looking for late blight resitant tomatoes

14 years ago

Hi,

After such a rotten growing season last year, I expect that there are a few tomatoes ( bigger than grape or cherry )out there that are late blight resistant. Does anyone out there have a list of resistant tomatoes to share? I am a SSE member so just knowing the names can help me make a selection.

Thank you,

Munalos

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Comments (17)

carolyn137
14 years ago
I went to your page to try and find out where in zone 4 you lived, but couldn't find out.

If you were in the NE last year, as I am, Late Blight (P.infestans) was a terrible problem, and other areas to my immediate south as well as along the mid Atlantic states as well as the PNW, also had problems, but LB has always been a problem in the PNW.

The good news is that if you're in the NE LB can only overwinter on living tomato tissue so it won't be a problem this season, everyone hopes. Yes, there's a reservoir of LB in stored potato tubers, but that too has always been a problem.

In the PNW there are two mating types of LB so there is the possibility of the formation of sexual spores which can persist.

But there are many many threads here about Late BLight which popup easily with a search.

I'm not sure how being an SSE member is going to help you make any decisions about tomato varieties to grow when it does come to LB, other than spending some time in the species section for tomatoes in the Yearbook, but I don't think you want to grow just currant tomatoes, for example, which do show some tolerance to LB.

So if LB is your major concern, as opposed to Early Blight ( A. solani), which is a very common foliage disease, and both of those can be found early or late in the season, I'm not sure I can name any specific varieties that would help.

Summary: if LB is a known problem for you then choosing varieties from the Yearbook ( yes, I've been an SSE member since 1989) I don't think is going to help re Late Blight.

Carolyn
digdirt2
14 years ago
I expect that there are a few tomatoes ( bigger than grape or cherry )out there that are late blight resistant.

We would all love to have some. ;) Unfortunately they don't exist for late blight.

Good luck this year.

