planting a container garden, help?

Ok so the last time I planted vegetables it was under the supervision and guidance of my Great grandfather. We had a great organic garden and I loved it. Now it has been 17 years and I now live in an apartment but want my kids to have the same experience that I had.

3 days ago I decided to plant in containers out on the balcony. I planted 2 kinds of peppers (in self-watering pots), some strawberries (in a 10 inch pot) and 1 cherry tomato, and 1 big beef tomato (in 24 inch pot). Now here is the problem that everyone new was coming... Peppers doing great, odd flowers also planted doing great..... both tomatoes not so great. Both plants are soft and wilting. There is no brown, no bugs or holes, no broken stems..... I am at a lose as to what could have caused this.

The balcony is west facing and gets sun from about 10 AM through out the rest of the day. Any ideas and can I bring them back? Should I pull them and start over?

Here are a couple things to consider:
1) Are you sure that the self watering pots are working? Put you fingers down into the soil a couple of inches and see if it is damp. Some potting soils do not work well with self-watering systems. You could give them a cup of water poured around the top of the plants and see if they perk up.

2) Were the tomato plants root bound in the containers when you pulled them out? If so, Did you break up the roots before planting? (You can do this by just gently squeezing or taking a twig or stick and picking at some of the roots until they dangle freely)

3) Were the tomatoes purchased from a greenhouse where they were partially shaded? If so, they plants may not have been properly hardened off. New plants that have never had full sun, need to be hardened off. You do this by setting them out in the full sun progressively. Start with an hour or two then increase the time in the sun over a few days. Be sure to not forget them and leave them too long - they will scald or wilt. My experience is that they never fully recover if they are scalded.

Hope this helps!

I thought it might be water so I did water them (just went out and checked the soil, still damp). The plants are still alive but the cherry tomato is severely wilted. There is no brown or dry spots one the leaves so I am pretty confused.

I don't think that the plants were root bound, At this point if you think that it will help I can dig up the plants and break up the root some?

The plants were partially shaded in the greenhouse, but I didn't think to much about it as it has been so cloudy here the last few days that they haven't gotten more than a couple hours of sun a day (until today).

I did have a thought this morning, could it have gotten to cool for them (lows in the mid 40's)?

I'll answer in reverse order. I don't think 40 degree temps. would cause the wilt. Eliminating dry soil or sun exposure as possible causes, I'd start to worry about disease in the plants. When is your last frost date? I am in Zone 5 and my last frost date was last week. For me, if plants were still available I'd get another setup of pot, plant and soil and add one more plant. I'd get the plant from a different source as well.

Then I'd prep the container mix, adding about a tablespoon of Epsom salt or other blossom rot deterrent, fertilizer if needed, loosen the roots on the plant, remove leaves on lower stem (leave plenty of leaves on top) and plant the tomato deep into the pot. Then I'd pack the soil by hand and water liberally. Again if from shaded greenhouse, introduce to sun over two or three days.

Good Growing!