Early blight resistance is very hard to find. Randy Gardner even bemoans the difficulty of breeding for resistance since most breeding material is only slightly resistant. The material he used in breeding the Mountain lines could stand up to disease pressure a week or two longer than lines without EB resistance.
If I were ranking tomatoes in terms of breeding value, Eva Purple Ball would be near the top because it produces highly productive hybrids, is tolerant and/or resistant to most of the foliage diseases, and has exceptionally small core which passes through to the F1. I really need to cross it to the resistant lines I have from LA0417.
While fusarium is a yearly problem in your soil, I have not had a case at all this year. I've dealt with lots of other problems including septoria, gray mold, and early blight, but not one single plant went down to fusarium.
Grafting is a wonderful way to improve performance of a low producing variety. As an example, I grafted Little Lucky onto a vigorous and disease tolerant rootstock and was rewarded with doubled fruit production.
|