Bacterial wilt soil: a hot-tent is not a magic wand
Heat can knock it back and also cook the structure.
- Hot-weather solanums collapse overnight; a cut stem may ooze.
- Bacterial wilt often has ooze and comes faster; fungal wilt has little ooze.
- Bacterial wilt does not need dry soil.
- Don’t treat solarisation as a forever vaccine; don’t disinfect and replant the same host as the whole plan.
- Rotation: Leave the host crop. Years between crops: ask locally
- Name what you see before you feed.
- If leaves, roots and the surface disagree, stop.
- Bacterial wilt lives in soil.
What you see in the field
Hot-weather solanums collapse overnight; a cut stem may ooze. Fast.Patchy dead plants: look at the roots first — knots, brown rot, stained pipes — not the thin white roots of hunger. A rotated neighbour that still looks well is the contrast that counts.
Tap to enlarge. The caption says what to photograph. Missing field photos are marked as to-be-added.
Why it looks like this
The field looks like this because the root cannot take water or nutrients the usual way. Fix the soil condition first — drainage, salt, acidity, compaction or a salt of fertiliser — then a thin feed. Rates live in the range on this page; confirm with a local station and the label.
Easy to mix up
Looks like “Wilt disease”
Bacterial wilt often has ooze and comes faster; fungal wilt has little ooze.
Looks like “Shortage of water”
Bacterial wilt does not need dry soil.
Do this / don’t do that
- 1Hot-weather solanums collapse overnight; a cut stem may ooze. Fast. Compare the worst plants with a neighbour ridge before you add a bag, or the next step will chase the wrong thing.
- 2Hot-season collapse plus milky ooze. Rotate and drain. Solarise to spec, then nurse the soil. Confirm with plant protection.
- 3Don’t treat solarisation as a forever vaccine. Use the range on this page only as a range. Confirm with a local station and the product label.
Don’t do this first
- Don’t treat solarisation as a forever vaccine; don’t disinfect and replant the same host as the whole plan.
Rate range
Rotation
Leave the host crop
Years between crops: ask locally.
Drainage
Drop the humidity in the field
Standing water makes it worse.
These are ranges. Confirm with your local extension station and the product label.
When you see Hot-weather solanums collapse overnight; a cut stem may ooze. Fast, test. If the leaf and the soil disagree, test before you pour.
Lesson video
2026-03-09 · Li Zeyu · For learning. Serious damage: local agronomist or a soil test.
For learning only. Fertiliser and pesticide decisions need a local agronomist and a soil test.
Not sure? Photograph the field to identify the problem