guard against too much drainage, BUT, not too far beneath the surface, we have some very solid clay, and that blocks drainage. That we have the clay some small distance from the surface, allows for a good mixture of drainage and water retention. Up on the hill where we live, our plants get A LOTTTTTTT of VERY HOT SUN ALL DAY, and she has thought of putting some kind of green screen covering along the fence bordering the west end of the garden, and extending it a few feet up and over the garden to protect it from this summer heat. But, being the procrastinators that we are, we didn't do it. You can bet I'LL have it done next year. I'm assuming you have the plants growing within the wire trellises in order to give them the structure any such plant needs to grow on. And I'm assuming you've furrowed your garden to allow for good drainage as well. You may have waited a bit late to worry about this year's plants, but you can use these thoughts for next year's garden. I'll hope we get a milder summer next year, and that ya'll and we have healthier gardens. God Bless you.

Answer 11

Don't worry about the wilt. I would increase the daily water to two gallons per plant per day. NEVER cover the plants as they will burn right up in the Missouri heat. Water your plants in the early morning as they will be less prone to top rot or night mildew.