Varieties and foliage diseases

[b54red]

Since I have narrowed down the number of varieties that I plant I have really noticed the past couple of years that some varieties seem to be much more susceptible to some diseases and conditions. Since I scatter my different varieties all through the garden it has really become clear that some varieties suffer more than others.

I'll give a few examples and would like to hear from others as to whether they have noticed the same things with some varieties.

I have seen two varieties that seem to fall prey to Early Blight much faster and more aggressively this season and they are Dester and Red Barn. I have multiple plants and all of them have EB much worse than the plants around them.

Extreme leaf curl seems to hit Royal Hillbilly very badly. I have five of them scattered in the garden and four of them have terrible leaf curl while no other variety in the garden is suffering from this phenomena.

Of course Gray Mold is really hitting all my black tomatoes with the rain and high humidity of recent days but JD's Special C Tex always seems to be the first to show the symptoms in recent years.

I haven't had enough of any other diseases yet to see if this kind of variety specific event occurs with things like Septoria but I'm sure I'll get the chance as the season progresses.

Bill

[Bipetual]

I will be awaiting your report!

I would also be interested in whether or not you observe any difference with potato leaved varieties vs. regular leaves.

[RayR]

What goes on in Bill's garden is not representative of what goes on in everybody else's garden around the world. He has more disease pressures than I care to experience.

Potato leaved varieties vs. regular leaves? I've not seen any difference as far as Septoria in my garden other than some varieties of either leaf type tend to show infection earlier than others.

[Bipetual]

Ray, I've been reading about what goes on in Bill's garden, and you're absolutely right! But if something does well for him septoria or early blight wise, I am definitely interested in hearing about it.


Carolyn is in the same zone as I am and she observed potato leaved plants seeming to tolerate foliage diseases better, so that's the only reason I asked about that. Thank you very much for the feedback!

[Tracydr]

My dwarfs, especially Iditarod Red and Yukon Quest, are showing a lot of early blight. The blacks and greens have a bit of mold.
There are a few varieties that have what I think is powdery mildew but I'm not sure.

[Starlight]

Bill... Since we so close with environmental conditions this is what I am having trouble with.

Aunt Lou's Underground Railroad. Two grown plants that I have of it are in bad shape. Soon as I can get a tomato then they will go. I have one smaller one from a topping that now is doing beautiful so far. I have it getting a bit of shade and I think that shade is what is really making a difference in how much better it looks than the other two plants.

Brimmer... Major problems with it. It is going to be bald soon at the rate I have been having to pull leaves.

All my PL's are struggling. They probably would have bit the dust by now, but I think it is the Tomato Tone that has kept them going. They just look all wilty and just a few spots on them.



Now all my black's so far are doing great. We had bad pop up storm early this afternoon and so I ran out and picked Black Plums that are about half way through the blush stage. Never having seen a black before it sure is different seeing it go from green to a mahogany right now.

Rebel Yell is a PL and it struggles here during the heat. I lose alot of leaves on it, but soon as the temps cool even just a bit, it goes like crazy and as long as I keep bottom leaves trimmed off til that time, it will produce beautifully and foliage turns healthy.

Texas Star is holding up good. Grew it last year and it made pretty tomatoes.

I tried to grow Hillbilly here a couple years back and it did terrible for me. It got tossed.

Ones so far that are really beautiful still are Belize Pink Heart and Barao Road and Black Ethiopian and Berkley's Tie Dye.

I think that without using RayR's suggestion of the Tomato Tone, I would have lost a whole lot of plants. Other than the flea beetles, I haven't had any bug problems. Think I have only found two stink bugs the whole season. I do know that even though some of the plants are looking rough now with the heat and humidity, heck I am barely surviving in this heat, I have some of the prettiest tomatoes growing. No blemishes on them. No bug or worm holes.

Between your bleach spray method and Ray's TT I am actually having a good year. Better than I ever have.

