Relatively disease free varieties?

[zipcode]

I think you should just get a variety with good vigour, that will still grow through most diseases.

Otherwise it largely depends what disease you have in your area. In some northern areas late blight is a pain, others it's grey mold, or maybe mildew, etc. Also the soil fungi, mostly in warmer areas. And the viruses...
Legend has basically 0 late blight resistance, tested by me. Rose de Berne is very sensitive to BER (not a disease but still can seriously affect production).

[My Foot Smells]

Originally Posted by peppero

Have any of you noticed varieties that have been relatively disease free over the years?
Surely there must be some. I plan to pay special attention to what survives this year.

For those of you who graft; what rootstocks have you been pleased with?

I think there are many who would be interested in the above two questions.

Jon

Of course there are varieties that are more suited and are more resistant. Each year does pose a different set of problems, but resistant is the key word, as there are no varieties that are impervious to disease.

Obv. the hybrids will give you more of a fighter's chance. I am in similar growing conditions as you and can say that Brandy Boy, Better Boy, and Big Beef will give you more resistance to a lot of the problems.

Granted, you still have to trim up and practice good gardening technique (clean pruners, keep dry (water the soil not plant), location, soil maintenance, and proper garden placement from harsh elements).

I try different heirloom varieites each year and have grown several. Cherokee Purple, Arkansas Traveler hold up well for me, even during the high heat. I did not grow AT this year, but have grown many time before.

As you know, it was a rough year for the tomato farmer, maybe one of the worst on record for this area. It has made the news several times this year, and I've seen crops with 100% total destruction - which has never been the case.

[xellos99]

If I was very interested in disease resistance then I would try grafting rootstock. It looks fairly straight forward in home grower quantities and could be an interesting project because they reputedly have super vigour also.

[Captain Neon]

Originally Posted by Douglas14

I agree, great subject Jon! I'll be following it with great interest.

Last year Abraham Lincoln impressed me with relatively healthy foliage compared to the other varieties I've grown. It produced nice looking and very good tasting fruits. Nice production as well. I'm growing it again this year, but there's been not much for foliage issues in my garden so far, to make a comparison.

Here's a link to an article about this variety, that William Woys Weaver wrote, where he states it "resists foliage diseases".

http://www.motherearthnews.com/organ...z08amzmcc.aspx

No Rebel Yell? What ever happened to equal time?

[My Foot Smells]

Originally Posted by xellos99

If I was very interested in disease resistance then I would try grafting rootstock. It looks fairly straight forward in home grower quantities and could be an interesting project because they reputedly have super vigour also.

Just made a post about grafting. I have heard mixed reviews from growers. Suppliers are always touting, more $$$

How much is true, and how much is balderdash?

[xellos99]

Originally Posted by My Foot Smells

Just made a post about grafting. I have heard mixed reviews from growers. Suppliers are always touting, more $$$

How much is true, and how much is balderdash?

Could be a disaster but I'm am trying grafting next season.
I am attempting it with a good all rounder for my climate called gardeners delight AKA sugar lump. I think it is a must to use a plant that is well suited to your environment and reliable in the first place and not try anything fancy.
I would imagine there is a difference for better or worse but I have no proof or experience myself yet so cannot say for sure.
Its not so much disease resistance I am interested in, vigour is the main draw for me.
There is a lack of sunshine most summers where I live and when it does appear you pray for fast growth while the going is good.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by xellos99

If I was very interested in disease resistance then I would try grafting rootstock. It looks fairly straight forward in home grower quantities and could be an interesting project because they reputedly have super vigour also.

Just a couple of thoughts.

IMO there is no such thing as total disease resistence,the word should be tolerance,and tolerance has many variables associated with it as well. An important one is knowing that a particular diseases(s) is in your area in any given season.

Which diseases?

