# Lost my tomatoes to TMV



## meat hunter (Sep 3, 2009)

?


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## irishteabear (Sep 3, 2009)

Bummer.  Sorry to hear that.


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## yodelhawk (Sep 3, 2009)

Man that sucks. Even worse that you have to get rid of the dirt! I can't grow a darn thing so I quit trying. Hope you do better next year.


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## alx (Sep 3, 2009)

That sucks.Anybody grow tobacco up their in the old days...Horrible plant for soil.My grandfather set records per acre yield in ohio,but that was during ww2-needed the cash.

Most TMV was bred out of all domestic tobacco at least 10 years ago.Wouldn't make much sense not too...I smoke marlboros now and again around garden and never had a problem in 20 years.-dont wash hands etc...The tobacco from Turkey- like Camels are not geneticaly bred to get rid of it.Much like GILROY-the used to be garlic capital in california.They grew intensive crop after crop and have a resistant strain of soil rot fungus that has screweed them....

Did you check the roots of plants.will check pics.I hate veggie diseases...Gonna solarize the soil where i plant pumpkins-powdery mildew.


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## meat hunter (Sep 3, 2009)

No, no tobacco grown here. It looks like this virus is prevalent in a whole host of veggies and weeds as well. Also known by the name, potato mosaic virus, tomato mosaic virus along with a few others. The area south of us grows taters, but its quite a ways away. I forgot how the virus is transmitted, I will go back and check. So much for saving any seeds for next years crop. I need a good reliable seed source. Anyone have a good place to get quality seeds? No more store bought stuff.


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## beer-b-q (Sep 3, 2009)

Sorry to hear about your tomatoes, That really sucks...


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## alx (Sep 3, 2009)

The potato etc i forgot about.I have used Burpee out of pennsylvania last 30 years(little mama for canning),but they now get seeds for alot of plants from asia,germany etc...Quality control issues-dang i miss the old america

I grow heirloom seeds from a few places,but low yields and way more disease friendy.Kind of a two edge sword deal.

I grow all my plants in this homemade leaf compost anywho.This is for next fall-ground yesterday..I have enough stored from 2008 for next spring/summer.you can see some in background for early spring/summer...

This is pure leaf compost that i use a compost thermometer and log temps so i kill all weed seed/pathogens etc...

I am updating my garden log in that section soon...Proof is in the pudding,until i get whacked by disease


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## ronp (Sep 3, 2009)

That sucks big time. I had a similiar thing happen 2 years in a row, I just quit planting.

Can you kill the virus with black plastic on the dirt?


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## alx (Sep 3, 2009)

Solarizing the soil is a technique using clear plastic to super heat soil.It works on shallow mildew like powdery mildew,but not sure about others.You do this months before planting...


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## oneeye (Sep 3, 2009)

I live 3 hours north of the Twin City Metromess and we do not have a prayer for getting ripe 'maters this year.  We have only had like 4 nights where it actually stayed warm - all summer long!!!  This past week it froze 2 nights in a row.  We had covered everything but it still slows down the already slowed ripening process.  It will suck to not have my Mason jars full either!  But, the sweet corn crop is great right now.


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## meat hunter (Sep 3, 2009)

?


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## alx (Sep 3, 2009)

Man, I feel for your blight.Let us know how the solarizing works out.I will be trying it near pumpkin patch for powdery mildew

I would send you a box of tomatoes,but i am tapped out.Sister and brother have dibs on rest.


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## tender loins (Sep 3, 2009)

Meat Hunter, you have *LATE BLIGHT!!!! *

*You really need to contact your local county extension service and report it!*

I am in the northeast and it usually NEVER shows it's ugly head, but most of the plants sold by Bonny Plants to places like Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, etc, either HAD Late Blight or contracted it. Many diseased plants got sold to the public!

