Bacterial Wilt, A Quick Death

[GoDawgs]

The last time I planted tomatoes in the main garden was 2014. For whatever reason, tomato bacterial wilt appeared and attacked large tomato plants right when they had nice sized green fruit set. Ever since, the tomatoes have been grown in buckets up at the house.

I've read a ton on this and it seems the consensus that IF it ever goes away, it could be 3-4 years but mostly it's there to stay. It's been four years so this year I decided to install a few test plants in the garden. One each Celebrity, Black Vernissage and Early Girl.They are at the point where they've set nice sized fruit so I've been watching closely every day. Four days ago I spied an "Uh Oh"... it always starts with the tip of just one small branch, usually at the top of the plant.

Day 1, Jun 9 – Wilt or curl on Blk Vernissage?



Day 1, Jun 9 – Wilt or curl on Celebrity?



Day 2, Jun 10 – Top third to a half affected, Black Vernissage



Day 2, Jun 10 – Half of Celebrity affected.



Day 3, Jun 11 – Wilt affecting most all.



Day 4, Jun 12 – Wilt complete



It's amazing how fast bacterial wilt will take down tomatoes. One of the good sites on this is :
https://www.todayshomeowner.com/bact...tomato-plants/

One of the tips they gave said that plants with fusarium and verticillium both exhibit discolored foliage but that with bacterial wilt there is none. The leaves on my plants were clean as a whistle before and all the way through their ordeal.

Tomorrow I will dig up the plants, cut a section of stem above the roots, put it in a glass of water and watch for bacterial streaming, the final verdict.

Meanwhile, the main tomato plants at the house are fat and happy!