In search of.... Better disease resistance

[JRinPA]

I could try it next year. I haven't grown a red cherry the last two seasons. Super Sweet 100 doesn't seem to taste good for the few weeks of fruit, and that was the last one tried.



Are you looking for feedback regarding the disease resistance? We get a lot of EB/Septoria/Bact Speck but I would never swear to which is which. Sunsugar and Sungold push through it. Generally I put a cherry in a cage an let it go, just tying up the vines when they fall out into the yard.



This would be "Lorelai" F5 or F6?

[MrBig46]

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

I have decided to name the tomato I refer to above as LA0417. The reason for this choice is that my selection is a single plant pulled out of a group of a dozen or so when I first grew LA0417 8 years ago. LA0417 is a population, i.e. a group of plants in a Peruvian field with seed collected from multiple plants and many different fruits. The description says they range from small S. Pimpinellifolium up to larger fasciated fruit. As such, my single plant selection is not representative of LA0417 therefore the accession designation is not correct when referring to my selection.


I am naming this tomato "Lorelei" which is a reference to the sirens who lured sailors. Lorelei is a red fruited medium to large cherry tomato about 5/8 to 3/4 inch diameter. It is slightly oval. Some fruits may show a slight nipple on the blossom end. Flavor ranges from good to excellent. Sweetness is moderate. The star attribute of Lorelei is that it is highly tolerant to fungal foliage diseases. Part of this tolerance is because the plant is very vigorous, but there is also a strong genetic component. It has the best Septoria resistance I have seen in a tomato including Iron Lady and others bred for resistance.


I will continue to ship seed based on the seed offer in this thread, but will also be providing plenty of seed to Glenn at Sandhill Preservation to list for sale next year. Please consider growing this cherry tomato as it is better in many aspects than most of the red cherry varieties I have grown. I class it as better than Camp Joy and Anait and while not as sweet as sweet 100, has distinctly better tomato flavor. The combination of flavor and disease resistance is rarely found in open pollinated tomato varieties.


Lorelei will eventually go down from Septoria but usually lasts 3 to 4 weeks longer than most other tomato varieties. It produces very heavily with ripe fruit on the plant for about 6 to 7 weeks in my climate.

I'm also interested in trying the Lorelei tomato. I am able to pay postage via PayPal. I'll send a PM.
Vladimir
PS .: Pienollo with potato leaf is my favorite tomato

[Labradors2]

Would Lorelei do ok in a tomato cage, or does she need something taller?

Linda

[Fusion_power]

They get 6 feet tall so if your cage is less, it will be a problem.

[eyolf]

Have not ordered seeds from Sandhill for a long time: good reason to now.

While the full-sized tomato crop was quite good, the 7 cherries I grew for snacking were largely a dissapointment. One variety, advertized as a grape tomato, yielded 2 each for my wife and I.

They tasted OK, but I wanted more than that.

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

[Fusion_power]

Heads up that Glenn was impacted by the derecho winds that hit Iowa a couple of months ago. He may be short on some tomatoes and peppers as a result. I have quite a bit of fresh seed that may fill a few gaps for him but it won't be everything.

[habitat_gardener]

Thank you for the seeds! I received them today.

[greenthumbomaha]

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

Heads up that Glenn was impacted by the derecho winds that hit Iowa a couple of months ago. He may be short on some tomatoes and peppers as a result. I have quite a bit of fresh seed that may fill a few gaps for him but it won't be everything.

That storm was weirdly terrifying just going on and on. I was snug in a suburban home protected by 6 foot privacy fences and the wind was crazy in the afternoon and howling all night. Out in my fields north of here, I had a few cages tumble over at the end of the row where it wasn't doubled. Sadly those were Karen O's projects that were entangled. I should call a roofer to have a look at the corners too. If it isn't hail its flooding or wind in these parts in the past 10 years!

Fusion for some reason I haven't experienced septoria on my cherries, but everything else is horrific. My main tomato garden is in year two of a much needed rotation which limits my available space. Every single tomato plant in the row falls victim one by one turning into palm trees , but I had decent yields except for some sunscald. I grow on dewitt pro5 try and sweep up mummies and crunched leaf debris at season end. Do you think three year rotations actually are the "cure" or is it not possible to overcome a genetic predisposition to leaf diseases with cultural practices? Does weed fabric perpetuate this ( save for squash bugs) In other words, will this garden area ever not be a spotted jungle?

