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Hi, posting first time and not sure if it is the right forum to ask this.
My tomatoes plants are drying and dying suddenly. Watering them everyday.
Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @sdahiya143. It's amazing to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about tomato care.
When tomato plants suddenly start drying up and dying, watering is often a big part of the issue, even when it feels like you are doing the right thing by watering every day. One important thing to consider is how long you are watering for each time. Short daily watering can actually be less effective than watering less often but more deeply.
Tomatoes prefer deep, thorough watering that soaks the soil right down to the root zone. For garden beds like yours, using a standard hose spray, that can mean a solid five minutes or more per bed to really saturate the soil. Depending on the weather, you may only need to do this every two or three days. On very hot days, every second day is usually fine, as long as the water is penetrating deeply.
If you are only giving them a quick spray each day, the water may be wetting the surface but not reaching the deeper roots. Tomato plants, especially once they are established and fruiting, have roots that reach down quite deeply and they are very thirsty plants. Inconsistent or shallow watering can cause stress very quickly.
On the flip side, if you are soaking the beds heavily every single day, the soil may be staying too wet and becoming waterlogged, which can lead to root problems and cause the plant to collapse. It’s worth digging down a little with your fingers or a trowel to check how wet the soil is below the surface. Ideally it should be damp, not soggy.
If you can let us know roughly how long you are watering each bed and what the soil feels like below the surface, it will help narrow down the cause and allow more specific advice.
Another thing worth checking is how often you have been feeding the plants. Tomato plants are quite heavy feeders, especially once they start flowering and fruiting. If they have not been given a complete fertiliser recently, they can run out of nutrients very quickly, which can lead to weak growth and plants declining.
You might want to top them up with a full fertiliser rather than just relying on water alone. Something like Dynamic Lifter is a good option, as it provides a broad range of nutrients and helps improve the soil at the same time. Apply it as directed and water it in well, then continue with deep, consistent watering rather than light daily sprays.
Combined with the right watering routine, a proper feed can often turn struggling tomato plants around surprisingly quickly.
Here's a helpful guide: How to grow tomatoes.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mitchell
