Tomato plant is wilted?

[s.iker]

Hey i have a beef steak tomato plant.. that i grew from seed.. its the only plant that i have in the garden as i was trying to do damage control for the weeds that kicked my butt every year.. (think i finally got them under control.. lol)

so i have one decent size tomato, that im waiting to ripen, and a bunch of smaller ones too...

I water it every night.. and the temp gets to about 70* in the night time and anywhere from 80-90 in the day.. The garden is on the south/west side of the house. so gets a decent amount of sunlight...

but last few days, it looks wilted.. as if its not getting enough water? Not really sure whats happening, as i give it a good drink every night...

anyone have any ideas whats happening? The little tomatos are still growing it seems... is it that they are taking up all the water and the leaves are suffering?

 

[Chuck]

Never ever water a tomato plant every day. It will get root rot and die. The first signs are wilted leaves. When you water, completely saturate the soil and do not water again until the soil is bone dry about 2- 3 inches deep and even then do not water unless the plant is wilted in the AM. This is usually every 10 days or so depending on the soil type, temperature and wind conditions. Watering too often is the leading cause of plant death in gardens.

 

[Beth_B]

Yes way too much water! Overwatering is the number one mistake gardeners, both indoors and out, make. You can google this. Tomatoes are not jungle plants, they are native to arid Mediterranean climates and do not do well with constant watering. They like moderately hot and dry.

Listen to Chuck.
I am in a similar zone to you and have watered the veg garden precisely twice this year.

Commercial growers starve tomatoes of water; this forces fruit growth at the expense of leaves. You can also google this.

 

[Durgan]

And when push come to shove an individual can do nothing if the weather is not inductive to growing. Your procedures can be perfect, but adverse weather can completely subvert all your efforts. I seldom have a complete disaster but production can fall to around 10% some years.

 

[Beth_B]

Yes indeed. We have had an overall cool and very wet spring and summer with some bursts of heat. That's really hard on many vegetables.

 

[s.iker]

oh okay. cool i'll hold back on the watering then. didnt think that i was overdoing it.. woops.. thanks guys!