plants in one area are dying from same symptoms

Question

All of my outdoor plants in one area are dying from the same symptoms, yet all are different plants. We purchased some tomato and cucumber plants along with bags of Miracle Grow potting soil. My boyfriend desperately wanted to use topsy turvys. So in one we have a tomato plant and in the other I believe he planted two cucumber plants. The additional tomato plants purchased were planted in the ground on the other side of the fence. We had extra soil so I decided to transplant the marigold seedlings that were coming up in a small pot into a bigger pot.

He initially was watering them everyday with water and a Miracle Grow additive. The topsy turvy plants became huge and my potted plant looked great. Well recently both the tomato and cucumber topsys are huge! One tomato started on topsy plant and also on a ground plant. No other fruits are appearing, and the two that did are very small babies and green. All, and I mean all 6 of these plants, have the same issue.

The leaves are wilted, yellow, and dying. The cucumber leaves also have holes. Yesterday my marigold plant was thriving beautifully. This morning it looked just like the others. I tried to do some investigating this morning with these plants to find a common denominator, all of their soils are caked and hard, especially the turvy plants. None of this makes sense, given 3 of tomato plants were planted in ground soil yet display the same illness. Could it be our water? Or did we overdose them with Miracle Grow? This little makeshift garden means the world to my boyfriend. Thank you.

Answer 1

While I cannot be certain, it sounds like your plants could be affected by a fungus or even bacterial wilt. Since the symptoms can mimic one another, it’s difficult to pinpoint which exactly but one way to know if it’s bacterial wilt is to look for pests on your cucumber plants (since you mentioned holes). The cucumber beetle feeds on the plant, spreading the disease. Here is more information: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/cucumber/bacterial-wilt-cucumbers.htm
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/tomato/wilting-tomato-plants.htm

In addition to possible disease issues, it is possible they could have been over fertilized. While they do require heavy feeding during the growing season, doing so every day is a bit excessive and could have burned the roots, causing them to wilt and die.