Winter Reading

[ChrisK]

Identification of Novel Loci Regulating Interspecific Variation in Root Morphology and Cellular Development in Tomato

[ChrisK]

The Agony of Choice: How Plants Balance Growth and Survival under Water-Limiting Conditions

[ChrisK]

Improving Photosynthesis

[TomatoDon]

For the sake of simplicity, the ability to enjoy gardening and for pure sanity I promise not to read a single article posted in this thread, nor look at this thread seriously ever again.



DS

[ChrisK]

Some probing into Tomato-Aphid interactions:

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/14/515

Originally Posted by ChrisK

Some probing into Tomato-Aphid interactions:

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/14/515

Interesting article! If the tomato response to aphids is to produce salicylic acid as a response, could acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) application be a gardeners defense against aphids on other plants. Dissolve four or five adult aspirins in a gallon of water and use as a foliar spray. For those folks who like "natural" remedies, add some fresh Willow bark to the compost you are soaking for compost tea.

Ted

[ChrisK]

Yes, aspirin is reported to have effect likely by activating systemic acquired resistance pathways. I don't know if there are any good controlled studies though or studies on relative effectiveness at the whole plant level. There would be lots of variables incl. pathogen and insect pressure levels as well as an environmental interaction.

Remember that with hormones more is not necessarily better! 4-5 adult would be way too much, I would suspect.

Originally Posted by tedln

Interesting article! If the tomato response to aphids is to produce salicylic acid as a response, could acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) application be a gardeners defense against aphids on other plants. Dissolve four or five adult aspirins in a gallon of water and use as a foliar spray.

Ted

Originally Posted by ChrisK

Yes, aspirin is reported to have effect likely by activating systemic acquired resistance pathways. I don't know if there are any good controlled studies though or studies on relative effectiveness at the whole plant level. There would be lots of variables incl. pathogen and insect pressure levels as well as an environmental interaction.

Remember that with hormones more is not necessarily better! 4-5 adult would be way too much, I would suspect.

One 325 mg or five 5 grain tablets, per gallon is a generic strength for a tonic to treat listlessness and other minor ailments in chickens.

http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/solutions.html

It seems to work for that purpose, but I've never tried it on plants. Five 325 mg tablets may be a little strong as you suggest. I guess I could try a single tablet in a one quart sprayer and see what it does on a couple of plants when I detect some aphids

Ted

[ChrisK]

Is probably better as a preventative, it's not going to work like an insecticide. Rather, it activates some of the innate defense pathways, or primes the plant, if you will, by making it "think" it's under attack. You'll probably have to apply on a regular basis and I am skeptical that it will be effective under high pressure. You could setup your own controlled experiment.

I am sure google will return lots of results, mostly anecdotal, on tests of aspirin in the garden!

Originally Posted by tedln

One 325 mg or five 5 grain tablets, per gallon is a generic strength for a tonic to treat listlessness and other minor ailments in chickens.

http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/solutions.html

It seems to work for that purpose, but I've never tried it on plants. Five 325 mg tablets may be a little strong as you suggest. I guess I could try a single tablet in a one quart sprayer and see what it does on a couple of plants when I detect some aphids

Ted

If I read your linked article correctly, the release of salicylic acid by the plant is a response by the plant to an attack by aphids. I've always wondered why Willow seems to maintain a detectable level of salicylic acid. In my part of the country, Willow is the favored diet of tent caterpillars. I wonder if Willow is reacting to caterpillar attack in the same way other plants react to aphid attack.

Ted

[ChrisK]

There are complex co-evolutionary relationships between hosts and their pathogens and herbivores. Some herbivores have evolved resistance to the natural plant defenses while others have not. Plants react differently depending on which is chewing on them!

I remember back in the late 90s seeing a presentation at the American Society of Plant Biologists meeting in which the researchers were harvesting the "spit" from various caterpillars and separating the components. After which they applied the individual components to plant leaves (at the time it was probably tobacco) to determine which were activating pathways. I kind of lost track of that area of research though.

Originally Posted by tedln

If I read your linked article correctly, the release of salicylic acid by the plant is a response by the plant to an attack by aphids. I've always wondered why Willow seems to maintain a detectable level of salicylic acid. In my part of the country, Willow is the favored diet of tent caterpillars. I wonder if Willow is reacting to caterpillar attack in the same way other plants react to aphid attack.

Ted

[ChrisK]

Salivary glucose oxidase from caterpillars mediates the induction of rapid and delayed-induced defenses in the tomato plant.

[ChrisK]

A recent review article:

Mechanisms of plant defense against insect herbivores

[ChrisK]

Genome-Wide Association Studies Using Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Markers Developed by Re-Sequencing of the Genomes of Cultivated Tomato

Getting closer to GWAS in tomato. Is going to take a lot more markers though to get high resolution.

Originally Posted by ChrisK

Is probably better as a preventative, it's not going to work like an insecticide. Rather, it activates some of the innate defense pathways, or primes the plant, if you will, by making it "think" it's under attack. You'll probably have to apply on a regular basis and I am skeptical that it will be effective under high pressure. You could setup your own controlled experiment.

I am sure google will return lots of results, mostly anecdotal, on tests of aspirin in the garden!

Chris,

This guy seems to agree with you about the use of aspirin as a preventative on tomato plants. I realize his Youtube presentation in only anecdotal, but it is interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGnmaiHU8mw

Ted