I'm growing two tomato plants in pots on my deck for the first time.
One is very well developed and already producing fruit, the other was
planted much later and has had some problems. Shortly after I planted
the smaller one we had a serious thunderstorm and it's stem was
snapped right above where it was tied to the stake. It started to wilt
above the break and I kind of assumed it was hopeless. I stopped
watering it, but left it in the pot to give it the benefit of the
doubt. A few weeks later it really perked back up and started to grow
again. Since then though I've noticed strange stringy worm/fungus
looking things on its stem. I can't tell if it's a parasite or
actually growing from the plant itself. The longest ones are about 1/2
an inch long and they're kind of whitish in color. There are bunches
of them. What are they? Little bumps have started to appear on my big
plant and I hope that whatever it is hasn't spread. Thanks for any
help.

-Liz

Liz wrote:
I'm growing two tomato plants in pots on my deck for the first time.
One is very well developed and already producing fruit, the other was
planted much later and has had some problems. Shortly after I planted
the smaller one we had a serious thunderstorm and it's stem was
snapped right above where it was tied to the stake. It started to wilt
above the break and I kind of assumed it was hopeless. I stopped
watering it, but left it in the pot to give it the benefit of the
doubt. A few weeks later it really perked back up and started to grow
again. Since then though I've noticed strange stringy worm/fungus
looking things on its stem. I can't tell if it's a parasite or
actually growing from the plant itself. The longest ones are about 1/2
an inch long and they're kind of whitish in color. There are bunches
of them. What are they? Little bumps have started to appear on my big
plant and I hope that whatever it is hasn't spread. Thanks for any
help.

-Liz


Sounds like adventitious roots. Tomatoes are weeds. They will try to
grow roots along the stem to increase their chances of rooting into a
good spot. If the other plant is in a similar situation, it may also
develop these roots.

You can ignore the roots or you can bury the plant further. Assuming
that it was potted with a good root ball, I'd ignore them. They won't
hurt anything.