Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

Information and discussion regarding garden diseases, insects and other unwelcome critters.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old June 1, 2007   #1
chilhuacle
Tomatovillian™
 
chilhuacle's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Concord CA z9b, just west of Tomatoville
Posts: 415
Default Disease affecting mainly one variety

Has anyone ever experienced something similar to this and know what it could be? It affected all 26 Sleazy B plants (a cross for the tomatoville dwarf project) at about the same time, 24 F3 dwarf plants, one indeterminate F3 plant, and one F2 Plant. All were grown from seeds I saved from healthy plants. They are in 3 different beds and some are in Earthboxes with new Miracle Grow soil.

No other plants showed any symptoms until a New Big Dwarf had contact with a diseased branch for about 2 weeks. It now has the same symptoms. On the other hand, a Stump of the World also had contact and was unaffected. All other plants are healthy.

I suspected Bacterial Wilt but none of the branches or main stems shows a milky stream when placed in water. It seems, whatever it is, Sleazy B is extremely susceptible to it.


The first indication is a slight browning of the stem and leaves.

Click for Larger Size


Then the leaves begin to brown at the stem.

Click for Larger Size


The entire leaf is eventually brown and crispy.

Click for Larger Size


Fruit continues to grow and ripen and looks fine.

Click for Larger Size


Some plants continue to have new growth, flower, and even set fruit.

Click for Larger Size


But eventually all leaves can be consumed. The main stem remains green.

Click for Larger Size
chilhuacle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 2, 2007   #2
Suze
Tomatovillian™
 
Suze's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Texas
Posts: 3,027
Default

What do the plants that do this smell like? Is there a bad odor?

You said the central stem stays green, but inside, is the vascular tissue discolored?

Did any actual wilting of the foliage occur before you started getting the crispy dieback?
Suze is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 4, 2007   #3
happychick
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Southeast Texas
Posts: 37
Default

I just started having the same thing on one of my plants! On mine, there is no wilting before the leaves get all crispy.
happychick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 4, 2007   #4
Steve1961
Tomatovillian™
 
Steve1961's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: South Central Kansas
Posts: 14
Default

It sounds to me it is definetly a transmitable disease as you described. It doesn't show the classic symptoms of early blight. I pulled one of my tom books out and the closest thing I can relate this to is bacterial canker. I have never have had it myself but it can be transmitted through diseased seed and it doesn't sound like it is a win situation if that is what it is. Good luck.
Steve1961 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 4, 2007   #5
chilhuacle
Tomatovillian™
 
chilhuacle's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Concord CA z9b, just west of Tomatoville
Posts: 415
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Suze
What do the plants that do this smell like? Is there a bad odor?

You said the central stem stays green, but inside, is the vascular tissue discolored?

Did any actual wilting of the foliage occur before you started getting the crispy dieback?
Thanks for the quick reply Suze,

The plants don't smell bad at all. Nothing seems to go mushy or discolor very much. Most of the stems stay green but the ones that do turn slightly brown are perfectly green with no discoloration of the internal tissue. I'll have to get a picture of one of the main stems.

There's no wilting of the leaves at all, they just brown and turn crispy. What is interesting though, over the past few days we've had cooler temperatures and the plants that weren't overcome with what ever this is seem to have recovered a bit. They have lots of new green bushy growth up top. I'm not sure what to do...pull 'em out or leave them to see what happens. I guess I'll leave at least a few with the largest, darkest tomatoes as a learning experience.

I haven't seen anything like this before. Certainly not something you would want in a plant you're trying to get people to propagate .
__________________
Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

Bruce
chilhuacle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 4, 2007   #6
chilhuacle
Tomatovillian™
 
chilhuacle's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Concord CA z9b, just west of Tomatoville
Posts: 415
Default

Happychick,

Sounds like you have the same thing going on. I can't find anything on-line that looks similar.

Thanks Steve,

I'll have to look at some pics of bacterial canker. The plants I saved seed from looked perfectly healthy.
__________________
Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

Bruce
chilhuacle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 5, 2007   #7
Patrina_Pepperina
Cross Hemisphere Dwarf Project™ Moderator
 
Patrina_Pepperina's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: New South Wales, Australia
Posts: 3,094
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by chilhuacle View Post
On the other hand, a Stump of the World also had contact and was unaffected. All other plants are healthy.