Dave
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In the 'old days', many of the tomato plants have a lot more natural protection againt any blights. Today, with all the hundreds or varieties, its very hard to know which will grow well in a specific area. I recall growing stuffing tomatoes one year. Kind of like a cross between a big bell pepper with an empty cavity inside except for the seed cluster. The stuffing tomatoes looked good at first, but once the started to ripen to red, they got small spots on the skins that destroyed them very fast. If they were picked before the spots appeared and brought indoors, washed and allowed to sit on a counter overnight, the next day they would have many bad spots that quickly consumed them. Never again will I plant a stuffing tomato. My two favorite choices for tomato seeds is Totally Tomatoes and Tomato Growers. Both offer many kinds, and some are highly resistant to blights. Of course the store boughts are like baseballs and can take a lot of banging around, but thats fine if they are intended to be handled a lot and shipped a long distance away.
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I haven't been reading all the threads on this forum or any for that matter this week with everything going on. Just read through this thread. I hate to start on a thread if I don't have time to read all of it. I could just say Ditto to what Dawn said and leave it at that. But then Dawn would be disappointed if I didn't ramble on aimlessly a little. I will address the issues in no particular order. Seranade. Last year I did like this year started off trying to go without spraying and then when I gave up already had some disease issues. I agree it is best to start if you plan to spray 7-14 days after transplant. I pruned leaves last year and then sprayed with Daconil heavy the first time and then at the regular rate and the first two on a five day rotation and after about 3 weeks things were going good. I then decided to try Seranade. No change in weather and no moisture. In five days I was in another mess. Early blight mainly and a few spot problems. I then went back to Daconil and stayed on a 7-10 schedule till Labor Day and then quit spraying and things were fine. So for me it hasn't worked well at all. I listened to the Rutgers/Cornell webex and they stated that they hadn't seen good results on a consistent basis with Seranade. Like Dawn said you need to balance that a little but have seen many say the same. Think it may work under certain conditions. This summer I have used Daocnil mainly along with two forms of copper and may try another. Copper seems to work better on the spot and speck. Daconil covers more diseases and works well especially on EB. I didn't spray during the last rainy spell due to rain every night. Not complaining. I did spray one night and got two inches a few hours later. When the rain quit and it warmed up I had some spot so sprayed with Copper. The EB took ahold again. So have been trimming leaves and spraying with Daconil and think I have it under control again. I have read some of the organic controls and have tried some from sources I respect. I haven't tried the skim milk yet but may sometime. Did try the peroxide this summer and may try it as a preventative next year. I saw some promise to it. But just thought I had better go with what I trusted as the insect borne diseases were getting so many didn't want to lose any I could possibly save. Think in a normal year that it might be enough. But will have to use it for a few years to make my final judgement. I usually try to go by the label on spraying schedules. Most will say 7-10 days or 5-7 days. I have seen several back east spraying every day or every other day and some have lost every plant and some have only lost a few after the Late Blight hit. Fortunately I have no real experience with late blight. With Early blight as a preventative I've had good results on a 10 day schedule if you have little or no rainfall and not many heavy dew mornings. If the dew is heavy or you have rainfall I would decrease that. With copper most of mine say from 5 days up. In a rotation I spray on the 5th day if weather allows. Now we get into some of my observations and opinions. Like I stated earlier in the year. I have less problems and better results in a normal year with plants planted late and even volunteers. There have been a few exceptions. This year is holding true. I put out several late for several reasons most covered in earlier posts. From me breaking off a few, early wilt on a few and then I had some plants that I wanted to grow that got stunted in a new seed starting mix also had a few nice plants left in the frames when I went to clean them out although most were rootbound and should of been out weeks earlier. This year is a typical year for them. Even the stunted plants have took off. No disease and setting fruit. Will they ever be as big of a plant. No. Will they produce more fruit per plant than the early ones when you figure all the ones I lost. Yes and I feel more. I know a market gardener not far from me and she is like me. She grows a few earlier ones because there is more demand and they sell higher earlier. But like she said the plants that really start producing around Sept 1st will do better and produce more with less care here in our climate. She is about 80 miles SW of me in the TX Panhandle. For me if I want to stay mainly organic later planting is the best in a typical year. I will continue to scatter my plantings from early to late so I can cover my bases. I'm also trying some direct winter sown and also starting some in the cold frames and then going into the garden a few days after they break the ground. The ones started outside seem to be healthier. And can withstand elements a little better. With all of this said I still haven't found a good plan for the insect borne diseases except rain. And they have been my big problem this year. And the other thing is stress caused by weather conditions. I was looking at some last night I had been threatening to pull for 7-10 days. They are looking better now and the purple is going out of most of the leaves. Shows it was stress and weather related. I've found no sure way to tell besides time or sending off a sample. Final summary is that Daconil works for me. The copper's work for a few specific problems. The Garlic Barrier spray I used this summer controlled most insects if applied on a five day or less schedule. It doesn't control hornworms or psyllids. BT and Spinosad worked on most of those that it didn't except the thrips. I didn't have near as many but a few. And that could of been because I wasn't spraying on a five day schedule. One thing I plan on trying next year is peroxide and Garlic Barrier on a 5 day rotation starting a week after transplant or emergence. Many say healthy plants will withstand a disease problem. I feel that it really helps but had some of my biggest and healthiest go down. And when it comes to the insect borne diseases I don't see much that help. Many say to kill all weeds around. But like I've told Dawn I've seen some of the best tomatoes this year growing is weeds and bermuda grass. i know one friend who let weeds grow in her plants and one marker grower who leaves all sunflowers. Saying they attract the insects that carry the diseases away from the tomatoes. i feel there is some truth to that. Hope your plants recover and do well. Jay
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but someone in the Tomato Forum pointed out this forum, which I didn't know about, so I'm reposting it here. ] I'm that someone. LOL Barb, Do you have any pictures and/or are you absolutely convinced that what your plants have is Late BLight ( P.infestans)? I ask only b'c Late BLight is not common in your area, as you know, Late Blight is lethal, regardless of the weather, and from the time the typical symptoms first appear the plants will be a mass of black stinking tissue within 1-2 weeks. What might be sprayed would be sprayed as a preventative, not after the fact, and products available to home growers are not very effective, to be quite honest. No, it doesn't splash up form the soil unless infected plants had been grown there in a previous season; all new infections are airborne. Has someone made a definitive diagnosis for your plants re Late Blight? If not, do you want to go thru some descriptions on your part and questions on my part? Carolyn
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larryw
14 years ago
Hey guys. Supposedly, there actually is a tomato variety
that was developed for its resistance to late blight. I have grown it and have plenty of seeds. However, I must tell you it is a low yielding determinate plant that struggles to put out more than a few 2 to 2 1/2" red tomatoes. It is called West Virginia 69 and I did get the seed from the University.