- Lisa

[Fusion_power]

That is a surprisingly easy question to answer. Look at the way Septoria spreads. It is usually splashed from the soil into aerosol droplets that are blown by wind to land on leaves and grow. The amount of Septoria inoculum in the soil is off the charts therefore it will always find a way to spread. From this perspective, it will be impossible to totally prevent Septoria.

With that said, there are a lot of things you can do that will limit or reduce the impact on your plants.

1. Start with varieties that have at least a little resistance. I only know of a few that are currently available though more are due to be released this year. Iron Lady was ineffective in my climate, but is better further north. Jasper is a cherry tomato that is available from a few places. Mountaineer Delight and Mountaineer Pride are out of West Virginia. I have not yet grown them, but will trial this year from Southern Exposure. Lorelei red cherry tomato will be available from Sandhill as soon as Glenn gets his website updated. Some readily available varieties have a little resistance. These include Eva Purple Ball and Burgundy Traveler. I also grow Tropic because it is an adapted variety in my climate that is resistant to grey mold and has some Septoria tolerance.

2. Understand how Septoria resistance works. It is mostly based on acyl sugar accumulation in the plant. As fruit load increases, nutrients are sucked out of the leaves leaving them vulnerable to infection. Fertilize heavily just as the first fruits reach the diameter of a quarter.

3. Use cultural methods to reduce the amount of inoculum on leaves. This includes use of fabric/mulch, trimming bottom leaves, and most important, getting the plants up off the ground and exposed to as much air flow as possible. There are some other methods that get progressively more expensive such as growing in high tunnels to prevent rain splash.

4. Don't confuse Septoria with other diseases. This is particularly easy to do with bacterial spot and speck. If spot or speck is a problem, most of the things you can do for septoria will be ineffective.

5. Consider using chemicals if acceptable to you. Quadris or a few other fungicides are effective.

[Greatgardens]

Is copper soap effective? It seems to be for me. Daconil? (I read your comments about it not really being a fungicide.) Quadris -- I had never heard of it. BTW, copper soap became much more effective for me when I started using a professional spreader-sticker.

[Fusion_power]

Copper compounds are moderately effective fungicides, but only if applied prior to infection and as you said, work best if used with a spreader/sticker. Copper accumulates in soil and eventually becomes a problem for plants. Also, it has to be applied very consistently along with other control measures.

As you note, Daconil is not actually a fungicide. It is kind of like painting the surface of the leaves with a coating that Septoria and other fungi can't easily penetrate. It is only effective if applied before infection and must very thoroughly coat the surface of leaves.

Quadris is a combination fungicide that contains Azoxystrobin which is a synthetic version of Strobilurin that was originally found in Strobilurin mushrooms. It turns out that fungi are really good at producing compounds that prevent other fungi from growing. Note that you can purchase Azoxystrobin which is one of the antifungal compounds in Quadris, or you can purchase Quadris which IIRC, contains 4 different fungicides. Please emphasize that these are not organic controls for fungi.

[VirginiaClay]

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

As you note, Daconil is not actually a fungicide.

Are you perhaps confusing Daconil with another product? The active ingredient in Daconil is chlorothalonil, which is a broad-spectrum, non-systemic organochlorine fungicide. The bottle says "fungicide concentrate" on the front under the name.

LW

[greenthumbomaha]

Fusion, easy maybe but I do love the hearts. I do promise to myself to be faithful to Number 2, fertilize when needed and not when convenient, done. Perhaps bacterial speck joined the party from my one annual splurge of a random Bonnie Plants hybrid from Lowes, but I did have leaf diseases prior to speck's arrival. About two weeks after planting, bam there it was on that one plant. Since then it has popped up randomly (and thankfully inconsistently0in random plantings in other rows.

I've already planted garlic in this space for year 3 rotation. Thank you for taking the time to lay out a plan for future tomato growing in this area. The rotation combined with your tips should turn the area into a cleaner growing space again.

- Lisa

[Fusion_power]

VirginiaClay, I had to look up the mode of action of chlorothalonil to verify. You are correct that it is a fungicide, but it is non-systemic. Because it is not systemic, it is not effective at treating an existing fungal infection. Its mode of action is to present an impenetrable barrier on the surface of the leaf. The surface barrier prevents and kills fungal hyphae growth by blocking glutathione.


Mea culpa, I strive to learn from my mistakes!

[MrBig46]

I was thinking about where I would grow Lorelei. I will distribute them randomly among my tomatoes so that each plant has, if possible, different growing conditions and also the risk of contracting septoriosis. I want to use Mountaineer Pride and Mountaineer Delight as a comparison. I am buying seeds now.
Vladimír