New fusarium wilt experiment
 

I have been battling fusarium for nearly forty years in my garden. I have tried nearly everything except soil sterilization to overcome it with very little luck. For the past few years I have just planted lots of extra seedlings and immediately replaced the fusarium blighted plants as often as necessary; but that has become more work than I am able to keep up with. This year I am going to plant grafted plants and see if this helps. I already have plants in the garden using the following varieties with known fusarium resistance for rootstock: Big Beef, Ball's Beefsteak, Floralina and Tasti-Lee. I am also experimenting with a fluke tomato as a rootstock on some of the plants to see if the resistance it has shown in the last two years is as good as it seems. I will also be using Amelia and Multifort for rootstock as soon as the new seedlings are large enough to graft.

I sure hope this gives me some better luck with my problem. I obviously have all three known races of fusarium and if there are any unknown ones I probably have them too. My garden is the perfect site for testing the grafted plants resistance levels and we have had another mild and wet winter assuring the fusarium problem will be especially bad this year.

So far none of the plants have shown any signs of fusarium or bacterial wilt; but the first plants were only set out on the 17th of March. Since I am trying multiple plantings with all of the rootstock I should be able to get a clue as to which ones work the best if they work at all. I will try to post the results and maybe it will help some others who have a similar problem.

Bill

Good luck, Bill. An interesting experiment, and I'm sure all southern growers will be following your progress reports!

Steve

Bill,
Yes, good luck! You put in a lot of hard work with grafting and I sincerely hope it pays off.

Yes, you will have the garden to watch this year. It will be exciting to see how all the different rootstock do.
Marla

Good luck Sir and be sure to keep us apdated on which root stocks do the best for you. I always enjoy reading your posts.

You've worked so hard to continue to grow and produce tomatoes under the harshest of conditions down there, so I'm cheering for you, and hope you can finally have a great harvest with not too much work!! Good luck, and looking forward to your results!

Well the hot sunny weather is here now so the fusarium should be kicking in soon. I have been checking the plants daily but so far have only seen a bit of early blight. The only plants I have lost so far this year have been to the wind and a late freeze which got about half a dozen that were replaced immediately.

The real test will come when I put out the grafts which I haven't attempted yet with the Multifort and Amelia rootstock. Thanks for the support everyone.

Bill

Bill,
What about the earlier grafts you did? (not with the multifort) Are those in the ground?

[QUOTE=Stvrob;339645]Bill,
What about the earlier grafts you did? (not with the multifort) Are those in the ground?[/QUOTE]

I've got 38 grafted plants in the garden now. It will still be a while before I can graft onto the Multifort and Amelia seedlings as they are still pretty small. So far the only loses I have had have been to cold and wind but they were quickly replaced. About half of my plants that were set out on the 17th of March were laying on the ground today from the wind we have been having. I don't think any of the grafts gave way but I'll have to give them a few days and see how they are doing then. The two best looking fastest growing plants are a Nepal grafted to a Big Beef and a Terasenko-6 grafted to a Floralina. I'm worried about the Tarasenko-6 because it got really bent over at the graft in the wind. When I straightened it up and tied it up the stem felt weak where the graft was.

Bill

Bill, I lost two grafted plants to wind, but neither of them broke at the graft. I was wondering if the graft was weaker or stronger than the rest of the stem.

Everything I have read says the graft is weaker but once it has been outside for a few weeks it may not be. I just don't know. We are supposed to have some stormy weather tonight so I might find out. :lol:

Bill

Good luck Bill. I look forward to your results. I am trying a few grafts this year as well. I even bought a grated Green Zebra, which in the past was always one of the first to go down with fusarium. I've got some heirlooms and a few hybrids. I ordered some of them from GardenLife. I am not sure, though, which rootstock they use. I need to check on that.
Susan

b54red, the wind has been horrible this year. Hope your grafted plants pull through.

Fingers crossed for you on this end! You've put a lot of work into this, and I really have a good feeling for you!

Sure, this may be a transitional and experimental year where you weed out the good from the bad and the ugly! But I'm betting that at least a couple of your rootstocks are gonna knock your socks off with all of the maters they put out!

[QUOTE=whistech;339843]b54red, the wind has been horrible this year. Hope your grafted plants pull through.[/QUOTE]

Well I found out the graft is a weak point. At least 3 of my grafts are broken half way through at the graft juncture from the wind. It is supposed to get really bad tonight.

whistech, I think your wind got here last night.

