Disease resistance

[Bruinwar]

Due to who-knows-what pathogens in the soil of my rented garden plot, I am in need of the best tasting, all around disease resistant tomato available. I plan on 60-70 plants this year & a want a dozen of so of these.

I am putting together a good plan for the never-ending War On Disease but that is for another thread in the Disease & Pest forum.

Again, taste is the most important virtue. The diseases are likely Septoria Leaf Spot, Fusarium &/Verticillium Wilt... maybe Bacterial Wilt but I do not know for sure. All I know is my plants were mostly dead by the third week in August last year. Some never produced at all.

Again, what I am asking for is an excellent tasting disease resistant strain of tomato! Any idea? TIA!

Regards,
Joe S.
Ann Arbor Mi

[efisakov]

Hi, Joe. Few years ago I discovered spider mites in my garden. Never knew about them. It was not a deceases that were responsible for my tomato death, it was spider mites. Read about them. They are almost invisible.
Now I try to prevent their spreading. It is not easy to get read of them put very possible to keep in check.

This is what one of TV member suggested, it is organic and worked for me.
RobinB: “…diatomaceous earth and an empty spray bottle, put one T of DE into a 32oz bottle, fill with water and shake until the DE dissolves. Then spray those plants with spider mites. When it dries you will see a white film on the plant. Reapply after it rains. ”

About tasty tomatoes, there are so many. Have you tried Cherokee Purple for start. People say that it has a staple taste. Many compare the taste of tomato to Cherokee Purple. If it is as good as CP than it is worth of growing. Black cherry is another one I grow every year. There are so many more.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Bruinwar

Due to who-knows-what pathogens in the soil of my rented garden plot, I am in need of the best tasting, all around disease resistant tomato available. I plan on 60-70 plants this year & a want a dozen of so of these.

I am putting together a good plan for the never-ending War On Disease but that is for another thread in the Disease & Pest forum.

Again, taste is the most important virtue. The diseases are likely Septoria Leaf Spot, Fusarium &/Verticillium Wilt... maybe Bacterial Wilt but I do not know for sure. All I know is my plants were mostly dead by the third week in August last year. Some never produced at all.

Again, what I am asking for is an excellent tasting disease resistant strain of tomato! Any idea? TIA!

Regards,
Joe S.
Ann Arbor Mi

Joe, where you are there almost never are any soilborne diseases, so almost exclusively foliage diseases and the most prevalent four are:

Early Blight and Septoria Leaf Spot, both fungal, and Bacterial Speck and Spot, both, ahem, bacterial.

And to date, with just a few exceptions, there are no varieties that are totally resistant, tolerance is a better word, to either of the fungal ones, and same for the bacterial ones,

So it means ways of preventing the foliage diseases, which are spread by wind and also embedded in rain drops and include irrigation as well.

Folks have different ideas about spraying, I prefer Daconil, which is excellent. Yes, it's a synthetic product but has less toxicity than Rotenone, which is classified as organic by many of the organizations that approve organic products. It's also the most used anti-fungal in the world and thus lots of information about it. There aren't any good anti-bacterial sprays that are available to the home gardener, but yes, commercial gardeners can get them.

What often happens is that an infected plant will drop fungal spores and bacteria to the soil and the next year they are still in the soil and with irrigation and rain can bounce back up to the foliage, and that's called splashback reinfection.

One of the best things to do is in the Fall to turn over the soil deeply so as to bury those spores and bacteria. Some will use mulch around the plants as well.

There are those who say that X variety is tolerant of foliage diseases, and yes, that can happen in a good year when they aren't being spread around.

Some will suggest actinovate to you and other similar products and for some they say it works great, for others not so much.

If year after year a certin variety ALWAYS shows tolerance to the common foliage diseases, in YOUR area, then that's great.

Yes, sometimes, but rarely, soilborne diseases are introduced in areas where they would not normally be, and that's when plants are raised in the south where soilborne diseases are common and sold in the north where the soilborne diseases are not common, but rarely do those introduced ones last, b'c they are killed by the frozen soil we have in zones 4 and 5 and sometimes 6,

Hope that helps,

Carolyn, zone 5

[Bruinwar]

Thanks for your replies Carolyn & efisakov.

