List of Some Tomato Varieties Resistant to Nematodes

13 years ago

This list is for Jo and anyone else who has soil infested with root knot nematodes.

The following hybrid tomatoes have some degree of nematode-resistance bred into them. Some varieties may tolerate nematodes more than others, and none of them are likely to be 100% "immune" to nematode damage, which is why we say they're 'resistant to' or 'tolerant of' nematodes.

This list is not all-inclusive, but includes many of the more commonly grown hybrids with nematode resistance.

The letters indicating proven disease or pest tolerance were taken from catalog listings, so if two catalogs I consulted showed different disease/pest toslerances listed them, I listed both.

Abraham Lincoln Improved (VFN or VFNASt)

Beefmaster (VFN or VFNASt)

Bella Rosa (VFFNA)

Better Boy (VFN)

Better Bush (VFN)

Big Beef (VFFNTASt)

Big Bite (VFFNT)

Burpee Supersteak (VFN)

Bush Early Girl (VFFNT)

Bush Goliath (VFN)

Cavalier (VFNTA)

Celebrity (VFNTA or VFFNTASt)

Champion III (VFNT)

Crista (VFFFTSWVN)

Corona PS (VFFNASt)

Early Goliath (VFFNTASt)

Empire (VFFNASt)

Enchantment (VFN)

First Prize (VFFNT)

Fletcher (VFNTSWV)

Golden Girl (VFFNA)

Goliath (VFFNT)

Heartland (VFN or VFFN)

Italian Goliath (VFFNTA)

Jetsetter (VFFNTA)

LaRoma III (VFFNA)

Lemon Boy (VFN or VFNASt)

Miroma (VFFN)

Park's Whopper (VFN)

Park's Whopper Improved (VFFNT)

Royesta (FFNT)

Small Fry (VFNASt)

Sunny Goliath (VFN)

Super Bush (VFN)

Super Fantastic (VFN)

Super Marzano (VFNT or VFNTA)

Sweet Cluster (VFNT)

Tiffany (VFNT)

Tomande (VFFNT)

Tomosa (VFNT)

Victoria Supreme (VFFNA)

Viva Italia (VFFNA)

Ultra Boy (VFN)

Small Fry (VFN)

Sugar Snack (NT)

Super Beefsteak (VFN)

Sweet Chelsea (VFNT)

Sweet Million (FNT)

Sweet Quartz (VFNT)

Tough Boy (VFN)

Window Box Roma (VFN)

I am sure there are some heirloom varieties with some resistance to or tolerance of root knot nematodes, but since no one has paid to test and 'prove' the tolerance/resistance exists, we don't know "for sure" which ones they are. I do remember reading somewhere that DarJones said Red Mortgage Lifter was nematode resistant or tolerant.

Dawn

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Baby G (USDA:10a, Sunset:21&23 SoCal-NE. Mt Washington, Lo-Chill: 200-400 Hrs, So

5 years ago

Worth a bump.

I will add some Heirlooms with RKN resistance. (Note that tomatoes with the N gene lose a lot of that RKN resistance when summer heats up.)

Mortgage Lifter OP

Rowdy Red OP

Carmello OP (and H)

Sungold OP (and H)

And some favorite hybrids:

Super Sweet 100

Momotaro

Chocolate Sprinkels

I am now looking into trap cropping my RKN land with RKN-resistant peppers, specifically with Me3 gene. They are better "trap" crops b/c the nematode enters the root and cannot get back out again after reproducing. And unlike N-gene, the Me3 gene seems never to lose its resistance conditionally. With normal RKN (non-resistant) trap crops, getting them out in two week, with ALL of the root intact is essential, and the effect in the soil is less permanent.

I also always add a chitin-based organic fertilizer source, such as crab meal. You want to sustain all of the chitin-loving (aka RKN-loving) microbes in your soil when the RKN population dips.

Jennifer in SoCal z10

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Comments (8)

p_mac
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Dawn - thank you SO much for such a concise list! We have (to some degree) overcome the nematode issue after several years of work on the first garden spot aka the Salsa Garden. Things have done much better there this year. But that list perfectly explains why I STILL have Italian Goliath plants producing. They are the ONLY survivors in that garden space. We really, really liked this strain of tomatoes. They were the first producers. I got the seeds from Totally Tomatoes.

