Who has experience with late blight resistant tomatoes

[carolyn137]

I did some snooping around via Google b'c the more I thought about it I was wondering if LB really was prevalent in GA, and it's not.

http://www.longislandhort.cornell.edu/vegpath/lbfaq.pdf

The link above is one that I think everyone with LB concerns should read.

http://www.caes.uga.edu/publications...cfm?pk_id=7392

The above is common tomato diseases found in GA and updated today and LB is not on the lsit.

http://ga-camdencounty.civicplus.com.../Home/View/352

The above is from the U of GA, common tomato diseases and LB is not on the list.

Michael, have you had the diagnosis of LB confirmed by anyone trained to do so? Back in 2009 there were a few outbreaks in GA but note the updated link, the second one, and no LB on the list.

I hope the above helps.

[Mashman]

Carolyn:

By the time I found out where to send the plant material I didn't have any leaves to gather. The leaves brown out pretty quickly. UMAS's site asks for both leaves and the stems to diagnose. I think they specifically state not to send just stems. In any event, a farm in my particular county (Middlesex) tested positive at the time.

I know it's easy to confuse with other similar diseases but it's appearance on the fruits was unmistakable. I pulled some green tomatoes and brought them in to ripen (thinking I might be able to salvage them). Came to learn it still surfaces.


Michael

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Mashman

Carolyn:

By the time I found out where to send the plant material I didn't have any leaves to gather. The leaves brown out pretty quickly. UMAS's site asks for both leaves and the stems to diagnose. I think they specifically state not to send just stems. In any event, a farm in my particular county (Middlesex) tested positive at the time.

I know it's easy to confuse with other similar diseases but it's appearance on the fruits was unmistakable. I pulled some green tomatoes and brought them in to ripen (thinking I might be able to salvage them). Came to learn it still surfaces.


Michael

And yet you say that a farm a mile down the road had tomatoes with no diseases:

(But what even further disturbs me is that a mile down the road there is a garden that has 2 perfect 12 foot rows of tomatoes with not a trace of any disease...at this time of the year. Go figure)

And that concerns me as well since the two foliage diseases you mention plus LB are spread in the same way, that is via wind and embedded in rain droplets and I would imagine that that same wind and rain would have affected their plants as well as yours being only a mile away.

Which is why I've been thinking of some of the systemic diseases that were on those lists I linked to from GA.

[Mashman]

Carolyn:

I never made mention of a farm a mile down the road with no disease. I think you have me confused with Ken (from GA). But I agree, diagnosis would take the guesswork out of it. More importantly, they could rule out any mating strains that could survive the winter. That we don't need any time soon.

Bad enough we have the Red Sox this year. That will get fixed with a good fungicide!

Michael

[riceke]

Originally Posted by Mashman

Just a follow up. I found this presentation by Meg McGrath of Cornell University to be very helpful in understanding Late Blight; and distinguishing it from other pathogens.

http://www.extension.org/pages/28624...garden-webinar


Michael

Thanks for the website Michael. It's a great reference for th maladies of tomatoes. Only problem is I think I saw almost all of the diseases mentioned on my plants.

[Tormato]

Originally Posted by Mashman

Here is a short list tested for performance against blight by Cornell University:

http://ccetompkins.org/resources/per...t-early-blight

Michael

In that performance chart are listed Aunt Ginny's Purple, Brandywine (Sudduth???), and Pruden's Purple.

When late blight hit my garden in 2009, none of those varieties had any resistance.

Of 105 varieties in my garden, 104 were wiped out in a matter of a few days. The lone surviver was Toedebusch Pink which appeared to be completely imune to LB, that year.

Gary

[kath]

Originally Posted by Tormato

In that performance chart are listed Aunt Ginny's Purple, Brandywine (Sudduth???), and Pruden's Purple.

When late blight hit my garden in 2009, none of those varieties had any resistance.

Of 105 varieties in my garden, 104 were wiped out in a matter of a few days. The lone surviver was Toedebusch Pink which appeared to be completely imune to LB, that year.

Gary

My Pruden's Purple got LB this year along with Toedebusch Pink and most of the others. Hawaiian Pineapple (both plants) are the only ones left with absolutely no symptoms yet.

[Save$]

I noticed that plants grown as singles, not touching other plants still got the LB, but were much slower to die, and that their fruit was not infected. My plum tomatoes were the last to go.
Last year, I had some defient tomatoes. They lasted almost unitl frost. But their tast had much to be desired. Keep digging folks, somewhere out there is tomato that will tolerated fungus. Need to keep digging.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Save$

I noticed that plants grown as singles, not touching other plants still got the LB, but were much slower to die, and that their fruit was not infected. My plum tomatoes were the last to go.
Last year, I had some defient tomatoes. They lasted almost unitl frost. But their tast had much to be desired. Keep digging folks, somewhere out there is tomato that will tolerated fungus. Need to keep digging.

I find that interesting since LB is not spread from plant to plant when touching or otherwise since LB is spread via wind and embedded in raindrops. So all new infections are acquired in that way.

You might say that LB is an equal opportunity pathogen and where it lands, if the infection is serious enough, b'c there is a quantitative issue as well, down they go.

[Save$]

Took one week from the time I noticed the infection to the time that all I had was black vines And rotten tomatoes. Same thing every year. However, Lb it is since 2009.

[DKelly]

defiant survived my strain. We get about 20-35inches of steady rain in a season...so I imagine the ph2 ph3 genes make it pretty strong. Also if you fertilize it strongly it will taste pretty good!

[Tania]

Tomatodes Des Comores survived late blight unprotected when its neighbours died in the same bed within 2 days after LB hit.

Wild currant tomatoes are consistently resistant. I tested many varieties and they stand up very well, producing ripe fruits well into early November here, until frost fills them.

Among my GH tomatoes, I noticed that bi-colored tomatoes are more resistant than others. They'll still go down eventually if the outbreak lasts for a long time, but some may survive and produce new foliage after losing most of it to the infection.

[stonysoilseeds]

i really need to conentrate on growing late blight tolerant varieties next yr,, iuf my over 399 plants all were wiped out with the exception of one pineapple bi color.. im afraid i lost my currant tomatoes as well.... its sikening to see literally thousands of tomatoes that were so beautiful all left with lesions rotting .. i cry everytime i walk into my tomato path ,, ive been removing the plants and sowing winter rye as a cover crop.... has anybody had success in preventing late blight using a baking soda foliar spray... i watched a video on this and was wondering if its credible ira

[DKelly]

nothing close to natural helps the blight.

[Fusion_power]

The available varieties that are highly tolerant to late blight are limited.

Mountain Magic is a small tomato but it is the best so far. Plum Regal is another with significant tolerance. Randy Gardner is working on incorporating LB tolerance into some larger fruited tomatoes but so far none have been released for trial. I have 3 selections from his breeding work that I will make available for trial next year. I have currently designated them as R.G. Bold Red, R.G. Bold Green, and Red LB tolerant X (BB X EPB). The last one is an F1 hybrid from my stabilized cross of Big Beef X Eva Purple Ball which carries genes for extremely high production and ph2/ph3 for late blight tolerance.

Tom Wagner has a couple of highly tolerant varieties as mentioned above.

Burpee carries Tye Dye hybrid which has tolerance derived from LA2533 which I suspect carries the ph3 gene.

DarJones