Caution - Sick Bonnie Plants
 

I was at the local Lowes two days ago and saw Septoria Leaf Speck and/or Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus on larger plants that were coming off the truck from Bonnie Plants. Looking around the veggies already on the racks, I saw two Cherokee Purple toms with what had all the sypmtoms of Bacterial Speck.


I alerted the vendor workers to what I had seen and then alerted Lowes' Department Manager. The vendor folks said they were there to unload and basically could care less. The Lowes employee was very concerned, agreed with me, and isolated the sick plants.

I'm glad that I'm growing everything from seed this year. I think Bonnie Farms might need an internal look-see.


Ted

This thread reminds me of something sort of funny -- how the "professionals" are supposed to know and do it all right.

About 15 years ago I went to a conference at U-Mi on Peppers with a focus on Hot peppers. In several of the talks the University speakers stressed that we shouldn't save our own seeds. That only the "professional" seed companies had the expertize to do it right and not spread seed borne pathogens. At that time Bacterial speck was becoming a big problem mainly for sweet bells.

Well I was big into hot peppers at that time and saved a fair amount of seed as many of the varieties I had you just couldn't "buy" commercially. All my seed always got a bleach rinse when being saved.

That spring an Asgrow rep stopped by my farm during early spring and I showed him around the greenhouses. He noticed a small amount of speck starting to show up on a few flats. I hadn't noticed it yet.

The odd part was that ALL the flats that had the bacterial speck were seed that I PURCHASED, none of it was on any of my own saved seed.

Yup, the big guys may think they know what they are doing, but even they don't always get it right.

Carol

For three dollars forty nine cents a tomato seedling, the least they could do is sell clean plants.

I saw their plants at Lowes were out weeks ago on racks in the frigid weather. Was gonna find my bugle and play taps for them lol.What are they thinking? First of all the prices are wayyyyyyyyy too high,and they were very sad looking as well.But I guess enough idiots will buy them,so they can have the first tomatoes in the ground:)) Barry

Hmmm... Because some people buy Bonnies Plants doesn't make them idiots! I live in an area that has alot of older people that just don't have room for seed trays and lights in their homes, so they rely on them for their veggies. I have used them in times when my seed starting failed or have my garden raided by the wildlife here (groundhogs, deer, rabbits and such) and have never had a problem with them. But i digress i think they need more varieties than what they have .

Last time I was at a nursery I saw purplish looking leaves on some tomato plants. They looked rather pitiful. I didn't realize it was TSWV.

Bonnie sells plants in this area - do all their plants come from the same source? Now I am worried - once in while I will buy something with their name. Zone 5 - Lincoln, NE so don't know if we have TSWV. Are there other reasons for purplish colored leaves? I have seen that over the years. Piegirl

I thought cold-cool caused purplish stems/undersides of little leaves... something about phosphorus uptake inhibited by the cold,no?

Ted, did you contact Bonnie Plant Farms personally to let them know?

I posted and answer top Ted's above post elsewhere so I'm not going to repat that here.

Just a couple of points.

Is it that Bonnie's is sending out plants thaat are already infected or that the plants become infected in the holding and selling areas where they end up?

Ted, I know you said you saw the plants coming out of the Bonnie truck, but what else might they have been transporting that could be a source of infection?

I'm not trying to defend Bonnie plants, none are sold in my area and I grow everything from seed anway, but up until now I haven't seen anyone complain specifically about Bonnie plants although I have seen many folks complain about tomato plants in general sold at Big Box stores, nurseries, etc, that were infected with foliage diseases.

At one time I was selling plants at a farm stand and what I delivered had no foliage infections but after being there a week or so they started to show foliage infections, so I know that can happen.

I purchased 4 Bonnie plants this year in the beginning of March: Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano and Tagetes Lucida (Mexican Mint Marigold). None of them were infected; and I perused the plants really well. So it just may be a localized problem.

All of the Bonnie tomato plants I saw at the same time were also healthy. Though I didn't purchase any of them.

~* Robin

Everything else coming out of the truck (semi) was spring flowers. The garden vegetables were loaded so that they were first off during unloading. The tomato plants with Bacterial speck were mature plants approximately 30" tall. And you couldn't miss seeing the disease. The plants were "eat up" with it. The Bacterial Wilt was on some other mature plants approximately 2 feet tall. The "still green" wilted leaves condition was working its way up the main stems and from the inside out.

As far as I know, Bonnie grows their plants in a southern Alabama facility. They may have others, but that's where their website says they're located.

Carolyn, if this was last year, I would have said that I saw some plants that didn't look good. But I'm not that neophyte from last year. I KNOW what I saw and, besides, the department manager with the horticulture degree confirmed it. I've even written a computer program that displays pictures of tomato diseases, pests, and nutrient deficiencies. I've collected hundreds of pictures (for MY use only) from all over the web.

I started this thread to let folks know that I had seen some sick plants and to be careful with their purchases. This is two years in a row I've seen sick Bonnie tomato plants.

As I said in the thread on the other forum (and I still have tongue in cheek), Carolyn, you must not get out much. The quality of the plants being offered has gone downhill very quickly over the last few years.

Anyhow, I recommend that anyone contemplating buying plants should inspect them closely and then keep them in quarantine for a week or so before putting them out in the main garden.

Ted

Edit: I have added pictures from links here on T'ville. The picture showing Bacterial Speck has only 1/4 the "specks" that the Bonnie plants had. And the Bacterial Wilt picture shows a plant completely involved, while the Bonnie plants showed only the bottom 1/3 to 1/2 involved.

[QUOTE=piegirl;127986]Bonnie sells plants in this area - do all their plants come from the same source? Now I am worried - once in while I will buy something with their name. Zone 5 - Lincoln, NE so don't know if we have TSWV. Are there other reasons for purplish colored leaves? I have seen that over the years. Piegirl[/QUOTE]

Bonnie has Greenhouse all over I can get them here in Eastern Oklahoma as well.

Oh Ted, what a pitiful plant in the picture! Made me want to reach out & yank it up by the roots as a mercy kill!

Ted, as you've already said, Bonnie has greenhouses all over the place, and since we haven't heard from others on foliage infected Bonnie plants perhaps it was just the particular plants that came from a particular greenhouse.

I don't know.

True, I don't get out much b'c I'm in the house all winter not able to get out at all. But when I do, like now, the transplants here are for the most part locally grown, not wholesalers like Bonnie and Chef Jeff and the local ones, still in greenhouses, look OK according to a friend of mine who is commercial locally and interacts with other commercial ones in the area.

it's good that you did post as to what you saw b'c it will alert folks to be more careful checking plants that they buy, regardless of the source.