The most common tomato diseases are the foliage diseases and both OP and F1's are equally susceptible,except for a few varieties that Dr. Randy Gardner bred which have low level tolerence to EarlyBlight,which can occur early or late in the season.What it means is that commercial farmers can spray every 7 to 8 days,rather than every 3 to 4 days which is a huge time and money savings for commmercial farmers that have hundreds of acres of tomatoes.

Hybrid vigor?I don't buy it. Hybrids with just two parents,such as Ramapo and Bette Boy and Big Boy are by definition hybrids and so are more modern hybrids which can have up to 8 parental inputs, 4 in each breeding line.

I can think of many Op's,heirloom and otherwise that are just as vigorous and with just as high yields than any hybrids I've ever grown.Most of the extra parental in puts in modern ones are for high solids,uniform ripeneing gene, and then some tolerances for soilborne diseases,many of which are not found in all areas of the country.etc.

So that's my opinions on some of those issues, and for taste alone, asfor an F1 I'd grow Ramapo,which also has an excellent OP version) or a few others that still have some great taste,rather than more modern hybrids.

Over the decades I've grown far more OP's than I have F1's,by choice,and of the OP's far more heirloom ones.

Carolyn

[Andrey_BY]

All De Barao family varieties are very desease tolerant. They came from Brasil to USSR.

Also Praleska which is our Belarusian early CV is very prolific and foliage desease tolerant.

Plus I really don't have any deseases with carrot like foliage tomatoes: Silvery Fir Tree, Morkovnyi (aka Carrot-like) and Flamenco.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Douglas14

I agree, great subject Jon! I'll be following it with great interest.

Last year Abraham Lincoln impressed me with relatively healthy foliage compared to the other varieties I've grown. It produced nice looking and very good tasting fruits. Nice production as well. I'm growing it again this year, but there's been not much for foliage issues in my garden so far, to make a comparison.

Here's a link to an article about this variety, that William Woys Weaver wrote, where he states it "resists foliage diseases".

http://www.motherearthnews.com/organ...z08amzmcc.aspx

Doug,that article was written in 2008.

Do you know how many versions of Abraham Lincoln are out there? I just counted the ones in my 2016 SSE Yearbook and there are 8 of them.

Ok,I'm going to try to be nice here,having known WWW for several decades,having met him and talked withhim,etc.,and I do not believe half of what he says/writes. and I'm no different than many others in that regard.

Just go to the Legacy Forum and look for TRUE Black Brandywine and you'll know what I mean

With his first heirloom book he asked Craig and me if we wanted to help,we both turned him down. The mistakes in that book were legion,and not just in the tomato section.

On the upside he is an excellent food historian, and methinks that's what he should stay with, of course just my opinion.

Carolyn

[xellos99]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Just a couple of thoughts.

IMO there is no such thing as total disease resistence,the word should be tolerance,and tolerance has many variables associated with it as well. An important one is knowing that a particular diseases(s) is in your area in any given season.

Which diseases?

The most common tomato diseases are the foliage diseases and both OP and F1's are equally susceptible,except for a few varieties that Dr. Randy Gardner bred which have low level tolerence to EarlyBlight,which can occur early or late in the season.What it means is that commercial farmers can spray every 7 to 8 days,rather than every 3 to 4 days which is a huge time and money savings for commmercial farmers that have hundreds of acres of tomatoes.

Hybrid vigor?I don't buy it. Hybrids with just two parents,such as Ramapo and Bette Boy and Big Boy are by definition hybrids and so are more modern hybrids which can have up to 8 parental inputs, 4 in each breeding line.

I can think of many Op's,heirloom and otherwise that are just as vigorous and with just as high yields than any hybrids I've ever grown.Most of the extra parental in puts in modern ones are for high solids,uniform ripeneing gene, and then some tolerances for soilborne diseases,many of which are not found in all areas of the country.etc.

So that's my opinions on some of those issues, and for taste alone, asfor an F1 I'd grow Ramapo,which also has an excellent OP version) or a few others that still have some great taste,rather than more modern hybrids.

