fusarium wilt

[tippy]

Thanks b54red!!!!

[Orang3]

Red,

Just wanted to pick your brain on a fusarium wilt question. I suspect that my sungold growing in a contain is infected. The lower leaves have been yellowing and is slowly moving up the main stem. I have been removing as they appear so the bottom of my plant has been bare. But now there is new growth/sucker popping up from the bottom and the leaves appear healthy. From your experience, do plant infected with FV show new growth like this?

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Orang3

Red,

Just wanted to pick your brain on a fusarium wilt question. I suspect that my sungold growing in a contain is infected. The lower leaves have been yellowing and is slowly moving up the main stem. I have been removing as they appear so the bottom of my plant has been bare. But now there is new growth/sucker popping up from the bottom and the leaves appear healthy. From your experience, do plant infected with FV show new growth like this?

Sometimes they will. Last year I had a Stump of the World that I thought was dead from fusarium in July that sent out new growth and continued right up til it froze. I still don't know how it survived because the main stem was dead all over and brown like an old tree stump. Usually those new growths that come out near the bottom of an infected plant will start showing signs of fusarium before they can set any fruit and will wilt and die.

[b54red]

Just went out after a hard rain of at least an inch or more this afternoon and found that every plant that was showing fusarium signs had just totally wilted. Rain sure seems to make it worse. Last year it was much better during the drought we had. Particularly upsetting were my lone Brandywine Sudduth and Cowlicks that were both 7 ft tall and loaded with 2/3rds grown fruit and yesterday were only showing some yellowing on the lower leaves were both totally wilted when I went outside a few minutes ago. It looks like I will have to pull at least a dozen plants. Anyone wanting fried green tomatoes?

[FILMNET]

Terrible news, very sorry!!!!!

[lakelady]

Originally Posted by b54red

Just went out after a hard rain of at least an inch or more this afternoon and found that every plant that was showing fusarium signs had just totally wilted. Rain sure seems to make it worse. Last year it was much better during the drought we had. Particularly upsetting were my lone Brandywine Sudduth and Cowlicks that were both 7 ft tall and loaded with 2/3rds grown fruit and yesterday were only showing some yellowing on the lower leaves were both totally wilted when I went outside a few minutes ago. It looks like I will have to pull at least a dozen plants. Anyone wanting fried green tomatoes?

oh man, that really stinks. So sorry to hear that, and I hope that your other plants stay strong!

[z_willus_d]

B54, I'm sorry to hear about the acceleration of your expectant troubles. But it's good that you're prepared to insert replacements, having been used to the Fursarium condition.

Now on to mine. This is my first year at a new home, and I spent many hours preparing a new raised system of raised beds, with irrigation, mulching and the works. One so interested may read all about it in my thread here:
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...t=20912&page=2

Around three weeks ago, I saw my first signs of some yellowing of the lower leaves (though not necessarily the lowest) on a couple of my vines. As the temperatures have risen so too has the incidence of this condition. About a week in I begin culling heavily. I probably pulled out several lbs of leaf matter per plant in a week. I've been spraying weekly with the old Agri-Fos/Actinovate combination, but I switched to Daconil about the time I noticed the leaves yellowing.

I then serially noticed I had an infestation of leaf-hoppers, locusts, and thips; the latter being the most dire and acute. I've sprayed almost nightly with neem oil, spinosad, and take down garden sprays, all organic. I still can't flick a ripe flower and not see 2 or 3 thrips come spewing out. The thrips are nasty because they render the blossoms dead and also vector diseases. I've pulled out three plants with what looks like a spotted virus.

But the thrips are not the ultimate enemy. No, I believe that distinction must go to the nasty prevalent condition of fusarium and/or verticillium that seems to be father Death for my OP heirloom garden, especially with the heatwave that's hit us here in Sacramento (100+ temps maxing out near 110F). This is almost all new soil in the beds (you can read about the mixture in the above thread), so I must have gotten a contaminated dump from the local bulk dealer.

