Bacterial Wilt very early

b54red · March 18, 2012

Went out today and found one of my tomatoes planted a little over a week ago dead of Bacterial Wilt. It also looks as if another one has it too and will probably die by tomorrow evening. This is usually a big problem when I am setting out plants from late April through September; but I have never seen it this early in the year. I guess this is the result of a very warm winter with a lot of rain. I assume this also means my usual Fusarium Wilt problem will be even worse than most years. I can't wait to see how the pests and foliage diseases are going to be this year.

travis · March 18, 2012

You might want to try Neptune and Florida 7514, both determinate/red fruited, and bacterial wilt resistant.

Dave1337 · March 24, 2012

b54red,

You might want to rotate the planting area each year. This year I am planting corn in the location where I planted my tomatoes last year. If you just keep planting in the same location... the soil contains remnants of the root system from the previous years crop. Unfortunately those old root systems harbor bacteria that has been munching all winter long.

I generally put all of the leaves and debris left over from the winter into my 7 long tomato rows at an average of about 2 feet deep and set it on fire to burn out the planting area. Some might say that this does not help much because the bacterial wilt lives deep in the soil. But I disagree. While I agree that the burning does not kill all of the bacteria... I believe it does give the tomatoes a head-start which is exactly what I want. Even if it only gives my plants 7-10 more days... its well worth it because its generally at the end of the season when the plants eventually succumb to the bacterial assault.

b54red · March 24, 2012

I have raised beds and all but one or two have tomatoes every year. I just don't have the luxury of rotating so now that the soil has warmed up I will pretreat each spot with a dilute bleach solution a day or two before planting. I did that for the last two summers for my later plantings and reduced the incidence of bacterial wilt by about 80%. It also slowed the rate at which fusarium started working on my plants.

March 18, 2012	#1
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	Bacterial Wilt very early Went out today and found one of my tomatoes planted a little over a week ago dead of Bacterial Wilt. It also looks as if another one has it too and will probably die by tomorrow evening. This is usually a big problem when I am setting out plants from late April through September; but I have never seen it this early in the year. I guess this is the result of a very warm winter with a lot of rain. I assume this also means my usual Fusarium Wilt problem will be even worse than most years. I can't wait to see how the pests and foliage diseases are going to be this year.

March 18, 2012	#2
travis Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Evansville, IN Posts: 2,984	You might want to try Neptune and Florida 7514, both determinate/red fruited, and bacterial wilt resistant.

March 24, 2012	#3
Dave1337 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Louisiana Posts: 15	b54red, You might want to rotate the planting area each year. This year I am planting corn in the location where I planted my tomatoes last year. If you just keep planting in the same location... the soil contains remnants of the root system from the previous years crop. Unfortunately those old root systems harbor bacteria that has been munching all winter long. I generally put all of the leaves and debris left over from the winter into my 7 long tomato rows at an average of about 2 feet deep and set it on fire to burn out the planting area. Some might say that this does not help much because the bacterial wilt lives deep in the soil. But I disagree. While I agree that the burning does not kill all of the bacteria... I believe it does give the tomatoes a head-start which is exactly what I want. Even if it only gives my plants 7-10 more days... its well worth it because its generally at the end of the season when the plants eventually succumb to the bacterial assault.