btw i dunno if its at all pertinant. . . but this bark mulch is BRAND NEW cedar mulch (no colors added) that i put down 2 days after planting these.

Could be Early Blight and Septoria Leaf Spot.

Both of those kinds of "fungi" overwinter in all sorts of plant debris, on the seeds it's self, or on weeds around the garden.
Spores of those fungi can splashed or blown to tomato leaves, by rain water, hose watering or winds even. And can be right in the soil of your garden already..
Or even come from the nursery you bought the plant.
And this disease can develope by the warmer temp's, extra rainfall and high humidity.

I'd also pull that mulch right away from the base of that plant, up to a few inches even on either side of it..
When mulch is right up to a plants stem, it can cause all sorts of problems..

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Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Honestly, I see all kinds of stuff when I first put plants out. I do get early blight on tomatoes frequently, but as the plant grows, in most years it will outpace the blight, and you can snip off the blighted leaves once the plant is a little bigger. I'd give 'em all a week and post some more pics...

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Dave
Even my growlights are getting restless!

quote:

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Originally posted by Marina:
As an add on question to what weezie just said... is it a bad idea for mulch to be right around the plants in general?

I have mulch all around my plants and wondered if it was a good idea.

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Mulch is a good thing for plants,
*it keeps moisture in the soil at the drip line for the plants' roots, so they don't dry out...*
just not right up against it's stem..
The stem is very important, it carries its' food up the stem.. leaves can be lost, one by one,
but if that stem has a problem, it's usually a goner.

When you keep the mulch so close, it can keep the plant stem too moist, which in turn can cause several problems, mildew, disease, bugs right onto the stem and make a home..

Most plants, when they come out of the dirt/sprout, they come out at a certain point and that's where they need to be... they know what they need, by then putting a layer of mulch up higher than where they came out, also stresses them...

What I wouldn't give for an old fashion pen and paper to show you a drawing of what I mean..
Hope I explained it ok, it's hard sometimes...

* * * *
Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

so should i snip off the entire dying limb from this sapling? I mean thats 1/2 the plant already!

And i'll pull the mulch away pronto. i didnt know it would cause such probs!

Least i knwo the right place to come to

Thanks for the info guys Tommorow I will pull the mulch away. Its not stacked against the stem but definetly all around the bottom of the plant! I never knew, that why this place and all of you are so great!!!!!

quote:

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Originally posted by Marina:
Thanks for the info guys Tommorow I will pull the mulch away. Its not stacked against the stem but definetly all around the bottom of the plant! I never knew, that why this place and all of you are so great!!!!!

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What Weezie is getting at is just pull the mulch back enough that you can see the stem going into the ground, and maybe an extra inch or three. Keeping the ground from drying out around the root zone is the main function of mulch above all else. Also, I try to put a little collar of paper around the stem of small plants. I cut the tubes from paper towel rolls into one inch sections, cut up one side, and slip these around the stem and firm into the soil, so that I have a little barrier around the base. I do this because cutworms will sometimes come along and cut the stem off right at the base. Nothing worse than finding a seedling tomato you've worked hard to grow from seed cut off at the ground. Once the stem thickens a little, there's no more risk of cutworm.

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Dave
Even my growlights are getting restless!

ok UPDATE!!!!

So far its just the 1 plant that was wilted that died. the other plant that had spots STILL has the spots but has not wilted nor obviously died yet I took a PH sample of the soil and it is about 5.9ish, a lil acidic. . the guy from fruitbasket flowerland told me they should be bout 6.5-7. Suggestions? (worry about it?) all other plants seem to be doing just fine. LOTS of new growth and a very few weird things happening.

I took longy's advice and went out and got some bat guano from east asia. cost me about 4000$ round trip plane ticket with a flyin from a local & a indiana jones escapade trying to leave the country. For real though. . . got some seaweed fertilizer and will put down in a couple days as it rained holy cats & dogs today.

Speaking of the raining of dogs.. . it hailed (yah i know. . end of may and it hailed!) and the hail tore the pi$$ outa some leaves on variouse plants. WHAT TO DO?!?!?!

Very interesting. I talked to a stranger about tomato plants this morning when I went to my grand daughters school and she said they had put out bought plants over the weekend and today they are falling over like they were wilting. She said they were fine to start with.

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