What is this?

duajones · August 17, 2007

It may be normal but I dont recall seeing this before

dcarch · August 17, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by duajones

It may be normal but I dont recall seeing this before

"Adventurous roots" sometimes related to certain blight condition

. (I am not the expert on this)

dcarch

shelleybean · August 17, 2007

I personally don't think it has anything to do with blight. I think it's just normal. If you had let your plants sprawl on the ground, they may have rooted there. If you stake or cage them, they just get those little bumps and nothing ever becomes of them. BUT, I'm no expert either. I just know I see them on my plants all the time and they're no biggie for me.

dcarch · August 17, 2007

BACTERIUM: Pseudomonas corrugata

INFECTS: Stems and occasionally fruit
SYMPTOMS: May start as chlorosis of young leaves, followed by wilting. Lower parts of infected stems may show brown lesions on the outside. The best diagnostic characteristic is the hollow or "laddered" pith revealed when a longitudinal cut is made in the lower stem. Profuse development of adventitious roots takes place in the area of moderate to severe pith degradation.
PATHOGEN SPREAD: The bacterium is probably soilborne. Patterns in the field are more or less random.
FAVORABLE CONDITIONS: The disease is favored by cool night temperatures and high humidity.

dcarch

**carolyn137** · August 18, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcarch

"Adventurous roots" sometimes related to certain blight condition

. (I am not the expert on this)

dcarch

Close but no cigar.

They're called adventitious ( not aventurous, but in a way they are that) roots or root primordia and are quite normal on lower main stems. If they come in contact with soil they send out roots.

There's one disease which has been associated with them if they ascend upward on stems in greater numbers and aren't found just on the lower part. I'd have to look up that disease, but it isn't a common one.

**carolyn137** · August 18, 2007

Sorry to repeat what you posted dcarch, but I didn't even see that post before I started mine.

Suze · August 18, 2007

Agreed that adventitious roots (also sometimes referred to as root initials or root primordia) are, generally speaking, perfectly normal and nothing to be concerned about. Duane, if your plants look otherwise healthy, I wouldn't be worried. Some years I see a lot of root primordia forming, other years, not so much.

There is sometimes a cited relationship (or so google says) between root primordia and certain bacterial ** diseases, which might have been what dcarch was referring to in his second post in the thread. But I'm not aware of blight or other fungal diseases playing a factor.

** My limited personal experience with this is I had a sick plant this year that I strongly believe to have been infected with bacterial wilt. One of the things the plant did rather early in the season is develop lots of root primordia several feet up the main stem (but not towards the bottom), and even some way out on branches. That wasn't my sole diagnostic criteria though, I was seeing blackening on the plant, as well as some hollowed out pithy stems after I pulled it.

One of the sites which helped me to arrive at my diagnosis also happened to mention about the primordia way up the plant as a possible sign. I did not save the link, and have since been unable to re-google and find the same site I was looking at.

August 17, 2007	#3
shelleybean Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Virginia Beach Posts: 2,648	I personally don't think it has anything to do with blight. I think it's just normal. If you had let your plants sprawl on the ground, they may have rooted there. If you stake or cage them, they just get those little bumps and nothing ever becomes of them. BUT, I'm no expert either. I just know I see them on my plants all the time and they're no biggie for me. __________________ Michele

August 17, 2007	#4
dcarch Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: NY Posts: 2,618	BACTERIUM: Pseudomonas corrugata INFECTS: Stems and occasionally fruit SYMPTOMS: May start as chlorosis of young leaves, followed by wilting. Lower parts of infected stems may show brown lesions on the outside. The best diagnostic characteristic is the hollow or "laddered" pith revealed when a longitudinal cut is made in the lower stem. Profuse development of adventitious roots takes place in the area of moderate to severe pith degradation. PATHOGEN SPREAD: The bacterium is probably soilborne. Patterns in the field are more or less random. FAVORABLE CONDITIONS: The disease is favored by cool night temperatures and high humidity. dcarch __________________ tomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomato matomato tomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomato matomato tomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomatomato matomato

August 18, 2007	#6
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	Sorry to repeat what you posted dcarch, but I didn't even see that post before I started mine. __________________ Carolyn

August 18, 2007	#7
Suze Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Texas Posts: 3,027	Agreed that adventitious roots (also sometimes referred to as root initials or root primordia) are, generally speaking, perfectly normal and nothing to be concerned about. Duane, if your plants look otherwise healthy, I wouldn't be worried. Some years I see a lot of root primordia forming, other years, not so much. There is sometimes a cited relationship (or so google says) between root primordia and certain bacterial diseases, which might have been what dcarch was referring to in his second post in the thread. But I'm not aware of blight or other fungal diseases playing a factor. My limited personal experience with this is I had a sick plant this year that I strongly believe to have been infected with bacterial wilt. One of the things the plant did rather early in the season is develop lots of root primordia several feet up the main stem (but not towards the bottom), and even some way out on branches. That wasn't my sole diagnostic criteria though, I was seeing blackening on the plant, as well as some hollowed out pithy stems after I pulled it. One of the sites which helped me to arrive at my diagnosis also happened to mention about the primordia way up the plant as a possible sign. I did not save the link, and have since been unable to re-google and find the same site I was looking at.