Quote:
Originally Posted by MissS
I thought that it might be helpful if we could name some of the heirloom/OP varieties of tomatoes that can resist Fusarium and Verticillium wilts in our gardens.
Now, for the growers that decide to grow these varieties, be aware that they are "resistant" and not "immune" to these conditions.
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And from the other thread where blight resistant varieties were asked about
(tolerance - relative capacity of an organism to grow or thrive when subjected to an unfavorable environmental factor
resistance - the inherent ability of an organism to resist harmful influences (such as disease, toxic agents, or infection)
Carolyn is right, the proper use of the term in this case would be
tolerance)
And as said in that other thread there is no variety that is resistant to any disease,the operative word would be tolerance.
As regards Fusarium and Verticillium,in order to answer that question a person needs to know which specific serotypes of Fusarium they are dealing with, there are 3 and there is no cross protection.Where I've gardened there has been no Fusarium using seeds I saved but those who buy plants shipped up from the south can see it,but only for one season since it is easily killed where the winters are cold and the ground freezes deeply.Offhand I don't know of any heirloom varieties that even have one,let alone three,but certain hybrids do.
I can speak to Verticillium,though, since my plants have experienced that one and one sees it initially with wilting on one side of the plant.And often a plant will grow out of it and be OK,but not always .I've tried taking cuttings from the good side of a plant,but the darn fungus apparently is also there already without any symptoms showing so that didn't work...
And maybe it's just me with a background in infectious diseases and the immune response,but I can't define the word immune when it comes to tomatoes.And yes I have read that aspirin treatment of plants can result in "immunity", but those studies were very flawed in terms of data and no controls and no immune substance was actually ever found,just visual observations, again,with no controls..
Carolyn