I have certain areas in my garden that I know are more likely to contain the stem rotting spores. It pops up every couple of years. I try to remove some of the localized soil and discard it after the season is over, but I don't like to have it sit empty during the season, so I try to save the adult plants that usually develop stem rot after being in the ground a couple of weeks. Often they have flowers and developing fruit and may be a trial variety that I don't want to lose.
Last year I had three in a row that started wilting during the day and I could see the stem was developing the shrunken areas near the ground. I cut tops and bottoms off of some plastic gallon milk jugs, slit one side so I could fit it around the stem area, and duct taped it shut. Mounded it up with soil covering the shrunken area and kept it well watered . Plants recovered and produced until fall, though they were not as large as the unaffected plants next to them. I'll try not to plant tomatoes in that exact spot this year, but if I run out of space I will.
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Dee
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