Tomatoes

A customer has just been in with a greenhouse problem he lives in a multi occuapancy house with a garden and greenhouse run by a comunal gardener, this year the gardener based the tomato beds with last year's conifer woodchip harvested from the garden then put a layer of soil and tomatoes. The second tomato of his crop has this afternoon noticably wilted and if like the first gone to the big greenhouse in the sky.
While I would not fancy trying this does any one no why. Is the toxins from newish woodchip still going to be present or are tomatoes paticularly suseptable or am I missing something.
Regards woodlands

 

Fresh wood chippings leech nitrogen from the soil. I wonder if it is that?

 

Thanks thought of that, but would,nt they just look hungry, these noticeably wilted

 

Might depend on where the wood chips come from. I've got it in my mind that conifers carry a substance that can be harmful for some plants.

 

chips out of same garden ,don't know variety, but thanks good thought