Over the decades I've grown far more OP's than I have F1's,by choice,and of the OP's far more heirloom ones.



Carolyn

The rootstock are only resistant so yes they could get anything.
The one I was looking at is advertised as resistant to :
ToMV, Fol (1&2), Va, Vd, Cf (1-5), For, Ma, Mi,Mj, Pl, Si.
However, I think it is more complicated than that. When I tried to read up on it I was soon lost and confused. I think the commercial growers grafting have in-depth knowledge and experts on hand to make decisions about what two plants to graft together.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Spartanburg123

Well Bill, I wish I had your eyes up here in Spartanburg! I just planted my second crop in pots to get away from this disease....

If it is TSWV then planting in pots won't help at all and the worst times for TSWV are in late spring and early summer in my garden but I sometimes get a few cases with late tomatoes. Maybe it was something else soil born and the pots will help. I find growing anything in containers more difficult down here due to the heat. I keep my lemons and limes in pots because I usually have to move them to a protected space in the dead of winter. Of course I missed watering them for a couple of days due to health reasons and most of the fruit just dropped off so all that work was for nought. The same thing happens with blooms on tomatoes when I make one little mistake in watering with container planting so I just figure out ways to get by in the garden.

Bill

[b54red]

With my limited experience in grafting I have found that certain rootstock combined with certain scions do have more vigor and lusher growth; but not necessarily better production. I have also found that I get some fruit size increase with certain combinations but most are not dramatic. I find that the main benefit to grafting is the suppression of soil born diseases that shorten the life and health of plants. By grafting onto highly resistant rootstock the life expectancy of my plants has increased dramatically and therefore production. If a certain heirloom produces for two, three or even four months longer than it normally would in your soil then it will naturally produce more fruit. When RKN, fusarium wilt and bacterial wilt problems are reduced significantly then it is just easier to grow successfully.

If I didn't have such problems with soil born diseases in my garden I certainly wouldn't go to all the trouble of grafting. I might try buying a couple of grafted plants to see if the added vigor is worth the cost before jumping into grafting. I tried everything under the sun to ease my soil born problems spending a lot of money and far more work only to find the problems basically the same but with more fertile soil. Grafting was for me a miracle and even though I still lose plants to pests, foliage diseases and TSWV the difference is amazing.

Bill

[joseph]

The varieties that I have found that are relatively disease free are those that I saved seeds from last year that were relatively disease free, and the year before that, and the year before that, and the year before that, generation upon generation.

If a tomato grows relatively disease free in my garden, then it, and it's descendants are invited to grow in my garden next year. If a tomato succumbs to disease, or is highly prone to diseases so that it produces little fruit, then it and it's descendants are banned from my garden. Doesn't matter how early it is, or how blissfully tasty, or how beloved: It's a death sentence to the entire family for a tomato variety to exhibit severe enough disease symptoms that it interferes with production.

When I trial new varieties, something like 95% of them fail in my garden. For example, this spring I trialed 72 new varieties of tomatoes. 48 of the varieties survived the greenhouse and made it into the garden. 37 of them have survived so far in the garden. Those that died in the garden were mostly due to diseases. Only 4 of the varieties have set fruit in plenty of time to beat the average first fall frost. So this year 4/72 = 94% of the new varieties that I planted were failures.

Of the tomatoes that I have been growing in the same field for many generations, and saving the seed year after year, I only lost about 2% of the plants to diseases.

And this is how I grow my tomatoes: Covered in dirt from sprinkle irrigating!

[Douglas14]

Carolyn,

I was considering mentioning the different versions of Abraham Lincoln, but didn't, because I don't know how they compare to each other. I should add, that last year and this year, my seed source for Abraham Lincoln is Amishland Heirloom Seeds.

[Douglas14]

I should add that I have a fairly big garden, and some parts of it may be more disease prone; so comparing disease susceptibility of varieties isn't an exact science of course. This season, so far the foliage of my tomato plants is looking quite good. Some lower leaf issues, but not much.