What is wrong with my tomato plant!!

Looking for a little garden expert help. My one tomato plant, a Juliette variety, has white bumps all over the stem. Is this some sort of fungus? What can I try that is organic to fix this? Non-organic fixes? The leaves at the bottom of the plant look fine but the leaves at the top look like they are not getting enough water even though I water it every day. This plant is in a pot.

Any advice would certainly be appreciated. I really don't want to lose this plant.

Pictures, hope they are good enough.

Bottom part of the stem closest to the soil


Upper part of the stem closest to the wilting leaves


Close up of the upper stem

I'm sorry I can't be of more help - I don't grow veggies (although I did start my own peppers and tomatoes on the deck this year). I did find this site. Maybe there is something that could help you . It looks like a bacterial fungus or canker to me.

http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.corne...omato_List.htm

This is my fourth year growing tomatoes and by far the most successful year. IMO those white bumps look like root primordial. Which is not unusual to find on tomatoes above the soil line. Those are extra root buds.

The damage at the top could be caused by over watering. I'm down in Florida and our temps right now are in the high 90's and even a few days at 100 degrees. I still only water every other day, first thing in the morning and never after 5 at night.

I hope this helps. I'm not an expert by any means and I learn something new every day about my tomatoes.

I've been growing tomatoes for over 20 years. The stems are ok as mentioned above.

However you mentioned its in a pot. Did you plant in potting soil (hopefully yes?) or regular garden soil??

So many plants in containers are killed by overwatering. I was at one of my vendors yesterday and she had a large container someone dropped off and it was very dead. This container had been watered every day since mothers day!!

Stick your finger into the pot a couple of inches down. When you pull your finger out and soil is clinging to your finger there pot has plenty of moisture. When plants in containers are over watered they develop a shallow root system and esp with a tomato plant if there is a windy day for instance or its well watered and then a rain storm occurs the plant could fall out the the post as the roots are not deep enough to support the plants.

Is there a hole on the bottom of the pot for drainage??


Bottom line back off on watering the plant for at least three days to get the soil in the pot to dry out a bit. The only time it should be watered daily if if its really hot and windy outside as the plants looses alot of moisture at this time. Put some mulch in the pot as it will help conserve soil moisture.

My in ground tomato plants are in a sandy type soil and while I water daily to get them established I do not water them perhaps over 4 days if we do not get rain. They are mulched with straw/old hay which helps hold moisture.

Thanks so much for the advice.

I was watering just about every other day cause the top of the soil was really dry. I didn't think to see what the soil was like in the middle.

I guess I will be getting some mulch too. I do have holes in the bottom of the pots for drainage and I did use potting soil. I almost used garden soil until I read that it was not a good idea. This is my first year growing veggies so I really want them to do well.

Next year I will be making a raised bed for the veggies so hopefully it will be even better!

Thanks again for the reassurance.