You can see my best attempt at capturing just some of my vines in the pics I've posted. I think it's curious that a few varieties seem less afflicted (Cherokee Purple, NAR, Indian Stripe, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye), however those plants seem to have been hit with some kind of fungus, maybe gray mold or the like. In any case, they're going down too. I'll follow-up this post with some pictures of my Earth and InnTainers, the former of which got all soil-less new grow media, and they aren't showing any of the signs of yellowing that I'm getting from the Inn bed vines.

I posted my look-up (see last pic) for the varieties I've planted, and that's all the information I have due to a computer malfunction early this year. All plants in the bed are afflicted and going down fast!

I'm posting here to just get confirmation that I am indeed most likely dealing with F and/or V. I'm actually considering whether it might be worth pulling the vines out as they are and replacing with more resistant hybrid varieties that I might find late season at some nursery. I hate to give up on all the small green tomatoes from back when the plants were healthy, but I've noticed they no longer increase in size (not since the affliction blew up), so I'm not sure there's much hope in waiting on these tomatoes. I picked my first small ripe non cherry tomato the other day, and it was quite tasteless. I think the vines just suffer and suck on multiple dimensions when they're as convicted as these are now.

I'm working with Marla (a fellow TV member) on investigating the practice of root-grafting for next year. There really is no point in my wasting my energy and resources on "growing" tomatoes vines to host F/V, but if I can double my efforts and get through this with RS/Scion, there may be hope yet.

Alright, thanks in advance for the advice and confirmation of my F-fliction.
-naysen

[z_willus_d]

Here are a few pictures of the parts of my garden that aren't on death's door. The EarthTainers, Corn in Earth and InnTainers, a shot of one of my Eggplants (potted and also showing some Fusarium signs), and an upskirt shot of Perth's pride in an InnTainer. The dwarfs in InnTainers seem to have something like F/V, and they are sharing new grow media with old, so that's certainly quite possible.
Best,
Naysen

[Sun City Linda]

B54 - So sorry!

Naysen - I think only one of those wilts is prevelent in CA, cant remember which one right now. My tomato plants get a variety of yellow and crunchy leaves but as long as I get tomatoes, I have decided I dont care what the plant looks like!

I would not pull anything unless I knew it was wicked, like Late Blight. Just because the first toms dont taste good does not mean the one that follow will be the same.

I only have one of the new dwarfs growing (Rosella Purple) and its got something, could be any number of things. I am currently using Take Down and Daconil. RP first tomato just started to color up today. I should go out and get it tonight before the rats decide to sample it!

You have a lot of good looking plants and some, not so much. Sounds normal to me......

[Dewayne mater]

Naysen - you and Red have both had trying years to be sure! Sorry about that. I'm with Linda about not pulling plants though. I have several that look absolutely horrible and have for at least a month or 6 weeks. Mixed diseases, at times flea beetles, worms, and spider mites, with all pests somewhat controlled now. Disease will not be conquered this year. Yet, the good news is, by fighting back, I've managed to not lose any plants and most of them have new growth that looks healthy and all plants are producing to some degree or another. In fact, my large beefsteaks (other than big beef) are really just now starting to come in.

To fight, I've tried it all. Reds bleach spray twice! Each time, lots more leaves died than anticipated, which I understand is a sign of the disease being more advanced than was visible. Daconil, Serenade, and Excel G and actinovate are my friends. Seaweed feed, check. In the tainers a few times I've refilled with a mix of Calmag (helps prevent BER) and a Foxfarms liquid fert. Several applications of neem oil along the way. Spinosad. Take down. When it is listed like this, I can't imagine I've sprayed them so much, but, if I hadn't, I'm convinced I would have nothing. Instead, I've been sharing with friends and family, eating them with every meal, making salsa.

So, until they drop dead, I would keep trying all the tools and see what you get. I'm stubborn like that and it has paid off to be stubborn this year. Good luck.

Dewayne mater

[Mlm1]

Naysen, we would get fusarium in this area. I think it is too hot here for verticillium. I've looked through your pictures a couple of times and I don't see anything that I would call wilt. Have you had a whole plant or one whole branch turn yellow and then go limp as if it had not been watered? I see yellowing and some death of mainly lower leaves but even if some leaves higher up turn yellow I wouldn't think of wilt unless the entire branch right to the growing tip turned yellow and wilted. Sometimes early on all of the leaves on one side of the branch turn yellow but again it would be all the way to the end of that branch. Maybe someone else will notice something in your pictures that I have missed but I don't think you need to pull any of those. Also, I don't think the first tomatoes of the year taste very good. I wouldn't worry about the taste yet. So, unless you have wilt to the end of the branch I think something else is going on. I'll be curious to see what the fusarium experts think.