*LAte Blight is a very serious disease--it's the SAME thing that caused the Irish Potato Famine in the mid-1800's! Plants can look fine on a Friday and a pile of rotting stinking mess on Monday!*

Best to remove the plants and bag them in clear plastic bags, seal the bags, and leave them in the sun to be sure everything inside dies. Then put it out for trash pickup; DO NOT COMPOST THE PLANTS! 

You don't need to solarize your soil; Late Blight needs a living host, like a buried potato, to overwinter. It cannot live alone in the soil. (But EARLY Blight can, a completely different disease.)

For more info on how serious this is (it's worse than the Bubonic Plague to tomatoes & potatoes, seriously) see these links:

http://www.hort.cornell.edu/departme...ght_tomato.htm Late Blight on Tomato disease photos.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...823043.html?53 Weekly late blight updates in the Northeast; links to FAQs, misinformation too. Ignore the organic nuts with their agendas in this thread. *Be sure to check the first 2 links* on this GardenWeb page, and *go to the bottom and look at earlier report dates to understand what happened.* Oh, and all spraying milk will do is make your garden stink.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...3262502.html?7 Within 48 hours Leaves went from Green to Brown

http://www.umassvegetable.org/LateBl...andPotato.html UMass Late Blight Alert...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0701163647.htm (Here's where it started) Late Blight -- Irish Potato Famine Fungus -- Attacks U.S. Northeast Gardens And Farms Hard 

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...632467993.html Late Blight Reports - The Boston Globe

This is a very serious disease that is extremely contagious to tomato & potato farmers. Home gardeners can have diseased plants that can infect nearby tomato or potato farms. It can easily travel by wind. 

I'm a member at that GardenWeb tomato growing forum. It is now believed to have infected almost everything up the eastern seaboard except I think GA, and was ALSO reported in OH, IN, MI, ONT,QUE & WI too recently. Add MN now!!!!

*Anyone growing tomatoes here, please take heed:* I hope I don't sound overdoing it here, but this is extremely serious. There is no cure and LB is usually LETHAL to plants. I just spent >$400 to try to slow it down or prevent it here on 100+ tomato plants!


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## meat hunter (Sep 3, 2009)

You know what, I think your right. I got what info I could off the net and the University of Minnesotas ext office. The links you send me were much more informative. I will call the local extension agency in the morning. I was just reading now on the net that the whole country can expect to see this problem. I dont have time to look right now, but is there anything I can do to save what little tomatoes I have left? Thanks for the info. If is greatly appreciated.


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## richoso1 (Sep 3, 2009)

Now that is a drag my friend, a lot of work went into that, only to be ruined.


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## alx (Sep 3, 2009)

Sounds like you nailed it TenderLoins.Can never have to many eyes/experience on these things.I have been a infrequent poster on gardenweb -baygrower-.Do you have any garden photos to share???


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## tender loins (Sep 4, 2009)

Save plants? or fruits? The problem with LB is that it may take 3-4 days to see it... in other words, the plant may look normal but be infected because of the delay time.

If the watery dark patches are on the stems & vines, the plants are pretty much goners. If you just have it on some leaves, remove those leaves, put them in a plastic bag & seal it to remove whatever disease you can see. Out of about 60 plants at my house here, only 5 have LB on some leaves. Every morning, I remove leaves and stick them in a plastic bag from the newspaper and knot it closed and stick in the sun til garbage day. Then I spray a fungicide after that, about every 5 days. Hot dry weather & regular fungicide spraying keeps it in check if you remove all visible signs.

The best way to fight LB is to use fungicides as preventatives before any disease is present. Next year, I will begin spraying as early as 6" tall plants, even before they go in the ground! If you are organic, use copper fungicides, though they aren't very effective; another item is called Serenade, though the jury is still out on it against Late Blight. 

