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September 28, 2016

@Carolyn

I tend to think Joseph has already made some wonderful contributions to everyone (especially as he offers seeds for sale or silver), and he lends a lot of descriptions of his experiences (which have even made it to Mother Earth News). However, you're right—more wonderful contributions are always possible, and maybe you were thinking of stuff that would benefit corporations more, too (who would be more likely to the rigorous tests required to certify this stuff to the satisfaction of some).

> … So if you have plants and their offspring that are consistently tolerant to to those diseases,from saved seeds,I would think you could make a major contribution saving seeds for those as well. …

I get the impression that while the tolerances might hold true in Joseph's fields, with the way that he gardens, that doesn't necessarily mean they'll hold true in a different area with the way another person gardens (especially, but not exclusively so, if different strains of the diseases and such are present), right away, at least. Nevertheless, it's always possible that the tolerances could hold true in multiple conditions, right away, still, and it could be worth testing if Joseph wants to do it.

I have yet to find a first-year anthracnose-tolerant watermelon I've purchased that tolerates our anthracnose on a foliar level the first year (the fruits may tolerate it, though; I've only ever had one watermelon fruit that definitely had anthracnose beyond the stonewashed look that is probably caused by spider mites as much as it is anthracnose); anthracnose pretty much kills every watermelon plant on our property at about the same rate. However, a second-year Ledmon watermelon I grew from saved and zapped seeds outdid all the first-year ones with foliar anthracnose tolerance, for sure (the plant is actually still alive, too, with a large and almost ripe watermelon on it, even with squash bugs starting to take an interest in it, too). The foliage still has anthracnose heavily, though.

Anthracnose is a problem on our property, probably because of our apple and pear trees (some apples and pears tend to drop and rot, and it's probably anthracnose that is the rotting pathogen). The spider mites (which also like our apple trees) probably spread it around the yard. We'll have to be more diligent about picking up those fallen fruits in the years to come. Anthracnose isn't a big problem for tomatoes here, though (except for post-harvest, on the fruit, which is probably pretty common for a lot of people, and maybe if/after it gets rainy in the fall, too).

Anyway, my hypothesis is that at least some of the watermelons really were anthracnose-tolerant to start with (maybe even to our strain of anthracnose), but that they weren't used to tolerating it in our growing conditions (which conditions are atypical for most modern watermelons, and most first-year watermelons are pretty small—Moon and Stars is the one that has gotten the largest on the first year, however), and the lack of familiarity with the growing conditions may have made them extra susceptible to disease.

I think this might be akin to the reason that the Legend tomato tested positive for late blight tolerance, but that a lot of people say it's not tolerant to late blight (it's possibly because it's still a fairly new tomato, and it was bred in western Oregon, and probably still fairly used to western Oregon, and western Oregon is probably pretty different from a lot of places where late blight is a big problem, where reports of it not being tolerant are common: e.g. out east). I have a suspicion that once Legend is in wide-scale circulation for a long time that more people will start to prefer it to Siletz. It could be because people mistake other fungi for late blight, too, though, or because they might think tolerant means 'not affected at all'.

FYI: I grew both this year, but both Siletz and the ground-grown Legend were at a disadvantage due to the growing setup (however, I have other Legend tomatoes in a raised bed that are fine); so, I don't have much to report in the way of comparison (other than that Siletz seemed to have a smaller plant and it set a fruit slightly earlier; Legend also had more robust foliage and probably stems). I haven't noticed late blight problems with either variety (but it's not a common disease in my area, to my knowledge).

September 28, 2016	#180
shule1 Guest Posts: n/a	@Carolyn I tend to think Joseph has already made some wonderful contributions to everyone (especially as he offers seeds for sale or silver), and he lends a lot of descriptions of his experiences (which have even made it to Mother Earth News). However, you're right—more wonderful contributions are always possible, and maybe you were thinking of stuff that would benefit corporations more, too (who would be more likely to the rigorous tests required to certify this stuff to the satisfaction of some). > … So if you have plants and their offspring that are consistently tolerant to to those diseases,from saved seeds,I would think you could make a major contribution saving seeds for those as well. … I get the impression that while the tolerances might hold true in Joseph's fields, with the way that he gardens, that doesn't necessarily mean they'll hold true in a different area with the way another person gardens (especially, but not exclusively so, if different strains of the diseases and such are present), right away, at least. Nevertheless, it's always possible that the tolerances could hold true in multiple conditions, right away, still, and it could be worth testing if Joseph wants to do it. I have yet to find a first-year anthracnose-tolerant watermelon I've purchased that tolerates our anthracnose on a foliar level the first year (the fruits may tolerate it, though; I've only ever had one watermelon fruit that definitely had anthracnose beyond the stonewashed look that is probably caused by spider mites as much as it is anthracnose); anthracnose pretty much kills every watermelon plant on our property at about the same rate. However, a second-year Ledmon watermelon I grew from saved and zapped seeds outdid all the first-year ones with foliar anthracnose tolerance, for sure (the plant is actually still alive, too, with a large and almost ripe watermelon on it, even with squash bugs starting to take an interest in it, too). The foliage still has anthracnose heavily, though. Anthracnose is a problem on our property, probably because of our apple and pear trees (some apples and pears tend to drop and rot, and it's probably anthracnose that is the rotting pathogen). The spider mites (which also like our apple trees) probably spread it around the yard. We'll have to be more diligent about picking up those fallen fruits in the years to come. Anthracnose isn't a big problem for tomatoes here, though (except for post-harvest, on the fruit, which is probably pretty common for a lot of people, and maybe if/after it gets rainy in the fall, too). Anyway, my hypothesis is that at least some of the watermelons really were anthracnose-tolerant to start with (maybe even to our strain of anthracnose), but that they weren't used to tolerating it in our growing conditions (which conditions are atypical for most modern watermelons, and most first-year watermelons are pretty small—Moon and Stars is the one that has gotten the largest on the first year, however), and the lack of familiarity with the growing conditions may have made them extra susceptible to disease. I think this might be akin to the reason that the Legend tomato tested positive for late blight tolerance, but that a lot of people say it's not tolerant to late blight (it's possibly because it's still a fairly new tomato, and it was bred in western Oregon, and probably still fairly used to western Oregon, and western Oregon is probably pretty different from a lot of places where late blight is a big problem, where reports of it not being tolerant are common: e.g. out east). I have a suspicion that once Legend is in wide-scale circulation for a long time that more people will start to prefer it to Siletz. It could be because people mistake other fungi for late blight, too, though, or because they might think tolerant means 'not affected at all'. FYI: I grew both this year, but both Siletz and the ground-grown Legend were at a disadvantage due to the growing setup (however, I have other Legend tomatoes in a raised bed that are fine); so, I don't have much to report in the way of comparison (other than that Siletz seemed to have a smaller plant and it set a fruit slightly earlier; Legend also had more robust foliage and probably stems). I haven't noticed late blight problems with either variety (but it's not a common disease in my area, to my knowledge).