If you haven't grown Mexico, you should. It is one that stands up to our hot temps and looks good doing it.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Bipetual

Ray, I've been reading about what goes on in Bill's garden, and you're absolutely right! But if something does well for him septoria or early blight wise, I am definitely interested in hearing about it.


Carolyn is in the same zone as I am and she observed potato leaved plants seeming to tolerate foliage diseases better, so that's the only reason I asked about that. Thank you very much for the feedback!

The first year I grew Virginia Sweet was also the rainiest June and July that I have ever seen and as a result Septoria was rampant. Most of my plants had no leaves on the lowest 6 feet of the plant by the time August and drier weather arrived. The one exception was Virginia Sweet. It did have some spots but very minor with full green foliage. If the rain keeps up like it has been this week I'm sure I will get to find out if that was just a fluke or not but since I had several Virginia Sweets scattered in the garden I think it was the variety that just has more resistance. It makes big beautiful tomatoes on a middling sized plant that has very dense foliage so it needs some pruning to keep it more open to stop aphids from being a problem. I also like it better than any of the other so called sweet tomatoes because it has more balance to the flavor and not just sweet.

Bill

[jmsieglaff]

I have not grown a ton of varieties like others here. Here's what I've noticed related to Septoria in my garden, that's the one fungal disease I battle each year. I'm mainly commenting on things that stick out as good or bad.

Black Krim, Sungold, Golden Monarch, my Experiment Yellow PL Cherry, Vince's Haze (dwarf in development) show some resistance and a fair amount of tolerance (spreads slower, still sets fruit).

Wisconsin 55, dwarf Lucky Swirl PL (in development of dwarf project), Celebrity, and to some extent Purple Bumblebee tended to suffer from more rapid spread and eventually stopped setting fruit.

So far this year I have two plants just starting to get Septoria, but I've pruned aggressively and sprayed (Mikado black and Eva Purple Ball x Big Beef F?).

My Wisconsin 55 is growing in a different spot and does not have any signs yet at least.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Starlight

Bill... Since we so close with environmental conditions this is what I am having trouble with.

Aunt Lou's Underground Railroad. Two grown plants that I have of it are in bad shape. Soon as I can get a tomato then they will go. I have one smaller one from a topping that now is doing beautiful so far. I have it getting a bit of shade and I think that shade is what is really making a difference in how much better it looks than the other two plants.

Brimmer... Major problems with it. It is going to be bald soon at the rate I have been having to pull leaves.

All my PL's are struggling. They probably would have bit the dust by now, but I think it is the Tomato Tone that has kept them going. They just look all wilty and just a few spots on them.



Now all my black's so far are doing great. We had bad pop up storm early this afternoon and so I ran out and picked Black Plums that are about half way through the blush stage. Never having seen a black before it sure is different seeing it go from green to a mahogany right now.

Rebel Yell is a PL and it struggles here during the heat. I lose alot of leaves on it, but soon as the temps cool even just a bit, it goes like crazy and as long as I keep bottom leaves trimmed off til that time, it will produce beautifully and foliage turns healthy.

Texas Star is holding up good. Grew it last year and it made pretty tomatoes.

I tried to grow Hillbilly here a couple years back and it did terrible for me. It got tossed.

Ones so far that are really beautiful still are Belize Pink Heart and Barao Road and Black Ethiopian and Berkley's Tie Dye.

I think that without using RayR's suggestion of the Tomato Tone, I would have lost a whole lot of plants. Other than the flea beetles, I haven't had any bug problems. Think I have only found two stink bugs the whole season. I do know that even though some of the plants are looking rough now with the heat and humidity, heck I am barely surviving in this heat, I have some of the prettiest tomatoes growing. No blemishes on them. No bug or worm holes.

Between your bleach spray method and Ray's TT I am actually having a good year. Better than I ever have.

If you haven't grown Mexico, you should. It is one that stands up to our hot temps and looks good doing it.

