Fusarium and Seeds

gflynn · March 4, 2009

Tomato Folks,

Is Fusariam transfered to the seeds of plants? Should seeds from plants that died of this or other systemic diseases be scraped?

I am not sure if my plant had Fusariam Wilt but it is still an interesting question anyway

What do you think?

Greg

**carolyn137** · March 4, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by gflynn

Tomato Folks,

Is Fusariam transfered to the seeds of plants? Should seeds from plants that died of this or other systemic diseases be scraped?

I am not sure if my plant had Fusariam Wilt but it is still an interesting question anyway

What do you think?

Greg

''

Greg, there are many tomato diseases that can be seed borne, ranging for the foliage disease pathogens such as the two fungal ones, Early Blight and Septoria Leaf Spot and two bacterial ones Bacterial Speck and Bacterial Spot, to systemic ones such as Fusarium and others.

Without typing a lot I'm linking you to an article about tomato seed production/diseases done by Dr. Jeff McCormack, the former owner of SESE and I'll let you read about seed borne diseases which starts, I think on page 12 but good info before that.

Methods to disinfect seeds and lots of other good information are in this article. And the list of known seed borne diseases is not complete but should give you a good idea of their prevalence.

http://www.savingourseed.org/pdf/Tom...onVer_2pt6.pdf

gflynn · March 5, 2009

Carolyn,

Thanks, it's a good article. It seems that they don't want folks to keep seed if there is any suspision. That makes sense because keeping things clean in an environment where their is disease could be difficult. The article seems to imply, however, that the disease would be on the outside of the seed and not the inside necessarily. I am not sure though.

I am going to dig up one of my gardens and put the dirt in a trash can with some boiling water and keep it at 120 for 5 minutes and then dump it back in the hole, one trash can at a time. I have beer brewing equipment so I can boil lots of water fast!

This may give the garden a good year. I lack space so all of it is precious.

Greg

March 4, 2009	#1
gflynn MAGTAG™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Gaithersburg, MD Posts: 437	Fusarium and Seeds Tomato Folks, Is Fusariam transfered to the seeds of plants? Should seeds from plants that died of this or other systemic diseases be scraped? I am not sure if my plant had Fusariam Wilt but it is still an interesting question anyway What do you think? Greg

March 5, 2009	#3
gflynn MAGTAG™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Gaithersburg, MD Posts: 437	Carolyn, Thanks, it's a good article. It seems that they don't want folks to keep seed if there is any suspision. That makes sense because keeping things clean in an environment where their is disease could be difficult. The article seems to imply, however, that the disease would be on the outside of the seed and not the inside necessarily. I am not sure though. I am going to dig up one of my gardens and put the dirt in a trash can with some boiling water and keep it at 120 for 5 minutes and then dump it back in the hole, one trash can at a time. I have beer brewing equipment so I can boil lots of water fast! This may give the garden a good year. I lack space so all of it is precious. Greg Last edited by gflynn; March 5, 2009 at 06:12 PM.