Tolerance to Septoria leaf spot and Early Blight

[frogsleap farm]

Dr Martha Mutschler-Chu, a tomato breeder at Cornell University, recently released breeding lines with a novel combination of genes for resistance to Septoria leaf spot, Early blight, Late blight, and Bacterial Spot. We had these lines in our WI nursery this year, and without any fungaicde treatment, disease pressure for SLS and EB was severe. The Cornell lines held up very well, significantly better than the rest of the breeding nursery. I believe this will prove to be a significant breakthrough improvement in tomato plant health and we are excited to have a breeding agreement with Cornell to utilize this new technology.

[Greatgardens]

"Septoria" always catches my eye. Excellent news! I wonder how long it will take to show up in any F1 releases? The Mountaineer series (from Southern Exposure) did very well for me this past summer -- best I've ever seen, but then grown only one season by me.

[Milan HP]

Originally Posted by Greatgardens

"Septoria" always catches my eye. Excellent news! I wonder how long it will take to show up in any F1 releases? The Mountaineer series (from Southern Exposure) did very well for me this past summer -- best I've ever seen, but then grown only one season by me.

Hello Greatgardens,

I am afraid that my Mountaineer Delight did not meet my expectations, totally unlike M. Pride. It's true the conditions matter a lot, so I am only speaking for myself. Both of them were exposed to Septoria, Alternaria (I guess) and Phythophthora. MP is still standing high and proud even today, but MD packed it up a month ago. I found no Phyt. affected fruits on MP, but either plant of MD produced one. Neither is fully resistant to Septoria, but MP fights it much better in my garden. And I found the differences in their tastes too small to compensate for vigor and resistance. I'll try them both next year again to see if it was just coincidence.
I really look forward to the first truly Septoria resistant varieties as Sep has been a serious (one of quite a few) problem of mine for years and I can't find a way of getting rid of it. True, it's not as bad a killer as Phyt. but it's bad enough.
Milan HP

[Labradors2]

Looking forward to the availability of Septoria-resistant yet tasty varieties .

Linda

[Fred Hempel]

Are these lines tasty?

[Fusion_power]

Fred, I think I can safely state that no breeding line with high disease tolerance is going to be tasty. That does not mean it can't be crossed with something to improve flavor.

[frogsleap farm]

The Cornell donor line for SLS tolerance is late and not very tasty, but perfectly suitable for breeding an improved SLS parent with improved disease resistance and very good flavor. The gene for SLS tolerance, and most disease resistance genes in tomato, come from tomato wild relatives. There is always considerable breeding required to combine the new disease resistance trait with the numerous other desirable traits (flavor included) we all want to see in new tomato varieties. I am confident this challenge with SLS tolerance will be accomplished pretty quickly.

[Greatgardens]

Hi Milan-
Sorry to hear that M. Delight didn't do so well for you. I only grew M. Pride. "Pleased as punch" with it. It is still producing, but the plant is looking a bit ragged now. It still has good foliage cover, but is looking somewhat yellowed. My only plant looking better currently is Bodacious F1. I will definitely grow M. Pride next year. It was one of my only two real "winners" this season.

[Milan HP]

Originally Posted by Greatgardens

Hi Milan-
Sorry to hear that M. Delight didn't do so well for you. I only grew M. Pride. "Pleased as punch" with it. It is still producing, but the plant is looking a bit ragged now. It still has good foliage cover, but is looking somewhat yellowed. My only plant looking better currently is Bodacious F1. I will definitely grow M. Pride next year. It was one of my only two real "winners" this season.

By coincidence I've just finished taking seeds out of M. Pride. I was afraid I wouldn't have enough of them.
Yes, both Mountaineers were much lighter green compared to all my other varieties. I had 7 plants altogether without an exception. And the color got even lighter in late summer and early autumn. They were very yellow.
Milan HP

[Labradors2]

Milan, Mountain Pride is a hybrid .

Linda

[Milan HP]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

Milan, Mountain Pride is a hybrid .

Linda

Hello Linda,
that's a bit of bad news to me. I've been told it isn't. Never mind, I've grown 3 F2 varieties quite successfully for 3 years. Kumato being one of them. So I reckon I'll take my chances. For me, the most important feature is their lb resistance. If they have 3 genes, I believe the probability of losing all of them is low. Other changes don't matter so much. Or I'll try to get F1 seeds somehow. I got Galahad and Defiant this year, so it shouldn't be much of a problem.

Thanks for opening my eyes.
Milan HP

[Labradors2]

Milan,

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I hope that, the F2's will be fine if you don't find any F1's for next season .

Linda

[atilgan]

Do you mean mountaineer pride. That one is op.

[Fusion_power]

I was afraid there would be confusion. Mountain Pride is an F1 variety released by NCSU. Mountaineer Pride is an open pollinated variety from the West Virginia program. In this case, the discussion is about Mountaineer Delight and Mountaineer Pride which are both open pollinated.

[atilgan]

There is a disease in our community garden I cannot identify. I planted Big Beef, Galahad and several other disease resistant hibrits this year hoping one would survive but none did. They mention a mutated version of mosaic virus. It could be it.