Efisakov: part of the War on Disease this year will include pest control. What I am looking for is a good disease resist... uhem... tolerance tomato. Purple Cherokee is a great tasting tomato but failed completely for me two years in a row. They died before any fruit ripened.

Carolyn: Although we've had some very cold winters, the pathogens appear to have survived in the soil & likely was what you refer to as "splash-back infection". I was warned from my first year the area was loaded with (specifically) Septoria Leaf Spot. However, these infections could very well be airborne, not sure how I would be able to tell. They infections do start from the bottom of the plants. From what the symptoms looked like, it's a combination of problems, some fungal, some bacterial.

The plots that I rent are part of a huge garden plot area & the spread of disease was rampant the last couple years. As I said I have a War on Disease plan started & I plan on getting feedback in the disease forum.

My original post might of been better in the disease/pest forum.

One variety that did OK last year was Gurney's Orange Whoppers (a hybrid). They were all I had for canning whole tomatoes. However, I didn't really care much for the taste & was looking for some suggestions of some strains that might be more tolerant.

Thanks again for the replies!
-joe

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Bruinwar

Thanks for your replies Carolyn & efisakov.

Efisakov: part of the War on Disease this year will include pest control. What I am looking for is a good disease resist... uhem... tolerance tomato. Purple Cherokee is a great tasting tomato but failed completely for me two years in a row. They died before any fruit ripened.

Carolyn: Although we've had some very cold winters, the pathogens appear to have survived in the soil & likely was what you refer to as "splash-back infection". I was warned from my first year the area was loaded with (specifically) Septoria Leaf Spot. However, these infections could very well be airborne, not sure how I would be able to tell. They infections do start from the bottom of the plants. From what the symptoms looked like, it's a combination of problems, some fungal, some bacterial.

The plots that I rent are part of a huge garden plot area & the spread of disease was rampant the last couple years. As I said I have a War on Disease plan started & I plan on getting feedback in the disease forum.

My original post might of been better in the disease/pest forum.

One variety that did OK last year was Gurney's Orange Whoppers (a hybrid). They were all I had for canning whole tomatoes. However, I didn't really care much for the taste & was looking for some suggestions of some strains that might be more tolerant.

Thanks again for the replies!
-joe

Yes, it sounds like splash back infection to me as well since it affects the lower leaves first and then moves up the plant.
So to prevent that it helps to turn over the soil completely and deeply, not with a tiller, but with a shovel, if that's allowed in your rented garden plot.

Foliage diseases that can affect a plant from the air and rain almost always infect the foliage near the top of the plant, not the bottom as with splashback infection.

And yes, foliage diseases ARE more prevalent in rented space b'c you are close to other folks tomatoes and you have no idea if they raised them from seed or bought plants.

And no reason that I can see for you posting the same as here in the Pest and Disease Forum, b'c you're here now, and are actually more likely to get responses in General Discussion than you would in the Disease Forum, at least IMO. But yes, in the future it might be best for everyone to keep all threads having to do with diseases and pests in that Forum.

Finally, hybrids don't act any differently from non-hybrids when it comes to foliage diseases. I said in my first post that there were some exceptions, that has to do with Early Blight where a few varieties have low tolerance, but it's of use only to the commercial grower who can then spray maybe every 7 to 8 days as opposed to maybe 3 to5 days, but that's a HUGE money savings for the large scale commercial folks who have out acres and acres of tomatoes.

Carolyn

[joseph]

Originally Posted by Bruinwar

Again, taste is the most important virtue.

Funny how different people value different things from their tomatoes... To me, the most important virtue is the ability to reproduce in my garden. I'll always choose a nasty tasting tomato that thrives here over a great tasting one that barely gets by.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by joseph

Funny how different people value different things from their tomatoes... To me, the most important virtue is the ability to reproduce in my garden. I'll always choose a nasty tasting tomato that thrives here over a great tasting one that barely gets by.

