[joseph]

Loulac:

Thanks. I'm a subsistence level farmer. If a plant succumbs to disease this year, I may starve next year. Therefore, if a plant is susceptible to mosaic or other diseases this year, it's not welcome on my farm next year. I would make an exception if all 300 plants were sick or dying, but as long as some thrive while others die, I will continue to save seeds only from the healthiest plants. I cull plants/families for being susceptible to Colorado potato beetles, blossom end rot, sudden-death-syndrome, etc... I cull for being too long season, for taste, etc. I'm generating hundreds of new varieties per year. I don't care about giving tomato varieties a second chance. If I'm going to grow a tomato, it has to produce fantastically every year.

I don't try to memorize the names and symptoms of plant pests and diseases. If a plant dies prematurely, (without sufficient productivity), then I don't replant seeds from it. I don't have the inclination to be staring at tomato plants trying to identify whether a brown spot on a leaf is a virus, bacteria, fungus, or bug bite. I look at the big picture: Did it produce sufficient food to give me a decent return on my investment? Yes, save seed for next year. No. Cull it.

It is very arid here. Moisture loving diseases don't propagate or grow very well.