Wilting tomatoes

[mareita]

I bought two tomato plants last week and gave them a little water ever

day except for one day when I stood them in water. That was 5 days ag and they have been fine but today they are wilting. I have read that you should only water them 3 or 4 times a week. Hav I done irreperable damage? If not what should I do?

Clair

-- mareita

[Katey Didd]

You should water them when they need water, not a certain amount of times a week. Are their roots rotten?

[Persephone]

If they are still smaller, you may have drowned them.

Are they in the ground, or still in pots? It sounds like the latter, since you say you "stood them in water". Even doing that BRIEFLY shouldn't cause them to wilt, unless they were in so long and got so soaked that they gave up the ghost.

You probably know that frequent light, superficial watering is a no-no. Water usually doesn't penetrate to where it's needed.

Slow, deep, less-frequent watering is the way to go.

How often is a function of many variables:

Ambient temperature

Humidity

Size of plant

Amount of direct sunlight.

(slightly off the subject, ornamental plants in a dormant state, e.g. have different water requirements than an actively blossoming/fruiting plant.)

Just to confuse you further when tomato blossoms show, most gardeners cut back SOMEWHAT on their watering, so the plant will put its energy into making fruit rather than making more greenery.

Tip for future: Use the first knuckle test to see if plants need watering. IOW, stick your finger in. If you encounter moist soil past the first knuckle, plant doesn't need water yet.

HTH

Persephone

[Omelet]

Oddly enough, overwatering will kill faster than underwatering.

I only water when I see my plants need it. Dry soil or heat wilting.

[David Hare-Scott]

Usually fewer deep waterings are better than many little ones but in small pots you may need to water daily or even twice daily if it is hot and dry. Just to make things harder overwatering will cause wilting too by allowing fungal diseases to flourish.

That was 5 days ago

I take it these are in pots. How big are the pots? If the pot is too small they will dry out very quickly and you may not be able to put them in full sun (which is desirable) without heat wilting.

David

[Billy]

wait for the surface to go dry, grey, then water plant until water exits the bottom of the pot. In larger pots, you may wait for the top inch of soil to go dry.