If not organic, use Daconil or Ortho Garden Disease Control--both of these have 29.6% chlorothalonil as the active ingredient. I have been alternating these with Mancozeb, available from Bonide at garden centers. The Daconil I bought at Walmart, the Ortho at H-D. Commercial strength stuff similar to this would be Bravo, Echo (I think), Equus, and other names but the strength is 54% or even higher.

All of these are still contact or surface fungicides. There are very few systemic fungicides available to home gardeners. Systemics enter the plant and travel throughout the plant to protect it. Some are called "translaminar" or something like that, where it travels through the leaf from one side to the other. A friend just bought Previcur Flex, it was a systemic or translaminar, it was $259.95 for 2.5 gallon jug!

Surface fungicides on the other hand, you need to spray the entire plant, even the undersides of the leaves.

If you still have fruits that don't LOOK infected, if they are at least to the breaker stage where they start changing color from light green, maybe you can try removing them and somehow scrubbing them clean indoors and let them ripen there. I don't know how long they would last outdoors on the plants, especially if you still have spores around.

I still have a lot of questions myself, like why don't all my plants have it not just 5... and how long will it stay alive in the air & wind?

If anything, I would read the FAQs at the Cornell University link...

http://www.hort.cornell.edu/departme...path/lbfaq.pdf

They update this with more Q&A every week or 2.

Hope this helps.


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## tender loins (Sep 4, 2009)

Most of my photos are of tomatoes & peppers harvested. I have about 60 plants here and another 50+ at a friend's in the burbs. I also grow 10-25 varieties of heirloom garlic (12 this year I think), a few hundred onions, some triplesweet corn, etc. Giant pumpkins too, but have taken the last 2 years off & grew 400-500 garlic in the same space instead. Any specific pics just ask.


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## alx (Sep 4, 2009)

I am lokking for some German White Garlic from your area.P.M. me if you have any etc.I know the garlic is not cheap,but very interested in a couple pounds from good source-to plant this fall-nov. 15th- .....Nice Job on that I.D.   I did not think it was tobacco etc...........


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## tender loins (Sep 4, 2009)

I would have to check if it has an alias name; I grow German Extra Hardy every other year, I think that's different. I also grew Polish Hardneck.

Last fall I planted a lot of Asiatic/Turban types (Creole Red, Burgundy, Labera Purple, Cuban Purple, Wonha, etc.)

While I'll be at our Tomato TasteFest, a customer of mine will be at the Garlic Festival in the Poconos Saturday. Not sure how far that is from you. http://www.shawneemt.com/s_poconogarlicfestival.html

I told him to look for 3 specific really huge varieties I was looking for. I can try asking him to pick some up if he calls. 

I remember reading a rough cross-reference guide last year, maybe some are the same with different names?














Sorry for going off-topic!


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## meat hunter (Sep 4, 2009)

Tender Loins, thanks so much for your help and input. ALX and I have been sending a few PM's to each other. I told him that all my tomatoes were from the nursery since I lost all my plants that I started from seed to a accident in the green house. Waiting for the extension office to open and am going to give them a call.


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## tender loins (Sep 4, 2009)

You're welcome. While the original outbreak is believed to be the Bonny plants from the big box stores, it shows how dangerous Late Blight can be. If you originally bought Bonny plants, they may have been dead much sooner in the season; if they weren't Bonny plants from the nursery, and you still got it, it goes to show how easy this disease can spread.

Now multiply everything by the fact that there are still many people who don't have the internet to read these things, see these reports & pictures, etc. Many are still in the dark. They lose everything and don't do proper cleanup and contribute to the spread of the disease without even knowing it.

Luckily for us in the northern states, it's difficult for it to overwinter if we have a hard freeze. And while there are different strains, we so far only have asexual reproduction of the spores. There are actually what they call A1 & A2 lines; it's hard to understand how this works but consider one as a male and the other as a female, asexually they reproduce by themselves, but if we get both in the same place at the same time, they mate and can survive by sexual reproduction. Think of it as a "super strain" that would be hard to contain if that happens. I think this has happened in Mexico or S. America or somewhere.

