Unhealthy stem
 

Hello,
I have two tomato plants with a strange, unhealthy stem. They look like they are missing the outer coat. Strangely both are the same variety : glossy rose blue. My other 45 varieties don't show this problem.
Is this damping off? The top of the plants look healthy.
I realize their container is way to small, but I didn't find the time to transplant them. Yesterday I repotted this plant. My other plants are in the ground now. But since this one looks sick I don't want to plant it in soil ans contaminate others.

Looks like late stage damming off the plant barely survived but not for long.
Its only hope is to bury it up to its ears past the bad main stem.

Worth

I'll pot it deeply so that only the upper leaves are above soil level.
I puzzles me why this happened to only this variety.

Is damping off contagious? Can other plants be infected with the same fungus this year or the next? In that case I won't plant it in the garden but in a pot.

No it is just creepy crawlies that are natural in the air and soil brought on by damp and cold.

Worth

Thanks! In the ground it'll go. Makes things easier too.

The microbes on that stem are still active.
You will want to spray the whole plant with 9 parts water to 1 part hydrogen peroxide.
The measurements don't have to be very accurate.
Spray the soil down good too.
Then spray every now and then till the top part of the plants take root.
I have saved several this way.
Worth

Worth

Thanks!

You're welcome I hope it works for you.
It either will or it wont.
The bottom infected part will never get bigger and will eventually die off.
Worth

Agree with Worth- sort of but...
The damping off soil borne pathogens ((Pythium, Rhizoctonia or Phytophthorathat)) are eventually fatal.
A spore will somehow get in your soil, germinate and infect a root and spread up to the stem, infection can be very localized when your seedlings are separated into cells or individual pots. You're lucky no other plants were infected. I wouldn't take any chances by putting that plant in the ground, an infected plant is a source for more spores and it can spread. Trash it.

Then trash it.:lol:
But those spores are everywhere we create the conditions for them do whatever it is they do.

Worth

I had two or three like that early on and about that size/age, maybe a bit smaller.
I'm in big trouble since i just made the assumption it was from one of the life stages
of fungus gnats or aphids. I was finding some of the young nymphs on the stems
thinking they were feasting on the fuzzy root hairs. :evil:
I've have about 5-600 seedlings in all life stages...the elders have been in a heap/huddle
outside for a month now but seem healthy-ish. Organizing tonight/tomorrow to start
planting. I'll look for those with that same issue and check on their health.

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.

The garden soil is easily treatable with the hydrogen peroxide.
Just fill an ortho dial and spray with it and go to town.
Hydrogen peroxide is an anti microbial.
Yes you will in effect sterilize the soil but that is easy to fix.
Worth

I did a diluted peroxide 2 gallon bucket and dunked all my potted up starts a while ago
at the first sign of fungus gnats so that may have helped a bit...we shall see.

OK. I'll be careful and will repot it up to the highest leaves in a pot. If it gets healthy and producing fruit I will reuse the potting soil. If not I'll toss the soil.
Growing tomatoes is already a risky business here due to phytoptora so better be safe than sorry.