Susan, I quit growing Green Zebra along with a lot of other varieties years ago because fusarium would kill them every time.

Bill

It has been five weeks since the first plants went into the garden and I have not seen the first sign of fusarium and have lost none to bacterial wilt. So far so good; but it is still very early in the experiment. I want to see what happens in May and June when I set plants out. Those are the worst months for bacterial wilt for me. I sometimes lose 80% or more within two weeks of transplanting during that time of the season if I don't treat the spot I'm planting in with a mild bleach solution.

So far no bad pests other than a fair number of aphids on some of the lower leaves which I pruned off as part of my standard pruning to keep foliage away from the ground. My sister called the other day and said her plants are badly infested with spider mites. She only lives a few miles from me so that got me worried but when I checked I saw no signs of them on my plants and even saw a couple of ladybugs.

Bill

So far so good here in the Dallas area as well. Although so far we have had an unusually cool spring, (not that I'm complaining!). Plants look great and have small fruit. No signs of fusarium yet, but I think the soil is still too cool yet for the fusarium to make an appearance. And no spider mites yet either! But that's just a matter of time till they show up.

I was really surprised when she told me she had spider mites this early. I agree that the cooler weather may be delaying the fusarium somewhat but the weather has been very sunny and the soil has warmed up nicely. The amount of rain we have had this spring has me worried. It seems the more it rains in the spring the worse the fusarium problem in the summer.

I had an awful disaster with my Multifort and Amelia grafts due to my own stupidity and ended up losing almost all of them. I did my last batch of grafts of Amelia rootstock today so if I don't have much luck with them I may not have as many as needed for a good test. I am trying to root the tops that were removed so I may have a few more plants to work with later on. I just don't know if it is worth ordering more seed for rootstock this late in the season since I now have over 40 grafts planted in my garden and 4 in containers as a comparison.

Bill

I had to prune off a lot of foliage that was damaged after an extended wet spell and much of it was lower leaves. I even pruned a few of my stems off because some of the plants were growing more lushly than usual so I checked for any signs of fusarium in the cuts and saw none. The soil is now definitely warm enough for fusarium and May is usually the worst month for it. I should start seeing it soon but if I don't I'll be one happy camper. I agree the cool nights have probably delayed early appearance of fusarium this year. Every day I go out and check the plants fearing the worst or in my case the usual.:lol:

i sincerely enjoy reading your posts... seems like you take any moves against your plants personally and tend to retaliate the same way:)

i feel about the same for my ''green family'' so i fully understand you and wish you good luck with your experiment:)
fusarium was also a 40-50% guest to my heirlooms for about a decade, if you are interested and don't mind using some chemicals i can tell you what solved the problem for me ( it's actually a disease which our agricultural practice has a solid cure for, but quite an expensive procedure if you are a market grower:) ).

best of luck,
ivan

[QUOTE=Paradajz;348773]i sincerely enjoy reading your posts... seems like you take any moves against your plants personally and tend to retaliate the same way:)

i feel about the same for my ''green family'' so i fully understand you and wish you good luck with your experiment:)
fusarium was also a 40-50% guest to my heirlooms for about a decade, if you are interested and don't mind using some chemicals i can tell you what solved the problem for me ( it's actually a disease which our agricultural practice has a solid cure for, but quite an expensive procedure if you are a market grower:) ).

best of luck,
ivan[/QUOTE]

I use some mild chemicals especially for foliage disease prevention and to slow down an especially aggressive pest occasionally. I do however use organic methods as much as is practical and effective. I even resorted to soaking the spot where a tomato was to be planted with a mild bleach solution the last two years in an effort to give my plants a few extra weeks before the fusarium got to them. It did increase the time my plants were fusarium free for a week or two but it was a lot of trouble and expense and I was worried that it would create the buildup of some salt compounds that would eventually cause problems. I'm hoping the grafting will give me much better results and so far it has.

