tomato to float in water

[Tim]

Ron or anyone else - Since I had so many tomatoes that germinated a while back, I put one tomato to float in a small container of hydroponic nutrient solution with an air stone. It grew like crazy, and I transferred it into a 5 gallon bucket, again floating in solution with two air stones, and it quickly grew 7 immature tomatoes. I woke up one morning and all the leaves on the plant were completely wilted. It pretty much died that day. The plant (roots) have never touched soil, so it can't be a soil borne disease. Only thing I can think of is that the bucket sits on my cement patio, and the solution became too hot. Any ideas on what went wrong? I have two other aqaufarm type drip systems I built that are doing great, and another tomato floating that's small but doing great so far. Thanks, Tim

[Ron]

Sounds like a bad case of damping off. One of the reasons for damping off is to much watering and I would say your system qualifies.