Starlight I recommend that you put in some raised beds if you can and use the drop line method of supporting the plants. My son tried it for the first time this year and he has been amazed at how much better his tomatoes have done and he is in Mobile which is even more humid than here if that is possible. He also started using TTF for the first time.

Before I plant in a bed I prepare it by adding as much compost as I can, alfalfa pellets, and cottonseed meal. I put in a lot of the cottonseed meal and about half the amount of alfalfa pellets. I probably put about 10 lbs per ten feet of bed and then mix it into the top 4 inches of soil. I then wet it down good and let it sit for at least a week before planting to allow the meals to start breaking down. The day before I plant I sometimes soak the bed with a high nitrogen liquid fertilizer to prevent nitrogen deprivation from the alfalfa pellets breaking down. I only do that if I am planting within a week or so of adding the meals to the soil.

Before I plant I build my supports for my plants and lay down a heavy layer of cypress mulch which I pull aside just enough to stick the tomatoes in and then clip them to the drop lines. Then after the first two weeks I start giving them weekly doses of TTF starting with 2 tsp per gallon and once they get about 3 ft tall and blooming good I raise the level to one TBS to the gallon. Of course when it is raining like it is this week then they just have to make do with the organic matter that was added before planting because I am not adding any more water right now.

I start applying Daconil to my seedlings when I first bring them outside and then again every week until I have to fight a specific disease that might require something else like a copper spray. The Daconil does a great job keeping the plants free of those early diseases like Early Blight unless I'm getting too much rain to keep it on the plants. Once I do see a disease that is starting I use the bleach spray immediately and the next day follow up with either copper or Daconil depending upon the type of disease that is giving me the most problems. Then I usually alternate preventive sprays every week or two.

Even with the heavy mulch under the plants I try to keep all the foliage near the ground clipped off in order to delay the outset of diseases. This is critical down here unless we are having very uncharacteristic weather with low humidity.

Bill

[RayR]

Originally Posted by Bipetual

Ray, I've been reading about what goes on in Bill's garden, and you're absolutely right! But if something does well for him septoria or early blight wise, I am definitely interested in hearing about it.


Carolyn is in the same zone as I am and she observed potato leaved plants seeming to tolerate foliage diseases better, so that's the only reason I asked about that. Thank you very much for the feedback!

Well sure I'm interested in hearing about it too, but Bill is Alabama and I'm in Western NY. I don't have anywhere near the number of disease issues that Bill has and different environmental conditions too. I really only have Septoria as my sole tomato pathogen challenge. Carolyn lives in the opposite end of the state from me, if she say's PL's tolerate foliage diseases better in her garden, I have not seen that in mine. For instance, two years in a row growing Chocolate Stripes (a PL) it is the first beefsteak type tomato plants to show Septoria infection and it got it far worse last year than most any other PL or RL. Sure some varieties show better initial resistance in my garden but if unchecked Septoria will wipe them all out regardless, RL, PL, OP or hybrids. I have not been able draw any parallels to leaf type and disease resistance, at least in my garden with Septoria With other diseases I don't know. Every disease may be very different in the way they infect a plant, the way they are able to defeat the various resistance pathways in the plant. Early Blight and Septoria are two very different fungal pathogens, Septoria is far more advanced in the way it is able to neutralize the defense mechanisms of a plant.

[Starlight]

Originally Posted by b54red

Starlight I recommend that you put in some raised beds if you can and use the drop line method of supporting the plants. My son tried it for the first time this year and he has been amazed at how much better his tomatoes have done and he is in Mobile which is even more humid than here if that is possible. He also started using TTF for the first time.

Bill

Thanks for all the information Bill. I copied it to a word document so I will have it for later.

Way late, but I just figured out this week where I could try and do a drop line method so I could get some more air circulation. I took half the heavy shade off my shade house and ran lines from one end to the other and moved plants and started stringing them up. Still have more to go, but I get dizzy trying to string up in this weather. Wish I would have thought of it sooner.

