[carolyn137]

Gill, lets go back to the beginning.

First, have YOU confirmed that it's Bacterial Speck or Spot by looking at some good disease sites such as Cornell or TAMU?

That the person had to check a tomato pathology book bothers me a bit. And the fact that the person you spoke to is with a seed company. Surely you must have the equivalent of what we call our Cooperative Extensions here. Yes?

Second, you've never seen it before, so you know it's being transmitted in an airborme manner, which is the most important method of transkission of ALL the tomato foliage diseases, including those two bacterial ones.

Have you looked at some pictures and confirmed that the spots on the fruits reflect either of those two bacterial diseases?

MY Seminis tomato pathology book says that seed transmission is a minor issue and that the major transmission is facilitated by cool RAINY weather and that the organism can survive on many crops and weeds.

You said you had 65 plants in gro-bags. You raised all of your plants from seed. I don't see seed transmission being the problem, what I see with such rapid transmission as you mention, is that your plants were infected via the pathogen being embedded in rain droplets.

So the seed you still have from raising all the plants should be just fine.

If you're absolutely confident that your plants have Bacterial Speck or Bacterial Spot, and the foliage appearance of the two is different, then if it were me I wouldn't save seeds from the fruits of the plants out there.

The various seed treatments suggested are NOT easy, especially the hot water bath method, and I think best left to professionals in terms of maintaining the constant temp needed.

The reason that the hot water bath method is suggested is b'c Bacterial Speck and Spot are found in the endosprem of the seed and NOT on the exterior, so any treatments that one might use to lessen, not eliminate, pathogens on the seed coat, would not work.

I hope the above helps and I do hope you confirm what the disease might be before too much longer. I don't think the disease, whatever it is, originated with you and your seeds b'c almost ALL of your plants you say were infected. Infection is NOT plant to plant, it's via wind and rain, so I think that's the way your plants became infected.

Are the plants dead? How far a long is the disease? Vigorous treatment with copper sprays has been shown to be moderatly effective, and the earlier in the season the better.