Yes Joseph, you've told us here and elsewhere that many times but I have to think you know you are in the minority.

Carolyn

[Gardeneer]

For soil disease, I have heard a lot about Big Beef (hybrid). Other itself being tasty and productive, it is also used in grafting. It is worth checking it out.

Gardeneer

[Stvrob]

Originally Posted by efisakov

Hi, Joe. Few years ago I discovered spider mites in my garden. Never knew about them. It was not a deceases that were responsible for my tomato death, it was spider mites. Read about them. They are almost invisible.
Now I try to prevent their spreading. It is not easy to get read of them put very possible to keep in check.

This is what one of TV member suggested, it is organic and worked for me.
RobinB: “…diatomaceous earth and an empty spray bottle, put one T of DE into a 32oz bottle, fill with water and shake until the DE dissolves. Then spray those plants with spider mites. When it dries you will see a white film on the plant. Reapply after it rains. ”

About tasty tomatoes, there are so many. Have you tried Cherokee Purple for start. People say that it has a staple taste. Many compare the taste of tomato to Cherokee Purple. If it is as good as CP than it is worth of growing. Black cherry is another one I grow every year. There are so many more.

Is diatomaceous earth even soluble in water?

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

For soil disease, I have heard a lot about Big Beef (hybrid). Other itself being tasty and productive, it is also used in grafting. It is worth checking it out.

Gardeneer

But it certainly looks like the original poster is dealing with foliage diseases, not soil diseases.

Yes, Big Beef F1 has been used for grafting for soilborne diseases and they are given in the following link:

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-7958-big-beef.aspx

Lower right above gives the tolerances and only race 2 of Fusarium when race 3 has become much more of a problem, TMV which is no longer a large problem anywhere except in large commercial greenhouse operations where plants are raised for shipping out.

The other variety that I mentioned here recently that Dr David Francis also found was good for root stock was Celebrity F1 and here's the johnny's link for that one<

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-7952-celebrity.aspx

Also an AAS winner as is Big Beef F1 and about the same disease tolerances.

I think most would agree that Big Beef F1 tastes better than Celebrity but as used as rootstock only, taste doesn't matter.

Carolyn

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by Stvrob

Is diatomaceous earth even soluble in water?

Stvrob, I do not think so.
The idea is to cover leaves with DE residue that would affect the mites. Just shake the spray bottle before applying.

[PhilaGardener]

Yes, the idea is to resuspend the DE before spraying. It is a natural form of finely divided silica, the fossilized remains of diatoms so it is not soluble in water.

[Fusion_power]

Get seed of Big Beef X Eva Purple Ball. It is a stabilized OP that has good tolerance of foliage disease. You may be having problems with Fusarium. If so, get one of the hybrids with F1, F2, and F3 tolerance.

[Irv Wiseguy]

I've always had good success with Champion. It was listed as VFFNT for disease resistance and I like its size and the way it tastes. I found an old pack of Champion with a few seeds in it so I decided to grow one this year in an Earthbox. So far it has a bunch of flowers on it and looks healthy.

Irv

[b54red]

I agree with Carolyn that you are probably dealing with foliage diseases and spraying every week with Daconil will help tremendously but if they are really bad in the area some will get started on your plants despite good prevention practices. When that happens I use the diluted bleach spray and it works wonders against the diseases on the plant; but it must be used early to be most effective. When first signs of disease appear spray the plant from top to bottom including the undersides of the leaves. A few hours later or the next day reapply your fungicide for prevention.

I live in an area rampant with both soil borne diseases and foliage diseases and have found few heirloom varieties that show much tolerance for either. I have noticed that Virginia Sweet is less susceptible to most of the foliage diseases and Neves Azorean Red has some good tolerance for some of the soil borne problems. Big Beef f1 is an excellent variety with fairly good taste in the hybrids and it has some tolerance for both. Bella Rosa is also a good tasting hybrid with similar resistance.

Bill