Geography of Early Blight

[Labradors2]

I am also interested in breeding for Early Blight resistance.

Please let me know:

1. Where you grow tomato plants

2. Whether you grow in pots or in the ground

3. If you get Early Blight

4. How severely your plants are effected, and how it ranks, compared to other problem diseases your plants get.

5. Whether it is a persistent problem, or an occasional problem for you (or not a problem at all)


==========


1. Ontario, Canada

2. Pots, with fresh potting mix every year and in the ground. It definitely comes in on the wind and the dew. Pots are brought under an awning to keep the rain off them.

3. EB every year

4. It doesn't affect yield of indeterminates

5. Persistent problem despite removal of lower leaves early and diseased leaves as they appear

[Lindalana]

Chicago closest suburb to the lake, high humidity most of the summer.
Both pots and ground couple locations
Every year, this year mid July and just now.
It gets better the more I use microbes, Septoria is far more prevalent and significant for damage. Yield likely affected not much by EB.
Not interested in getting resistant varieties as I like growing many others. Would have loved rootstock with some resistance to Septoria.

[Bipetual]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Point 4

If the disease starts at the bottom of the plant and goes upwards, that's called splashback infection from spores that dropped to mix the the preceding year and yet you say that you use new container mix each year, so I admit I'm confused.

Confused b/c All new infections start at the top part of the plants since new infections are transmitted by wind and rain as I mentioned above and thus infect the upper foliage first.

Carolyn

You would think that would be the case, but for us it's generally not. Even with new mix, plastic mulch, and bleaching containers/cages, it definitely starts at the bottom and moves up. This is even with pruning to increase airflow. I don't know why.

Daconil definitely changes the progression, though. The bottom gets a little bit, which doesn't get too bad once we started spraying. The middle area stayed pretty nice, but the new growth got mighty blighty when we stopped spraying since, I suspect, it had never seen Daconil.

I'm really grateful to members of this forum for helping us recognize what this awful stuff was, and what to do about it.

Edited to add that these containers are on our deck, so it's quite possible that when it rains hard, rain could be splashing up on the bottom of the plants.

[RayR]

Originally Posted by Bipetual

You would think that would be the case, but for us it's generally not. Even with new mix, plastic mulch, and bleaching containers/cages, it definitely starts at the bottom and moves up. This is even with pruning to increase airflow. I don't know why.

Daconil definitely changes the progression, though. The bottom gets a little bit, which doesn't get too bad once we started spraying. The middle area stayed pretty nice, but the new growth got mighty blighty when we stopped spraying since, I suspect, it had never seen Daconil.

I'm really grateful to members of this forum for helping us recognize what this awful stuff was, and what to do about it.

Edited to add that these containers are on our deck, so it's quite possible that when it rains hard, rain could be splashing up on the bottom of the plants.

EB starts at the bottom leaves of the plant because the oldest growth is the least resistant to infection. Read chapter 4.1.2 Leaf age dependent susceptibility in Resistance induction in the
pathosystem tomato – Alternaria solani

[Bipetual]

Originally Posted by RayR

EB starts at the bottom leaves of the plant because the oldest growth is the least resistant to infection. Read chapter 4.1.2 Leaf age dependent susceptibility in Resistance induction in the
pathosystem tomato – Alternaria solani

Ray, I actually laughed when I looked at the graph and realized what it meant - that the researchers found old leaves and newer growth to be more susceptible, ie leaves from the bottom and the top as opposed to the middle. Okay, mystery solved.

[pmcgrady]

1. Central Illinois/ St Louis Mo.
2. All grown in the ground
3. Yes, now that I realized what it is.
4. Main field (120 plants) pretty much all dead... Few cherry tomatoes hanging on, and a couple hybrids
Like lemon boy, orange slice,they were still hit pretty hard
Lake lot (planted a few Goldman's Italian, Costoluto Genovese, Zapotecs in timber soil
6' to 7' tall getting a few tomatoes, they are in full bloom again)
3 horn worms no disease at lake lot
5. Past 2 years have had this problem, been really wet here most of this summer.

[Lorri D]

I work on a farm that has been hit hard with fungal disease. There are 300+ varieties being grown in the fields with red or black plastic mulch, cages, and soaker hose irrigation. I can tell you that all of the "blue" tomatoes have faired better than the rest. Most of the blues show NO signs of the disease and others show a slow progression from the bottom up.

This is not a scientific observation-just my personal observation and the farmer also concurred. I can tell you I hand pruned every one of the plants and the "blues" were all mixed in like a checkerboard, so I don't think it could all be a coincidence.

[maf]

Originally Posted by Lorri D

I work on a farm that has been hit hard with fungal disease. There are 300+ varieties being grown in the fields with red or black plastic mulch, cages, and soaker hose irrigation. I can tell you that all of the "blue" tomatoes have faired better than the rest. Most of the blues show NO signs of the disease and others show a slow progression from the bottom up.

This is not a scientific observation-just my personal observation and the farmer also concurred. I can tell you I hand pruned every one of the plants and the "blues" were all mixed in like a checkerboard, so I don't think it could all be a coincidence.

You are not the first person to suggest that high antho tomatoes are more resistant to fungal foliage diseases. I imagine they have inherited some other traits from the tomato relative species along with the expressed anthocyanin.

[Fred Hempel]

Lorri,

Was Indigo Cherry Drops in your field? If so, did it show increased resistance?

[Barbee]

Originally Posted by Fred Hempel

I am trying to learn more about Early Blight, in large part because it is a major disease in my fields.

I am also interested in breeding for Early Blight resistance.

Please let me know:

1. Where you grow tomato plants

2. Whether you grow in pots or in the ground

3. If you get Early Blight

4. How severely your plants are effected, and how it ranks, compared to other problem diseases your plants get.

5. Whether it is a persistent problem, or an occasional problem for you (or not a problem at all)


I will update this thread with what I learn about Early Blight.

1. Southwest Ohio
2. In ground
3. Yes, i get early blight each year.
4. How severe i get it depends on the weather. If its raining often at plant out i will get severe early blight. My plants can survive and bounce back if i stay on top of my spray regimen and plant maintenance. This year it rained every day for a month. My plants could not recover. I got about 25 tomatoes from 7 plants. A normal year for me is approx 25-75 tomatoes per plant. I plant beefsteaks.
5. This is a persistant problem in my garden. I use mulch around the plants. I spray regularly. I rotate the tomato area every couple of years. I remove any foliage that touches the ground.

Edit: early blight is my toughest opponent each year. Most years my plants will bounce back and do fine. I always wonder how much better my yields would be if i wasnt starting the season with the early blight.