I was going to experiment with it several years ago but gave up on the matter because of such a low output. Anybody wants the seeds just send me a SASE and I'll divide up what I have to those who want to try it.

Larry
mulio
14 years ago
These are lines that have been tested rather than casual observations:

Filipino No2
Legend
Mecline
Moboline
Mountain Magic
Nagcarlang
New Yorker
PI 365957 - a L. pimpinellifolium line
Regal Plum
Richter's Wild Tomato
West Virginia 63
West Virginia 700
digdirt2
14 years ago
These are lines that have been tested

Tested and actually survived and produced? My Legends last year sure didn't even with Daconil's help.

Dave
mulio
14 years ago
Tested in that they were put into replicated trial fields (and in some tests sprayed with inoculum) as opposed to reporting on one or two plants surviving in a garden.

Late blight is complex. If you want an understanding of it's complexity and how that relates to resistance factors - best seek another forum. It is probably beyond the scope of what most people want to read here.
larryw
14 years ago
Mulio et al,

Yes, you are correct, what I have is West Virginia 63, not 69.

My memory failed me but after you post I dug out the seed bag from the freezer and found it to be as you indicated.

At any rate my offer still stands. If you want some seed to try just send a SASE.

Larry
mickyfinn6777
14 years ago
other varieties of tomato are around that also seem to have some measure of Late Blight resistance-but not absolutely so, as nothing as yet appears to be totally resistant to date.
Matt's wild cherry.
Koralik- which appears to be a version of the above.
New Hampshire sure crop- readily available at some seed merchants in the USA, said to give a reliable crop of fairly big tomatoes in a heavily blight hit area.

I personally - have had some measure of success, from favorite tomatoes of all sizes and colors that actually made it through heavy blight and survived and started to re-grow again some two or three weeks after the devastation effect, or from cuttings saved and started in a greenhouse and re-rooted from those same plants in potting compost and grown on.

In each individual case seed was saved from the fruit and re-sown again the following year, showed a much better resistance to late blight-from the plants own adaption to it and survival instinct etc, than from previous years plants,-but not totally so as yet, because some of them still got hit slightly-but showed better recovery rates if just left in the ground without touching them, and there was still a bit of green stalk still left-no matter how short a piece that was,as long as you cut off the bad bit above that area of stem-leaving only the still good green bit, new side shoots soon started to appear on the stem and went on to become mature tomatoes-albeit a trifle later than usual.

Some varieties of Rootstock also give a grafted tomato a much stronger resistance to late blight-in as much that they boost the tomato health and growth alround -so much so that the tomatoes bear and produce fruit a week or two earlier than normal-even eight to ten days earlier is a distinct advantage in this case as tomatoes actually reach the ripe stage just before late blight usually strikes and they miss it by a hairs breadth, or at least you can get the fruit to the first one or two color breaks and finish them off indoors.

Last year late blight hit me really hard and I lost over a hundred plants to it- as I had foolishly forgotten to sow some safeguard seed with some late blight resistance to them, and simply just sowed straight heirloom varieties-hoping it would be a good summer.
mulio
14 years ago
Managing late blight in tomatoes

This link also lists varieties which have casual observations (not tested just noted potential) by growers and Cornell.

Any presumed resistance may vary from those areas (ie what does well in NY may not in Wa or NC).
timmy1
14 years ago
I think a late blight resistant tomato is like a bank account that you just can't empty out. Something we all would love to have...

I went to a seminar this fall and Mr. Zitter from Cornell was there. He said Mt. Magic was as close as it gets.
korney19
14 years ago
Do you spray at all? Out of 60+ plants here at location #1, about 4 or 5 had Late Blight lesions on the actual stems/vines but didn't die from LB, nor did the fruits rot from LB. Of course, I also removed leaves daily and sprayed every 5-7 days with mancozeb and Ortho Garden Disease Control (daconil/chlorothalonil 29.6%, mulio's favorite after dinner cocktail.)

I mention the 5 rather than all the rest because they contracted the disease but didn't succumb to it; the others may have not gotten the disease out of luck or better spraying coverage or some other reason. So I would NOT say that those not showing any signs are more resistant. Later in the year I switched to a bigger gun an rode it out until frost.