15 years ago when I lived in SW OKC, on a branch of Lightning Creek off of SW 89th & Penn...I had horrible trouble with Verticullum Wilt so I learned to buy plants that were VFN bred. HA! Look at me now! I can successfully start my own from seeds!

Paula
jcheckers
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Dawn,
Thanks for the list, I've never had problems with nemetodes but had problems this year with a 5 minute nickle sized hail storm followed by two flooding 10" rains in the following month. Do you know of any varieties that are resistant to this? Thanks,

Keith
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Gary, I knew if anything was going on in the research world in our state, you'd know about it. I look forward to seeing the results from the Kerr Center's research. Carol, I knew that grafting robots existed, but had never seen one. Wasn't that amazing? Now, if only they'd create a robot we all could afford that would travel up and down the rows of our gardens pulling weeds. Jay, I figured in anyone in the heirloom tomato world was experimenting with grafting, you'd know who it was and what they were doing and what results they were seeing. I don't think nematodes will survive your cold winter temps? And, I certainly hope we are right in believing that. I, too, would assume your nematode-infested plant was infested when you bought it. I've always wondered if nematodes could be brought into a garden in infested seedlings, and I guess they can. It probably wouldn't have happened in "the old days" when we were kids and soil fumigants were used so much more than they are today (and even in some home gardens back then). Jo, First of all, hooray for the rain! We had a very light sprinkle here early this morning but not the heavier rain that some of y'all have had sometime since midnight. I have toyed with the idea of grafting for a couple of years, but haven't had a real reason to try it, other than curiosity. As I was thinking about your nematode issue there, I finally asked myself what I would do if I had nematodes in my soil, and the quick answer was that first I'd grow in containers but then, secondly, that I'd try grafting so I could grow endless numbers of varieties without spending a king's ransom to fill up 100 to 200 very large containers. I was trying to think of an easy way to make a chamber that would be high humidity for those first few days and I came across a thread on the Tomato Forum where one of the posters used an aquarium placed upside down over the young grafts and just lifted it a few times a day to mist for humidity. We have one of DS's old aquariums in the garage, so that would work for me. I think I'd leave the aquarium upright and put either a plexiglass or plastic sheeting cover over the top of it because I'm such a klutz that I'd likely drop the aquarium onto the grafted plants and smash them all to smithereens if I had to lift it several times a day in order to mist the air. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Grafting Tomatoes
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I have been growing (or attempting to grow) tomatoes in Tucson for many years now. My philosophy with tomatoes is grow sandwich sized tomatoes of good taste and heavy production on disease/heat resistant plants. I have tried Super Souix, Porter, and others with minimal success. The problem tends to be that the plants get very big without much fruit set before or after the main heat of the season. My experience has been that the bulk of my food production from tomatoes has been from varieties that are referred to as semi-determinate (tomato varieties that are determinate in size, but indeterminate in fruit production). The best tomato I have grown in this class has been the F1 Celebrity. It is very easy to come by and does very well with only a little west-side shade after the month of May. 6-12 of these plants will feed a family of 4-6 with tomato sandwiches all through the summer. (As a note I do not use shade cloth and plant my tomatoes FAR from structures such as houses or walls that radiate heat at night). Many heirloom and other open pollinated varieties of tomatoes can produce very nice foliage here in the desert but they often fail to produce any significant amount of fruit. After trialing multiple open-pollinated tomato varieties each year, the best open-pollinated variety I have ever grown that tolerates the heat has been Siletz (see the link below). This variety is parthenocarpic, so it will produce virgin fruit through the summer, then, from my experience, you will be lucky if you can get some seeds from the plant in the fall. (= Neptune is also another good variety but it is a classic determinate, meaning it produces only one crop before its demise. No matter what tomato I grow, the biggest key to growing tomatoes in a desert climate is to put them in the ground or have some kind of insulated container with a water reservoir. Once