Bill

hi again.

to the best of my knowledge, the result of your grafting experiment should be quite optimistic regarding the disease rates, with possible down- sides regarding the change in taste of original varieties and slightly increased chances for new- growth troubles.

if you ever chose to try something else:

1.
[U]1% copper ( oxychloride or oxysulfate ) + 0.25% mankozeb[/U]
mixed, left for 12-24h, stired up a couple of times;
drench to the holes prepared for planting and surrounding area, approx. 10l of solution per 4 holes;
plant after 72-96h

2.
[U]vermicast + beneficial bacteria bio- stimulator + water[/U], thick solution
when planting, dip the root- ball in the solution for a while, till the whole root area is covered with a 0.5cm layer of it, put some solution in the planting hole and plant directly in it;
if you trim the lower set of leafs at planting, use a paper ring around the stem bottom, after planting pour some solution in the ring so the wounds of trimming get covered with it ( this will also help with crickets :) );

3.
[U]fosetyl aluminium + propamocarb ([I] Previcur energy[/I] ) [/U]
6ml of substance in 2l of water, use 2dl of solution per a plant;
treatment goes twice- a day after planting, and again after 10 days

4.
[U]beneficial bacteria bio- stimulator [/U]
through the whole life cycle, each 10-14 days, starting 5 days from planting

the original recipe actually contains just step n1, and it was given to me by my university professor some years ago. today it has a scholastic status here, for quite a broad range of fungal and bacteria stuff.
the other steps in the process are my additions, aiming to revive the soil and make ''a huge crowd'' down in the root area.
the principle is simple- nuke the ★★★★★★★s ( copper/mankozeb ), disembark ''the troops'' appropriately equipped in what was once the hostile area ( planting with vermicast solution ), make a tough fortress around them ( Previcur and beneficial bacteria ), and good old troopers will do the rest.
this cleared my decade- lasting 2 strains of fusarium with a 100% success rate.
also, vermicast/bacteria solution works wonders with root development, growth and yields.
finally, it's a lot of copper and mankozeb but my garden is still totally rich on worms which seems not to be complaining:)

it's tested and it works, on verticiliums and bacteria diseases too.
if you feel it as to much of chemicals, the vermicast and beneficial bacteria part will significantly help on it's own.

br,
ivan

The first batch of grafts has been in the ground for two full months now and no fusarium yet at least none that I have seen and I look for it nearly every day. Despite the cooler weather I should be seeing some fusarium by now. My largest plant is just inches from the top bar of my trellis which is 7 feet tall. These grafted plants are overall the best looking plants I have grown mainly because I don't see any dying yet of fusarium; but also because of the unusually good fruit set I am getting on a few varieties that have always been very stingy in the past. Still keeping my fingers crossed.

Bill

Great results so far Bill! Congrats.

I know I'm getting too hopeful. One morning soon I'll walk out there and see that yellow starting to tinge the lower leaves and start creeping up the plant; but the longer it holds off the better my chance of getting some fruit from some varieties that have been very susceptible to fusarium in the past.

Bill

Found my first fusarium for sure yesterday on a GMG grafted onto my fluke plant. I also have a Brandywine Sudduth's graft onto the fluke that looks like it has fusarium. The other ones I see some signs on are a graft of Nepal onto Big Beef and an Akers West Virginia grafted onto a Big Beef.

I knew this day was coming and the intense heat and high winds stressing the plants caused the fusarium symptoms to show quickly. I feel I will see a lot more in the weeks to come but I'm hoping the delay the grafting has provided will give me more production than usual. I'm sure some will die quickly but I'm hoping the rootstock will provide enough protection for some of the very susceptible varieties that they will last long enough to produce some fruit.

I'll keep posting the results.

Bill

Sorry to hear that Bill. That just stinks. I hope that some of the other grafts with stronger fusarium resistance will hold out long enough to allow you some decent production. I too am noticing yellowing of lower leaves on some of my non-grafted varieties. Just not ready to pull them yet. So far the grafted varieties look ok.

I haven't pulled any plants because of fusarium yet. I did cut off a major stem that wilted and confirmed fusarium. Actually as bad as the inside of that stem looked I'm surprised it didn't wilt weeks ago.

Bill

One of my Brandywine Sudduth grafts is in really bad shape. Two of the three main stems are totally wilted and I think the last will not be far behind. I expect to have to pull it in the next couple of days. The green fruit on the plant is still too little for Brandywine. The largest being less than half grown. I only have one other Sudduth's graft and it got stunted by herbicide drift so I hope it will recover and remain fusarium free.

Bill

The Brandywine Sudduth graft has now died before the fruit could reach maturity. So I've now lost one and I'm sure a couple more will follow shortly. I'm still very optimistic with the grafting results so far. None of the plants grafted onto resistant hybrid rootstock have died and only one on the fluke tomato so I'm doing better than I have ever done before. If most of my plants can delay getting sick for a few more weeks I will have a great year and I am still putting out a few new grafts each week as I finish up some of my other veggies.

Bill