Marla

[z_willus_d]

All, thanks for the comments. I think it's very hard to capture just how sick my plants are in the pictures. Real quick, yes I know very well that the first tomatoes off the vine (or even the 2nd, 3rd and nth) don't necessarily taste the best. It's really the 2 weeks of no increase in size that's got me worried. Back to the plants, these pictures show what the plant looks like after I've ripped out numerous shoots and leaves. I do this just about every day, although I'm thinking I need to just stop that practice in hopes of leaving at least some dead leave cover to shield the tomatoes some from the searing sun. Even when my wife walks by the plants without really looking, she'll say "oh, they look good." Then I ask her to step up and take another look and she agrees they're actually quite sickly. And the rate has just sped up with heat and over the past couple weeks. I think it's just hard to capture using a cheap Android phone camera.

Marla, I'll say that there is a lot of wilt on the leaves here and there. Any of the newer shoots of growth that come out along the stem where it's brown, I've note always have the wilt and yellow condition -- they don't come out healthy and green anymore. I've removed entire stems (some with tomatoes attached by accident) that have shown the condition top to bottom. These were usually stems of middling age; the oldest stems still have some green growth on their top third, the newest just flag from the start, and these middle-agers succumb over time. Maybe I can grab my wife's iPhone and try to capture a few clearer pictures of a some of plants. As forward as I might seem in my belief that this is Fusarium, I'm in no way certain, hence this post. What I know are the advancing conditions, the shift in my plants from the healthiest 2 month old 3-5' vines I've ever had to some of the least healthy, the correlation to summer heat, and the leaf and branch behavior. Some branches remain green, while others (now most) turn yellow, wilt, then dry up and die; trunks turn brownish and sickly looking.

If not fusariam, gosh dang it I need to determine what? Oh, the other bit of evidence I have is the fact that my four EarthTainers, filled with new SS#4 advanced + FF ocean forest potting mixes, show no signs of this problem. I'm certain they're heating up just as much as my beds and probably more. They're mulched about the same. Same pH. The only difference is the soil vs. soil-less grow media. I've got watering and drainage nailed down well too. Ok, enough ranting, and if there are any specific pics I can take or questions I can answer that will help nail down the problem, please don't hesitate to ask.

I appreciate the help!
-naysen

[Andie]

It seem that my green zebra died from fusarium wilt. I purchase a replacement I hope it survives.

Andrea

[Mlm1]

Naysen, could you cut your sickest plant off at ground level and look at the stem to see if it has the vascular discoloration that you would expect with the wilts? If you don't have the discoloration then you can continue working up the illness. If you do have the discoloration then it is probably wilt and you can plan from there. If you do check one of the stems it would be great to see a picture of it.

Marla

[b54red]

Naysen, if I saw the yellowing you show in your pictures I would immediately think early stage fusarium. Sometimes the first sign of fusarium will be a slowing in growth. One of the reasons I have been picking so many small fruit off of the sick plants is the growth just slows to almost nothing and by the time the plant totally wilts the fruit will still be smaller than normal. I don't pull plants with fusarium til they totally wilt or if they are still very small and showing advanced symptoms with only very small fruit on them. Marla is right about cutting one of the stems that has a lot of yellowing leaves. If you see the dark vascular tissue it is usually a confirmation of fusarium. Plants with fusarium will tend to yellow faster once hot weather arrives and heavy rain will only speed up the process for some reason. I will try to go out today and cut some stems and take some pictures to show you what to look for.

I think it was your second pick that looked a bit like Gray Mold but it is a little hard to tell in the photo. I can say it seems to hit black tomatoes first and hardest. I wouldn't think it would be a major problem in the drier climate you have in California. It is almost always worse here during times of heavy or frequent rains and very high humidity. The bleach spray is the only thing I have found that is helpful with it and it is only effective if you spray early in the disease cycle before it infects most of the plant.