Rosella Purple

[Labradors2]

Thanks Sue!

I think she's going to make a big hit with me! Should do well in Ontario too!

Linda

Originally Posted by akgardengirl

Dwarf Arctic Rose is an early tomato. It has set fruit under the indoors lights for me before going out in the greenhouse. It has Alaskan hardiness built in!
Sue B.

[Heritage]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

Here are two more pictures. One is the top of the plant with the flower bud that looks perfectly normal and green. The second is my attempt at a close-up of the "variegation". Despite taking numerous pictures using macro, super macro, flash and no-flash, it was harder than I thought to get a decent close-up pic. This is the best I could manage - sorry.

Linda

Thanks, Linda. Web photos, even at their best, are not a good substitute for actually having the plant in hand, but I will make a recommendation anyway

If you were growing several hundred plants I would recommend you pull the plant, bag it, and put it in the trash. (Actually, I would recommend a workup for the virus diseases of tomato first) The combination of a brittle leaf/stem with a mosaic pattern is generally not a good sign and if I had a plant showing those symptoms I would destroy it.

However, if you only have 4 plants and they have been around each since the seedling stage, then there is a chance they are all already infected IF what you have is one of the mechanically transmitted viruses. Also, there are other, less harmful, conditions/diseases that can cause the same symptoms I see in your photo. So, in your case there probably isn't any advantage to destroying the plant since any harmful cross infection has probably already occurred. However, if you are curious, there is a county extension agency near you that may be helpful in diagnosing the symptoms you are showing. PM me if you want the link to your local agency.

Good luck!
Steve

[Labradors2]

Thanks for telling me Steve. I might have been tempted to take cuttings and risk polluting my whole veggie garden as a result, so that really is most helpful information.

Would it be safe to save seeds assuming that I get any fruit?

I know our county extension agent well, and could take a hike out there with a leaf or two to see what they say.

Rats!
Linda

Originally Posted by Heritage

Thanks, Linda. Web photos, even at their best, are not a good substitute for actually having the plant in hand, but I will make a recommendation anyway

If you were growing several hundred plants I would recommend you pull the plant, bag it, and put it in the trash. (Actually, I would recommend a workup for the virus diseases of tomato first) The combination of a brittle leaf/stem with a mosaic pattern is generally not a good sign and if I had a plant showing those symptoms I would destroy it.

However, if you only have 4 plants and they have been around each since the seedling stage, then there is a chance they are all already infected IF what you have is one of the mechanically transmitted viruses. Also, there are other, less harmful, conditions/diseases that can cause the same symptoms I see in your photo. So, in your case there probably isn't any advantage to destroying the plant since any harmful cross infection has probably already occurred. However, if you are curious, there is a county extension agency near you that may be helpful in diagnosing the symptoms you are showing. PM me if you want the link to your local agency.

Good luck!
Steve

[Heritage]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

Thanks for telling me Steve. I might have been tempted to take cuttings and risk polluting my whole veggie garden as a result, so that really is most helpful information.

Would it be safe to save seeds assuming that I get any fruit?

I know our county extension agent well, and could take a hike out there with a leaf or two to see what they say.

Rats!
Linda

Linda,

No, I wouldn't save seed from any plant that I suspected of having any systemic disease (but it is too early in the process to assume you have a systemic disease)

That is great you know the extension agent, it would be worth a trip to have them look at it. They will be able to give you a more accurate diagnosis and better recommendations than what I can offer without testing or actually seeing the plant. Hopefully, they will diagnose an environmental problem, early insect damage, a true variegation (mutation), or other minor problem and all will be well They may want to see the whole plant, so if the plant isn't too unwieldily, maybe take in the whole thing

Please keep us posted!
Steve

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Heritage

Linda,

No, I wouldn't save seed from any plant that I suspected of having any systemic disease (but it is too early in the process to assume you have a systemic disease)

That is great you know the extension agent, it would be worth a trip to have them look at it. They will be able to give you a more accurate diagnosis and better recommendations than what I can offer without testing or actually seeing the plant. Hopefully, they will diagnose an environmental problem, early insect damage, a true variegation (mutation), or other minor problem and all will be well They may want to see the whole plant, so if the plant isn't too unwieldily, maybe take in the whole thing

Please keep us posted!
Steve

I just looked at those latest photos and it certainly is not variegation, and I had suggestged environmental issues in an earlier post here.

If it were me I'd toss it ASAP.

Well I remember the year I was growing 10 plants of a single variety, I think they were the paste variety Martino's Roma, for someone. One of the plants was stunted and the foliage looked weird and I got that plant out of there ASAP, and actually the seeds I used were from my saved seeds of that variety, but I'd not seen anything like that before with that variety.

Carolyn

[Labradors2]

Thanks Steve and Carolyn,

I'm still trying to decide what to do. I am tempted to trash the plant in the hopes that Arctic Rose won't catch whatever it is. I think that I'm unlikely to get fruit from Rosella in time to eat it, before we have to leave here.

That darned Martino's Roma! I grew it for two years. The first year it had a bad case of BER and the second year it had Septoria/Early Blight. Apart from that, it looked so darned healthy with those dark green rugose leaves, but I won't be growing it again.

Linda