I suspected Bacterial Wilt but none of the branches or main stems shows a milky stream when placed in water. It seems, whatever it is, Sleazy B is extremely susceptible to it.
Stump of the World seems to have more than one resistance - it did very well in a bad season of TSWV for me.

The leaf situation looks similar to what I get with some Black varieties (Black Brandywine, Black from Tula are 2 that I recall), and I'm wondering if some of them are more vulnerable to fungal infection? Sleazy B F2s gave me a couple "black" fruited plants, but I didn't have your particular problem with any Sleazy Bs last season.

PP
__________________
Truth is colourful, not just black and white. PP: 2005
Patrina_Pepperina is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 5, 2007   #8
Suze
Tomatovillian™
 
Suze's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Texas
Posts: 3,027
Default

Bruce, I don't think it's bacterial canker based on your answers. And with the plants continuing to produce and even put out new growth, that makes me even more doubtful. Also rules out late blight.

I'm thinking along the same lines as Patrina is at this point. Grub has also mentioned this 'crispy dieback' before as well, and I think he might have even said he noticed this problem mostly in con★★★★★★★★ with dark and green varieties. What is it? I don't know. Perhaps fungal; a powdery mildew or leaf mold (since I'm not seeing EB or septoria lesions). PM or leaf mold might be hard to spot on textured/rugose foliage as it quickly develops
Suze is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 5, 2007   #9
chilhuacle
Tomatovillian™
 
chilhuacle's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Concord CA z9b, just west of Tomatoville
Posts: 415
Default

Thanks Suze and Patrina. Well, I guess I spoke too soon declaring Stump of the World immune. This is some nasty stuff. In just two days the plant looks like hell. One of two main stems is brown and the leaves are going down fast. It didn't have a spot on it 2 days ago.

On SotW the leaves actually do wilt and they don't get as crispy as the rugose leaves. I'm going to pull it to try and save the Gary O'Sena next to it. They haven't had leaf to leaf contact yet as far as I can tell.

The beginning of the end.

Click for Larger Size


Leaf wilt.

Click for Larger Size


Not crisp but dried out. Almost like leather.

Click for Larger Size
__________________
Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

Bruce
chilhuacle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 5, 2007   #10
Patrina_Pepperina
Cross Hemisphere Dwarf Project™ Moderator
 
Patrina_Pepperina's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: New South Wales, Australia
Posts: 3,094
Default

I really empathise on this one Bruce, when mysterious things get a hold and suddenly healthy plants don't look healthy anymore Kinda knocks the wind outa the sails!

PP
__________________
Truth is colourful, not just black and white. PP: 2005
Patrina_Pepperina is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 6, 2007   #11
Vince
Tomatovillian™
 
Vince's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Riverside, CA
Posts: 942
Default

Bruce,

I posted a thread a few weeks ago titled "unknown affliction". The pictures you post look exactly like what I am seeing in my garden. On the tread we concluded it was late blight, but maybe this was a false verdict. Hardest hit are BW, BW sudduth and EF. At this point I have nearly completely defoliated them an am just trying to ripen the fruit so I can yank the plants. I thought I had this stuff last year, but now I am noy sure as I don't remember it spreading so fast and being so devastating. I can litterally remove affected leaves in the morning when I go to work, and see new sighns of infection when I return in the evening. For the moment GMG, BTW from seeds you sent me, seem very tolerant. Also Brandy Boy seems very tolerant for the moment. It as almost as if the disease hopped over theses rows to infect others down the line. Well, I am convinced we have the same or similar problem.


vince
__________________
Vince
Vince is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 6, 2007   #12
happychick
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Southeast Texas
Posts: 37
Default

Weird, whatever it is on my plant, which I think is the same thing being described here, has now spread to another plant. The weird part is that they're separated by 20 feet or more and a privacy fence, while the plant touching one of the affected ones appears fine. The two affected are both Cherokee Purple, though. I pulled the worst one up today, but I'm leaving one, because it's 6 feet tall, has several tomatoes on it and isn't in contact with any other plants. Maybe it will recover or not be seriously affected since it's so large....but that's probably hoping for too much, eh?
happychick is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:20 AM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★