the plants are established you must wean yourself from the tendency to water every day. Gardeners who water (at most) once every 3 days have much more success than those who water every day. Though this is initially counter-intuitive, flood irrigating or watering for 2+ hours on a drip hose every 3 days enables the roots of the tomatoes to develop 18-24 inches below the surface of the ground where they are well insulated from the scorching summer heat. The main benefit from watering occasionally comes in less plant stress and consequently, much less disease and pest problems. If you are new to this area you might also note some of the considerations to growing tomatoes in the following blog post: http://scientificgardener.blogspot.com/2012/01/few-tips-for-growing-tomatoes-tucson.html Here is a link that might be useful: Siletz tomato trial
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It's a wonder that nobody has developed a variety that does well when these diseases are present. I expect that someday GMOs will show up that are resistant. Not 100% sure I want them, though! LOL ***** Sandy, it has nada to do with GMOs. What it's all about is the inability to ID and isolate the genes responsible for so many of the diseases. Do you have any idea how long both Dr. Randy Gardner and Dr. Tom Zitter, both worldwide known tomato folks have been trying to develop varieties tolerant to Early Blight which is the most common foliage disease in the world? So far nothing much except what I mentioned above re spray schedules.. So if a gene, or genes, responsible for imparting resistance/tolerance to a specific disease can't be IDed, you don't have to worry about anyone developing any GMO varieties. There were two GMO varieties developed quite a few years back, one was Flvr Saver and I forget the other one, but neither one had to do with disease and both were complete failures. I don't see GMO tomato varieties appearing any time soon when conventional breeding is probably still the best way to go once the relavant genes can be IDed. Just My opinion. Carolyn
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tomato...rkn resistant varieties???
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A thick layer of a light colored organic mulch could potentially reduce solar radiation and keep soil temps down into a range where Mi is more effective. Some OP's (there are numerous OP processing types with N) Amex VFN Anahu (Univ Hi) Andino Atkinson Calmart Crown Bee (Aussie variety) Dona Feista Healani (Univ Hi) Moneymaker Select Monita (derived from Moneymaker) Motabo (derived from Moneymaker) Mossol (derived from Moneymaker) Motelle (derived from Moneymaker) Motac (derived from Moneymaker) Nemared Nematex Peto 343 Puunu (Univ Hi) Ronita (France) Sunburst Super Marzano VFN-8 (UCD introductions) VFN BUSH VFNT Cherry remember also any de-hybridized line will have a 50% chance for having some resistance - select the resistant ones and you can develop a line. Since it is a dominate gene one must do so for at least 6 generations. there is also another "trick" or marker that can help one narrow down the gene's presence but I cant give away all the good secrets The gene is not present in the nematodes, so how can there be isolated populations of nematodes where tolerance might break down when they don't even have the gene? Carolyn is really just not getting Overman's point. which is kinda funny since she's a PhD in microbiology and should understand the reasoning to changes in populations: SO I'll try again the point is REALLY simple. It isnt the Mi gene that changes. It's the nematode population that changes. Here are similar examples. I am sure you know of antibiotics that no longer work on strep strains. So it is not the host or antibiotic that has somehow changed. But I suspect in this case you know it is the strep which has changed into a new strain overcoming the ability for the antibiotic to work. When a pathogen overcomes the ability of a chemical spray to work what changes? It isn't certainly isn't the chemical and in a generation or two it isn't the host(s). It's the pathogen itself which adapts and changes to the conditions it finds itself in just like the strep example above. Another relevant example with another pathogens of tomato would be with late blight. LB in some instances has changed (through selection pressure) and Ridomil no longer is an effective spray in these situations. It wasn't the Ridomil nor the tomato variety(ies) which changed so quickly as you seem to be implying. It was the pathogen itself. So Overman is implying that isolated nematode populations can adapt, through selection, mutation or both to overcome the host's Mi genetic resistance. Mi confers resistance but it is limited to the environment it finds itself.
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joellenh
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Oh my GOSH DAWN thank you SO MUCH.

