Gardengirl78
Orlando FL
Posts: 6
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| Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 12:41 pm Post subject: Tomato plant help! Stems are split |
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This is my first time gardening and I have a problem with some of my tomato plants. They were all doing so well but the last 4 days it has just been pouring rain non stop. Today there was no rain and when I looked at my tomato plants some of the stems are split...there are white horn looking things growing from the stem and there are green bump looking things growing too. What is going on??? Please help!
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NemaToad
Flint, Michigan zone 5
Posts: 31
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| Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 1:24 pm Post subject: |
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I'm not sure about the split stems. Did the wind or rain hit them hard enough to bend the plants over and break the stems? If they're low enough on the stem you can mound soil up around them to support them and they will root into place. The white "horn" things you are seeing are most likely new roots forming. Tomato plants will form roots along their stems. I'm not sure what the green "bumps" are, but have seen them on my plants before and there was no harm. Are your plants tall and "leggy" or skinny by any chance?
John
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EJ
Essex
Posts: 2863
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| Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 9:55 pm Post subject: |
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I agree with NemaToad - those white things are indeed roots, and the bumps are probably immature roots. As John says, mound the soil up around the stem if possible.
As for the broken stem, this often happens when the plants have a sudden massive intake of water - the fruits can split in exactly the same way. The stem has ripened and hardened, then there is a huge rush of water up the stem, and the cell walls just can't grow quickly enough and this causes them to split. I have had this happen and I have used sellotape as a sticky plaster and carefully pulled the stem closed with no ill effects. Hope this puts your mind at rest.
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