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Old November 30, 2012   #7
b54red
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Alabama
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisK View Post
Have you tried grafting to resistant rootstock?
I am thinking about doing it this year with seed from a tomato that I have been growing out for two years now. It is not stable but last year showed no signs of fusarium and was very vigorous and productive. This year the plant I set out from the seed is still making tomatoes after being set out on March 8. Every tomato set out in the same bed died by late June from fusarium while this thing just kept growing and putting out small fruit. I have probably picked several hundred tomatoes from golf ball to tennis ball size from it this year. It got burned fairly bad by the 27 degree weather the other day but still has around 75 or so tomatoes on it and if weather permits many of them will get to ripen. If the plant can survive another week it will have been growing for 10 months so I guess it has a bit of fusarium resistance. Far more than any hybrid I have tried and it would appear more than the seed sold for root stock.

The big drawback will be my arthritis which may make it impossible for me to make the cuts and put the stems together without ruining them. I have a lot of varieties that I would like to experiment with and see if I could get more than a couple of fruits from before they die from fusarium. As a matter of fact some of my favorite eating tomatoes are very prone to a quick demise from this plague. I have done extensive experimenting with using bleach to sterilize the plant site and it is very effective with bacterial wilt but only seems to give me an extra week or two with fusarium. Looks like I'll just have to try the grafting.
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