Tomato plants require approximately 1 inch of water per week. Plants may wilt badly when soils are dry, but will revive rapidly when they are watered. A thorough watering once a week during hot, dry weather should be sufficient.
If your tomato plants are wilting due to lack of water, there is a chance they may recover if you provide them with immediate and thorough watering. Quick intervention can often revive wilted plants and prevent further damage, but prompt action is crucial to increase their chances of survival.
Irrigate based on water need, avoid over irrigation. Apply plant resistance inducer, such as Actigard (Syngenta) if you are using moderately resistant cultivars (i.e., FL 7514). Actigard enhances resistance against this disease if it is used in combination with moderately resistant cultivars.
Often plants survive that kind of weather, maybe with a little damage. But there may be invisible damage from the stress, and that reduces the plant's vigor. The plants never fully recover.
You can, but you don't need to, not on tomatoes anyway. The dead leaves tend to fall off but if many are brown at once and look unsightly, it won't hurt anything to remove them. Usually it's not a concern until the end of the season anyway and you'll probably be removing the entire vine by then.
Overwatering generally makes the plant look almost like it's rotting, as in drooping and turning soggy brown. My guess is it is having Nitrogen problems. Any type of vegetable fertilizer you buy at the store should work fine.
Solution: Misting, pebble trays, or a humidifier will perk them up. Repotting Shock: Damaged roots can cause droop. Solution: Be gentle when repotting, and give it time to recover. Rootbound: Droopiness + roots poking out the pot = time to repot!
The good news is tomato plants are resilient. Identifying the problem early limits damage and makes it easier to revive the plant. Even plants with evidence of dying roots can be rescued.
Leaf rolling and cupping
Corn and tomatoes are among many plants that commonly roll their leaves or cup in response to heat. Leaf surface area is minimized, and stomata (microscopic openings in leaves, like pores, that allow movement of moisture and gasses) close. Together, these reduce moisture loss in the plant.
Hot weather and “early blight” yellowing lower leaves have given my tomatoes a tough time in some years. Try saving stressed tomatoes from heat or early blight using shade, vermicompost tea, and removing blighted leaves.
Symptoms and Diagnosis
Yellowing begins with the older, bottom leaves, followed by wilting, browning, and defoliation. Growth is typically stunted, and little or no fruit develops. Brown, vascular tissue can be found when the infected stem is cut at its base. Infected plants often die before maturing.
The major differences in these wilts are: 1) The fungi proceed slowly in the host relative to bacteria and produce more uniform symptoms through the plant. 2) In bacterial wilt, symptoms appear from the top down, whereas in Fusarium and Verticillium wilt, symptoms begin at the bottom of the plant and progress upward.
cut the base about 1/2", or separate leaves from base entirely. submerge leaves and stems in cold water, making sure that any cut ends are fully submerged. if you're in a hurry, try adding some ice cubes to the water.
In the very least, a new central leader will emerge and become the new main stem. Tomatoes are notorious for producing lots of “sucker” stems throughout the season, so you can count on something taking over for the lost main stem. You just need to be patient while the new stem develops.
To create a solution that prevents and treats disease, add a heaping tablespoon of baking soda, a teaspoon of vegetable oil, and a small amount of mild soap to a gallon of water and spray the tomato plants with this solution. This needs to be reapplied regularly to maintain its efficiency.
It's not unusual for a tomato plant to appear vigorous and thriving one day and then be a limp collection of stems and leaves the next. Wilt is a sign of stress that needs to be addressed quickly to save the plant. Unfortunately, wilt is often not curable, but it can be prevented.
It can take anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of months for stressed plants to recover. Recovery time depends on the amount of damage that the heat caused to the plant. If a stressed plant is completely neglected during a heatwave, it can take several months or even be impossible to revive it.
When the cause of wilted tomatoes is dried out soil from heat, watering them will generally perk them up immediately. Apply water at the base of the plants avoiding the leaves or if using an overhead sprinkler, water in the morning to reduce the possibility of foliar diseases.
In their native environment, they return reliably every year. The types of tomatoes we grow for BLTs, salsas, and salad toppers today were bred and selected for their fruit. Any minor winter hardiness they once had was lost in the breeding process, so tomatoes are grown as annual plants in home gardens.
There are various factors that can cause curling or rolling of tomato leaves. These factors can be environmental stresses, fungal, bacterial, or viral infections, insects, herbicide damage, overfertilizing, and excess or insufficient water. These factors trigger physiological problems that manifest this condition.
Pruning tomatoes encourages strong growth and fruit yield. Removing dead or diseased leaves and branches will also assist in lessening the likelihood of pests or illnesses that might harm your crop. Along with trimming, be sure to water, feed, and weed-free your crops.
While dramatic, wilting is a relatively easy problem to fix. Wilting is a natural response by plants to reduce water loss, and many plants can bounce back if the wilting is treated within a day or two. However, prolonged wilting can cause damage to stems, leaves and flowers, and may even result in death.
If the wilting is mild and caught early, your plant may start showing signs of recovery within a few days to a week after proper care is provided. This could include new growth, improved turgidity, and fewer signs of distress.