Sorry, I'm not a microbiologist or anything, the best info on the A1 & A2 is in that FAQ link and the weekly update link http://nysipm.cornell.edu/scouting/l...ht/default.asp.

Here's the most interesting stuff:

*Why an endemic problem but not an epidemic catastrophe in susceptible crops this summer?*

_As previously documented, the spring and early summer of 2009 was setup for losses in tomato and potato crops of unprecedented proportions, given that infected tomato plants had been sold to unsuspecting home gardeners from large "big box" stores and environmental conditions (frequent rains and cool temperatures) were common throughout the NE. Additionally, in the case of potatoes, late blight occurrence in 2008 in some seed producing states, also could provide inoculum on infected tubers used for the 2009 crop. Based upon tests to identify the clonal lineages of Phytophthora infestans conducted in Dr Fry's lab at Cornell, the isolates recovered from infected tomato and subsequently infected potato did not fit any of the previous late blight genotypes previously identified in NY. The new genotype is mating type A2 (perhaps P-T, but not as virulent as some in the past), unlike the previous genotypes like US-11 (P-T) and US-17 (p by laboratory tests only-T) which are A1 mating types and were even more destructive on tomato. The pathogenicity indicated by (P-T) refers to pathogenic specialization on both crops, where capital P and T indicates primary pathogens of both crops, while a lower case letter indicates less pathogenicity for the crops. Separate infections did occur in potato in western NY and were identified as US-8 (mating type A2, P). US-8 is now the primary genotype of late blight infecting potato on a regional basis. So, our salvation this summer was that the primary genotype(s) spread throughout the region were apparently not as pathogenic on tomato and potato as we have encountered in other years. This is little consolation to homeowners and organic growers who suffered total loses, but does explain how some growers were able to keep losses to a minimum._

*What steps worked for growers faced with late blight in 2009?*

_I will divide this discussion into two parts, since we are dealing with the two different genotypes in NYS, and the actions taken are different. In the case of the unidentified A2 type originating initial from tomato (not quite P-T, but close) that spread to tomato and potato, growers (both conventional and organic) relied upon a tight fungicide program (5-7 day schedule) with late blight specific fungicides in conventional operations (products including contact materials like chlorothalonil, Gavel, and Ranman, and translaminar materials like Curzate, Previcur Flex, Revus, and Tanos). Organic growers relied on copper fungicides applied on a 3-4 day schedule (Nu-Cop and Basic Copper 53). Another procedure followed, especially by organic growers, was to flame out of the most aggressive hot spot areas located near tree lines to remove the most heavily infected plants early in the initial spread of late blight. This practice undoubtedly saved a lot of the crop and allowed copper sprays a chance to reduce remaining infections. In organic operations we also saw growers cutting down infected potato foliage of more susceptible varieties in an effort to reduce the inoculum level in their fields._
_In the case of commercial potato fields faced with the need to control US-8 (mating type A2, P) within their crop (likely originating from infected seed tubers), the steps take were more aggressive. Hot spots of infection in fields were killed as soon as detected and then an aggressive 4-5 day spray schedule was followed using the late blight specific products mentioned above._
_The bottom line in both cases this season, the successfully control on late blight hinged on the application of appropriate fungicides on a very tight schedule._

*What can we expect for the remainder of the season?*

_Unfortunately, we are not out of the woods by any means, as what I call "back filling" of infections is still occurring in remaining susceptible crops (potato and tomato) in both homeowner gardens and commercial acreages (both organic and conventional). Reports of late blight infections just now appearing in home gardens and isolated cropping areas are just now coming in. Although a brief spell of hot weather may have slowed down late blight a bit, it is still sporulating and producing inoculum during our heavy evening dew periods. All concerned interests must continue on a regular fungicide program until the crops are finished. Special care must be made in the case of potato to examine harvested tubers to make sure they are free of tuber blight. It is advisable to move the crop as soon as possible to reduce tuber infections in storage. The other significant reminder is to make sure that all tubers are harvested and that special attention is directed to removing and destroying volunteers that may survive the winter season and have the potential of carrying over late blight to next year. A common problem is encountered when corn is planted as the rotational crop in fields that had late blight this season. Volunteer potatoes are difficult to rogue out when hidden by the emerging corn or other rotational crop._

*What can we learn from tomato and potato crops with more limited infections?*


_Differences in the amount of infection of potato and tomato, both traditional varieties and heirlooms, have been observed this year across the state. For sure there are definitely differences in the amount of infection for both crops. However, given that the predominate clonal lineage that occurred this year is apparently not as aggressive as those encountered recently, this might lead one to consider a variety as resistant or tolerant to late blight, when in fact in another year is could perform differently. One fact does remain, with the exception of comments made about overwintering of inoculum on potato tubers, next year we begin the season with a "clean slate", one that will be more kind to all fanciers of tomato and potato. _

_........................._

Keep in mind that all it takes to spread into 2010 is just ONE buried potato that was infected that someone missed harvesting; P. infestans needs a live host and while the potato plant above ground may be dead, the actual potato (tuber) below ground may still be alive and harboring Late Blight! When it sprouts a plant next year, we can be reliving this all over again!


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## alx (Sep 4, 2009)

That german white is it.I was ;ooking for a large garlic.I am going to order some shortly,so no biggie if garlic doesnt come thru.

I think i will drive up to festival next year-worth it at mail order prices.

Thanks for your pics and response...


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## tender loins (Sep 4, 2009)

Somebody from NY e-mailed me a price list this summer for 3 varieties: German White, Spanish Roja, and another one. I think minimum order was 3lbs. I will see if I can find it. The prices weren't bad.

The 3 largest varieties I found listed anywhere were Estonian Red, Krasnodar Red and Ron's Single Center. Estonian averaged a whopping 4.4oz per head!


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## meat hunter (Sep 4, 2009)

Well I called the extension office. Spoke to the master gardener. Turns out, a vast number of people in our county are experiencing the same thing. And to add insult to injury, I had the wife pick up a bunch of tomatilos yesterday along with some cayennes for making salsa. The lady at the extension office told me that it was not wise to use any tomatoes that suffered from the blight, even if they do not show signs of the blight, as their ph levels will be too low to can, even with the addition of vinegar or lemon juice. Looks like we are headed to the farmers market tomorrow and get a basket of tomatoes. If anyone has input on the salsa, as far as bringing up the ph level so I could use the ones I have, feel free to chime in.


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## tender loins (Sep 4, 2009)

Let's hope that she just made a simple mistake and got it backwards--the disease has a chance of making the pH higher I'd guess, because for canning it's imperative that things are low pH, that's why you often add lemon juice or vinegar or citric acid.

I personally don't know if it will change the pH but I do recall that they don't recommend canning with them... I'll look to see if I can find anything in the FAQs.

EDIT: Here's what I found in the LB FAQs:


_...Diseases like late blight and anthracnose are not considered a health concern for commercial tomato processing. Fruit are sorted to remove affected ones, but this is because of the impact on fruit quality. For home canning, only disease-free, preferably vine-ripened, firm tomatoes are recommended in the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning because fungal pathogens may raise tissue pH (which has been supported by recent studies) and thereby allow growth of potentially harmful microorganisms, such as Salmonella. _

_Deterioration can occur quickly after infection; therefore, affected tomatoes and potatoes should be salvaged and consumed right away. _


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## meat hunter (Sep 4, 2009)

I think she meant acid levels would be too low, or are they the same thing? Were going to the farmers market in the morning to get some fresh ones, and keep what we have left for salads and such. Thanks for your input on this, I think that if you did not mention anything, I would have not contacted the ext office and never learn about not canning them.


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