Doing a drop line sure beats trying to find stakes tall enough to tie them too and having the winds knock everything down.

Looks funny to see tomato plants growing up above the roof of the shade house.



We're scheduled to have rain everyday the rest of the week, so I am waiting to see what else may get infected. I may have more to add to your list here, though I hope not.

I hope other names do get added to the list. It will be a big help. A body can only grow and maintain so many plants at one time and it will be nice to be able to skip over some of the more problematic ones. My big thing this year was to prove that heirlooms could be grown in the South so I could introduce more folks to growing them along with their hybrids as you know very few will give up their Big Boys and Better Boys and Early Girls. Don't even try and pry them out of their hands and gardens.

[Bipetual]

Originally Posted by b54red

The first year I grew Virginia Sweet was also the rainiest June and July that I have ever seen and as a result Septoria was rampant. Most of my plants had no leaves on the lowest 6 feet of the plant by the time August and drier weather arrived. The one exception was Virginia Sweet. It did have some spots but very minor with full green foliage. If the rain keeps up like it has been this week I'm sure I will get to find out if that was just a fluke or not but since I had several Virginia Sweets scattered in the garden I think it was the variety that just has more resistance. It makes big beautiful tomatoes on a middling sized plant that has very dense foliage so it needs some pruning to keep it more open to stop aphids from being a problem. I also like it better than any of the other so called sweet tomatoes because it has more balance to the flavor and not just sweet.

Bill

Thanks, Bill. I looked at that one on Tatiana's and it looks like some people in the midwest have had good results with it, which is promising.

[Bipetual]

Originally Posted by RayR

Well sure I'm interested in hearing about it too, but Bill is Alabama and I'm in Western NY. I don't have anywhere near the number of disease issues that Bill has and different environmental conditions too. I really only have Septoria as my sole tomato pathogen challenge. Carolyn lives in the opposite end of the state from me, if she say's PL's tolerate foliage diseases better in her garden, I have not seen that in mine. For instance, two years in a row growing Chocolate Stripes (a PL) it is the first beefsteak type tomato plants to show Septoria infection and it got it far worse last year than most any other PL or RL. Sure some varieties show better initial resistance in my garden but if unchecked Septoria will wipe them all out regardless, RL, PL, OP or hybrids. I have not been able draw any parallels to leaf type and disease resistance, at least in my garden with Septoria With other diseases I don't know. Every disease may be very different in the way they infect a plant, the way they are able to defeat the various resistance pathways in the plant. Early Blight and Septoria are two very different fungal pathogens, Septoria is far more advanced in the way it is able to neutralize the defense mechanisms of a plant.

Ray, I didn't mean to sound as if I thought there were plants that were actually immune to either septoria or early blight. Even resistant hybrids like Iron Lady come with disclaimers that they aren't immune, right? I'm sorry I wasn't more clear in my wording. Thank you for clarifying, though. I appreciate this site so much because more experienced growers are so generous in sharing their knowledge.

[ChrisK]

I'll add my anecdote. This year I am fighting all manner of things with the rain, heat and humidity (I'm actually pretty poor at telling the difference between many of the foliar pathogens). Red Centiflor Hypertress is showing no signs of any disease (including Fusarium) so far, while others planted next to it are.

[b54red]

Despite suffering from an excess of EB on both Dester and Red Barn I have no plans to stop growing them. Dester is one of my tastiest tomatoes this year and is in the middle for production. Red Barn is a producer of monster fruits and is one of the best tasting of the red tomatoes. The biggest downside that I have seen with the EB is the sun scald that can happen due to the loss of so much foliage before the fruit is ripe. Red Barn seems particularly sensitive to sun scald and I have had to throw a few away but it is such a heavy producer that I still have gotten a goodl number of huge fruits from them each of them. Besides producing large numbers of very large fruits Red Barn produces very few of the misshapen fruits so common with very large varieties.

Bill