Another variety with supposed resistance is a cherry, Matt's Wild Cherry.
fusion_power
14 years ago
As noted above, Mountain Magic has PH2 and PH3 genes to give tolerance to late blight. Seed are VERY hard to find, but a few are around. I have about 100 plants of Mountain Magic and another 100 or so of Plum Regal growing.

DarJones
carolyn137
14 years ago
As I recall all three of Dr. Gardner's latest hybrids have resistance to Late Blight ( P. infestans), but Mt Magic the most so. Randy, whom I've known since the early 90's when Mulio I think was getting his degree with him so Mulio knows one heck of a lot of tomato genetics if you haven't figured that out, LOL, sent me lots of seed for all three last Spring and I grew all three last summer but couldn't assess LB tolerance b'c it was known that LB was going to be a problem here in the NE so I had a choice of spraying or possibly getting no tomatoes at all.

I chose to spray. So I couldn't assess LB resistance for the hybrids Smarty, Mt Magic or Plum Regal last summer.

Smarty is already available at Johnny's Selected Seeds and Bejo seeds was to distribute seeds of Magic and Regal to retail places for 2010 but there were problems with seed production in the Netherlands so fingers crossed that they'll be available for 2011.

Actually I just made a free seed offer for Smarty, magic and Regal ( with his OK) at another site b'c no way would I ever use all the seeds that Randy sent, and those were sent, I think, as thanks for the 20 varieties or so of heirloom tomatoes I sent at his request, altho he didn't ask for 20, LOL, that he wanted to look at for possible inclusion in his breeding programs.

Randy is OK with Darrel offering plants and my offering seeds b'c he feels that the more folks who can grow them the better exposure they get and that's a plus all the way around as he sees it and I do as well.

I thought that the two best tasting ones, aside from LB concerns, were Mt Magic and Smarty. They produced wonderfully last summer, all 3 did, in a season where I didn't get fruits off of half the plants I had out there. Sigh. And of course taste is personal and subjective, I can only mention my own taste experience with the three.

Timmy, Dr. Zitter and Dr. Gardner have known each other and collaborated many times, especially with regard to Early Blight ( A. solani) in the past. it was Dr. Zitter than I first contacted when I saw somerhing with my seedlings that I couldn't ID. Dr. Zitter said he thought it was an aberrant form of EB but they hadn't been able to prove it so I called it CRUD, and it affects mostly, but not exclusively, heart shaped varieties with wispy droopy foliage as well as Kellogg's Breakfast, but not so much KBX the PL form of KB, which is interesting, to me at least.

Carolyn
readheads
14 years ago
Carolyn,

What spray would you recommend for LB ? Would the spray also function well as a general fungicide ?

Tom in Northern NJ
HoosierCheroKee
14 years ago
Plum Regal has Late Blight resistance, too?
HoosierCheroKee
14 years ago
Okay, I overlooked Late Blight resistance the first time I read through the information. But there it is right there! Plum Regal = NC25P x NC30P:

NC 25P is a fresh market plum tomato line with the Ph-3 gene for late blight resistance and crimson gene for increased lycopene. It has early blight and Verticillium wilt resistance (Ve gene) and resistance to races 1 and 2 of Fusarium wilt (I and I-2 genes). In repeated field observations, NC 25P has shown moderate resistance to defoliation by bacterial spot. Determinate with heavy foliage cover. Fruit are intermediate in length with 2-3 (mostly 3) locules and jointless pedicels. Immature fruit are uniform, light green. Fruit are highly resistant to gray wall and fruit cracking. Male parent in 'Plum Regal' F1 hybrid.

NC 30P incorporates the Sw-5 gene for resistance to tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) into a superior fresh market plum tomato background. Also has resistance to Verticillium wilt (Ve gene) and races 1 and 2 of Fusarium wilt (I and I-2 genes); has moderate resistance to early blight. Plant growth habit is determinate. Fruit are highly elongate with 2-3 (mostly 3) locules; has the crimson gene for increased lycopene and has jointless pedicels; highly resistant to gray wall and fruit cracking. NC 30P is segregating for the ms-10 gene for male sterility linked to the green stem seedling marker gene aa. Female parent in 'Plum Regal' F1 hybrid.

So Plum Regal is darn near bulletproof!

Better snatch up some from www.selectedplants.com before his 100 plants are sold out.
carolyn137
14 years ago
What spray would you recommend for LB ? