I have an early girl tomato plant in a 5 gallon bucket. It has been producing fruit for several weeks now and is still going strong. I noticed today that down by the base of the stem it seems like it has split open and little tiny white tubes are spewing out of it...it does NOT look good but it's still producing tomatoes? I noticed that a couple branches at the top have some white bumps on them but not nearly as bad as the white tubular insides spewing out of the stem at the bottom. Can anyone help me to identify what is going on and maybe suggest something I can do to help fix the problem? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Here are a few photos of what I'm talking about. The first pic is of the base of the stem which is the worst and the other is of a branch higher up with the bumps on it.

Thank you!

Base of the stem

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/rUg6L-Jiz_WULk93owGSEb0XMN9w-rceFJzy3_KzwPs?feat=directlink

{{gwi:43816}}From Jul 12, 2011

White bumps on branch higher up on the plant

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/SdPt7P_DBPbnSWZaVrKocb0XMN9w-rceFJzy3_KzwPs?feat=directlink

{{gwi:43817}}From Jul 12, 2011