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Is the condition of this stem something to be concerned about? The plant seems healthy otherwise as well as the other tomato plants in the raised bed. Do I need to rip it out and destroy it? I've dealt with Septorium Leaf Spot in the past, hence the grass mulch. enter image description here enter image description here enter image description here enter image description here enter image description here

Evil Elf
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  • This doesn't look very healthy Evil Elf but look at the rest of the plant. From what I can see your plants still are thriving. Really need a picture of the entire plant and all your maintenance procedures. Your stems are very compromised yet the leaves look healthy. Those that I am able to see. More info and more pictures, please! – stormy Jun 28 '17 at 00:15
  • Photos added. There is some leaf curl, but only a touch on lower leaves. – Evil Elf Jun 28 '17 at 00:46
  • That leaf curl actually makes me happy...whew. Those plants are severely compromised but my goodness what healthy tomato plants! Leave well enough alone. The wilting is of course because there is only so much h2o available to the plant and notice how it affects the terminal leaves and when the temperature climbs...weird but it would be nice to know what the heck has happened! Never seen such healthy tomato plants, sweetie. Need to have you do an autopsy after your harvest. – stormy Jun 28 '17 at 01:00
  • I think I see a bit of powdery mildew beginning. So hard to tell from photographs... – stormy Jun 28 '17 at 01:02
  • Both stem photos are from the one plant. Last year I put the grass mulch down too wet and too close to the stems. Fried a few. This year is great but for the one. I think I trimmed one lower leaf too close to the main stem and I fear fungus. – Evil Elf Jun 28 '17 at 01:07
  • I actually wondered if mildew or mold starting. I just want to protect my other plants. This one is an Early Girl; the others are my favorites. – Evil Elf Jun 28 '17 at 01:08
  • There is something going on with these stems. But the top growth is incredibly healthy. Just to state if there is a major disease going on, it is too late for your other plants and soil anyway. So relax. Early girl...hummmm. Careful with watering, get those fans blowing. If you get the chance, one of those branches with the discoloring would be wonderful to autopsy. Definitely crop rotation for next year. If you get a chance to do a diagonal slice between the unhealthy stuff and healthy stem, please take a picture! What other varieties do you have? – stormy Jun 28 '17 at 01:47
  • I love that you've planted marigolds. The health of your plants makes me pause...hey, I just might try this companion planting. Seriously. To see such healthy tomato plants, well, is rare in my world. – stormy Jun 28 '17 at 01:50
  • Good soil. Perlite. Moss. Tomato Tone and Kelp meal early each Spring a month before planting. – Evil Elf Jun 28 '17 at 02:33
  • Brandywine. Black Krim. San Marzano. – Evil Elf Jun 28 '17 at 02:36
  • Early Girl F1 can break pretty easily (although I think extra potassium might stop it from doing that). It's possible that it started to break some and then got infected. I'm not sure if the infection is contagious. – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Jun 28 '17 at 04:45
  • She has several other breaks that are healing but the lower stem looks infected. – Evil Elf Jun 28 '17 at 11:23

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It looks like it started out (picture 4 from the top) as a borer attack. Evidently the borer egg was laid inside the stem, the grub burrowed down, developed into an adult and flew off, but the plant continued growing so healthily that it survived the visit. The borer would have been interested in the pith leaving the stem largely intact so the impact was minimal.

Borer attacks very often, in weaker plants, result in the plant breaking over at the point of entry, but clearly the care given this specimen prevented that.

Colin Beckingham
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