Can blight be passed on through seed.

[mike32844]

I have tried about every remedy that I could read about including moving my garden spot. Using a lot of chemicals gets me a fairly good crop but blight takes its toll before the season is over. I grow heirloom varieties that I have saved seed from for years. Last 3 years have been very wet here in the Ohio Valley of Ky.

[brownrexx]

Early blight overwinters in the soil and the spores can also travel on the wind.

Late Blight does not overwinter in freezing soil but it travels on the wind during the growing season so moving a garden will not help if the spores are present in the air.

Both blights thrive in humid conditions.

What blight are you having trouble with?

[Worth1]

Very wet is not conducive to happy tomato plants the closer to a forest covered in leaves magnifies this greatly.
At least that is my experience.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by brownrexx

Early blight overwinters in the soil and the spores can also travel on the wind.

Late Blight does not overwinter in freezing soil but it travels on the wind during the growing season so moving a garden will not help if the spores are present in the air.

Both blights thrive in humid conditions.

What blight are you having trouble with?

You have asked almost all the questions that I would have posted about including which Specific blight, since some are due to bacteria,some are due to Fungi/molds, and Early Blight can appear anytime during the season.

So one has to plan an attack,and as for me that would be spraying with Daconil. And in some situations using a copper based spray such as Maneb.

Carolyn

[carolyn137]

I just realized that I hadn't answered your major question which was .....can Blight be passed on through seed.

And the answer is yes,especially if the blight is due to Fusarium, of which there are 3 different variants,to name one, but there are other examples as well..

Carolyn

[rhines81]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

I just realized that I hadn't answered your major question which was .....can Blight be passed on through seed.

And the answer is yes,especially if the blight is due to Fusarium, of which there are 3 different variants,to name one, but there are other examples as well..

Carolyn

Interesting!

If you have the time to expand on that, it would be informative -- or perhaps you could point to a few references?

[ContainerTed]

I do preventative spraying for fungus based problems. That means that I spray before any problems are observed. However, sometimes we just can't beat the enemy. I have the luxury of having plenty of room for planting additional plants to insure plenty of fruits. This allows me to pull plants as soon as I determine that the battle is lost. I also burn the garden each and every year.

All of the seeds I harvest are subjected to fermentation and a Clorox rinse to further help the seeds to not be carriers of fungal diseases.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by ContainerTed

I do preventative spraying for fungus based problems. That means that I spray before any problems are observed. However, sometimes we just can't beat the enemy. I have the luxury of having plenty of room for planting additional plants to insure plenty of fruits. This allows me to pull plants as soon as I determine that the battle is lost. I also burn the garden each and every year.

All of the seeds I harvest are subjected to fermentation and a Clorox rinse to further help the seeds to not be carriers of fungal diseases.

True enough as to fermentation and a clorox rinse, but all they do is to remove surface problems but can't do anything for any pathogens found inside the seed. As is true for Fusarium which I mentioned in a post above.

You mentioned fungal diseases but what do you do for bacterial diseases?

Carolyn

[mike32844]

Thanks everyone, Early blight is my main problem. I use Daconil as directed, mulch, stake my plants, and trim all lower leaves, rotate my garden, and ferment my saved seed. I have not treated my seed with Clorox. I grow about 50 plants and get a fairly good crop but blight gets more than a 1/3 of it. I will try using Clorox on my seed before planting this year.

[ContainerTed]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

True enough as to fermentation and a clorox rinse, but all they do is to remove surface problems but can't do anything for any pathogens found inside the seed. As is true for Fusarium which I mentioned in a post above.

You mentioned fungal diseases but what do you do for bacterial diseases?

Carolyn

If I were to detect a bacterial disease, and I've only had one which occurred over at my brother's house, I would isolate the plant and destroy any and all parts of it by taking it in a trash bag up to the burn site we use at the base of the mountain. Any nearby plants would also be removed and destroyed. I have been extremely lucky in not having bacterial problems here at the home site garden. If that changes in the future, I will not allow any products to be released to the rest of the world.

My seeds are the best I can produce and my vigilance is never compromised. I offer seeds to allow folks to try some of the older varieties, and also new ones that "taste good". I firmly believe that those of us who do this cannot relax our responsibility to the gardeners who depend on us to provide quality products. Personally, I want folks to think good thoughts about me and my offerings. After costs, this hobby doesn't generate a lot of profit. If I had to eat on the gains, I'd have to order Meals On Wheels or something.