I am copying this list to a word file and will choose from these varieties next year.

I probably won't be able to resist throwing in a Juan Flamme, but I guarantee you that 90% of my non-cherry tomatoes next year will be from this list. Maybe I'll do a Brandywine and a Black from Tula/tulsa and a Cherokee purple and a Juan Flamme in containers and do 6-10 of these varieties in my beds.

YOU are INCREDIBLE.

Jo
elkwc
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Dawn,
I know of a few op's that many of the growers who have had nematode problems say have good resistance. Like I mentioned in the other thread Atkinson is one of them. One I grew this year and one I'll grow again. Most of the fruit were 4-7 ounces for me. What I call an all around type. Very good old time flavor with a bit of acidic taste to it. I saved seeds from it and should have plenty for anyone wanting to try it. I will check my list for some more. Jay
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Paula, You're welcome. I knew you'd had nematode issues and that Jo is now battling them, so figured a list might come in handy because it is likely other members of this forum have nematodes too. Lots of the gardeners here in our county have very sandy soil and nematodes plague them, so even though I personally don't have to deal with them on our land (so far), I have many friends who do.

The entire line of Goliath hybrids carried by Totally Tomatoes is very good and I think all but three of their Goliath hybrids are nematode-resistant and I consider those Goliath varieties about as close as you can get to "a sure thing" with bybrid tomatoes. I don't think any Goliath type I've grown has ever disappointed me. I don't think I had any Goliaths in my garden last year, but I started several for friends who are nematode-challenged last year, and they just loved them.

I remember the first year I started tomatoes from seeds, Paula. I was so excited because I thought I'd done something really special. Later on, after I realized how easy it is to do, I realized I wasn't quite the brilliant horticulturalist I thought I was. : ) Still, I love growing my own, although every now and then I'll buy a tomato plant because no matter how many different varieties I plant, you just know I'll walk into a store and see one I wished I'd planted and didn't. Tim has learned that even if I grow 100 varieties from seed, I still have to look at every plant in every store we're in "just in case", as in "just in case" they have one variety that I don't already have growing. He has the patience of a saint!

Keith, Don't I wish I did! For hail, just wait for me to transplant all my plants into the garden. It will hail here within 24 hours of that and then it won't hail again the rest of the year. So, if you wait for the hail storm after I plant, and then you plant your plants, you're home free and clear and with unshredded plants.

For heavy rainfall, I hear you loud and clear. In 2006, our exceptional drought of 2005-2006 ended with 9.25" of rainfall in one day late in April, and 8" of that fell in less than 4 hours. My plants were not amused. However, most survived. I figured the garden and I had survived the worst thing that Mother Nature would throw at us....until we received 12.89" in one day in April 2009. My rainfall solution is raised beds. They don't guarantee heavy rainfall won't drown your plants, but they help a lot.

IF I couldn't have raised beds for some reason, I'd deal with the ever-present threat of flooding rains by grafting tomato seedlings onto eggplant rootstocks because eggplant roots tolerate much, much, much wetter soil than tomato plant roots can stand.

Jo, You give me too much credit. All I did was sit here with some old notes I had in notebooks and compile a list, and then I flipped through a couple of catalogs to get the right 'VNF' codes to go with each variety on the list, and picked up and added some newer releases or some whose disease rating has changed as additional tolerances were bred into new versions of a given variety.

Jay, I am glad you have some ideas for heirlooms that resist nematodes because I don't have nematodes, and most of the folks here around me with nematode-infested soil only grow hybrids. I know some of our neighbors had nematodes when I was a kid, but I wasn't paying attention to what they were growing back then....I wish I could go back and spend one week with all the old gardeners I grew up around so I could pick their brains and ask questions now that I didn't know to ask back then.

Dawn
elkwc
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Here is some more info on Atkinson. I will post some other varieties later. Jay
"A 1966 round red from Auburn University. Fruits average 12 ounces. Originally a green wrap shipper now a home garden cultivar."

Atkinson Tomato
Description - Red, indeterminate, 75 days, vigorous, heavy foliage, firm, smooth light red flattened globes, 6-16 ounces, from Hastings Seed Company back in 1984, originally developed by Auburn University for southern climate.

Atkinson (AU 22 and STEP 500) - Breeder: Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama. Vendor: Corneli Seed Co. Characteristics: indeterminate vine, strong; fruit meaty, large to 1.1 pounds, small core, good color and flavor, green shouldered; suitable for green wraps, fresh market, and home gardens. Resistance: nematodes and fusarium wilt race 1. Similar: Marion. Adaptation: southeastern U.S. Atkinson tomato, Auburn Agr. Expt. Sta. Leaf. 73, Nov. 1966.
klo1
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thank you Dawn! I have really had trouble this year with several things. Will use your list for the up-coming year and hope for the best!

List of Some Tomato Varieties Resistant to Nematodes

Baby G (USDA:10a, Sunset:21&23 SoCal-NE. Mt Washington, Lo-Chill: 200-400 Hrs, So

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List of Some Tomato Varieties Resistant to Nematodes

Baby G (USDA:10a, Sunset:21&23 SoCal-NE. Mt Washington, Lo-Chill: 200-400 Hrs, So

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