Took me 8 days to figure out why my tomato plants kept dying, and it was one dumb thing

Miles Burns · 2026-10-12T12:45:04.534806+00:00

Back in June I planted six tomato starts in a raised bed behind my garage in Boise. Every single one wilted within a week, so I blamed the soil, then the sun, then some bug I could not find. I replaced all six plants twice, spent $54 on new starts and fertilizer, and even moved the bed to a spot with less afternoon heat. On day 8 my neighbor Glenn leaned over the fence and asked if I was watering them at night, and when I said yes he just shook his head. Turns out wet leaves sitting in cool dark air all night is basically a welcome mat for blight, and switching to morning watering fixed it in three days. Has anyone else killed a whole garden before learning something that simple?

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Took me 8 days to figure out why my tomato plants kept dying, and it was one dumb thing | Before I Forget - Thought Shares