A bacterial problem here at the home garden would probably shut down my little operation. I even try out what I call suspect seeds up at the house in containers before that variety can be allowed in the main garden. Any that don't measure up are not returned. All pots and other materials are scrubbed each year. Any that are suspect at the end of the season will also cause containers to be discarded.

I hope this answers your question, Carolyn. Simply, I discard anything I don't trust implicitly. And then we scrubbadubdub.

[brownrexx]

Originally Posted by mike32844

Thanks everyone, Early blight is my main problem. I use Daconil as directed, mulch, stake my plants, and trim all lower leaves, rotate my garden, and ferment my saved seed. I have not treated my seed with Clorox. I grow about 50 plants and get a fairly good crop but blight gets more than a 1/3 of it. I will try using Clorox on my seed before planting this year.

Early Blight is a fungus that lives in the soil and can also travel through the air on the wind so I doubt that using Clorox on your seeds will make a difference.

I have noticed that certain varieties in my garden are more prone to Early Blight. The Sun Sugar cherry tomatoes always get it worse than the other varieties. I just keep cutting off the diseased leaves as I see them. I don't use fungicides and I always get a good yield.

Early Blight spores persist in the soil for several years in cold climates and even longer in warm ones. The spores can also overwinter on tomato or potato debris that is not completely composted. I always remove my dead tomato plants from the garden and I do not compost them.The spores can also live and overwinter on weeds like nightshades and horse nettle.

Interestingly we have a small vacation cabin 125 miles from where we live. 2 years ago I made a small raised bed and planted a volunteer tomato from home. I got absolutely no leaf disease of any kind and I didn't even stake the plant. It just laid on the ground. Tomatoes have never been grown here and there are no other gardens nearby. Last year I planted a seedling that I started at home and again, no disease at all. This shows me that it is the soil that has the spores, not the seeds.

[wildcat62]

mike32844, I'm downriver from you & live in the Ohio valley myself. We battle early blight every year just as you do. I alternate spraying daconil & copper fungicide but it still takes over every year. All my friends & neighbors fight the same battle.

[brownrexx]

I read somewhere that spraying a baking soda solution on the plants can help. I have done this on zucchini to prevent powdery mildew and it worked for that. It changes the pH on the leaves and makes it inhospitable for the spores to grow there.

[bower]

As regards garden sanitation for mold, there is one thing that I find makes all the difference, and that is removing spent blossoms, both petal drops and flower drops. They are pretty much mold bombs, and everywhere they drop and touch a leaf or stem, disease will develop. Even removing spent blossoms once a week when pruning and tying up, was enough to prevent mold on the fruit at my friend's farm one summer.. Yes there is some science behind this (long lost ref), there is something in blossoms that promotes mold to germinate and grow, more so than leaves or stems.



I also found that EB which attacks lower leaves on my plants just around the time they are ripening first fruit, was greatly reduced by fertilizing weekly when they started to ripen. It seems that whatever defenses are present in leaves, the plant will withdraw those defenses at the same time they are taking nitrogen from the old leaves to feed the ripening process. They get blighty and it spreads if you don't remove it. Better feeding and they are not so busy sucking it out of their leaves.



OTOH there are varieties I've found to be super susceptible to blight, and sanitation pruning alone means you are constantly at it and basically defoliating the plant, which can't muster any healthy foliage. Those are varieties that don't get invited back a second time here, no matter how delicious. Always looking for a low maintenance tomato... okay, as low as it can be!

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by brownrexx

I read somewhere that spraying a baking soda solution on the plants can help. I have done this on zucchini to prevent powdery mildew and it worked for that. It changes the pH on the leaves and makes it inhospitable for the spores to grow there.

It was Cornell who first suggested using baking soda to prevent powdery mildew.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Corn...&bih=815&dpr=1

I used it only for helping to prevent Powdery Mildew on different varieties of Monarda and I thought it helped.

So if you want to buy the Monarda plants, they are perennials and don't come true from seed,you'll see that different Monarda varieties had descriptions by their names about this.

And yes I also had powdery Mildew problems with zucchini and yellow summer squash,but if I covered the newly raised ones,which I did with those white caps,to protect them,I planted 5 in a circle and one in the middle,I could get fruits off of them before the vines went down with powdery mildew.

Carolyn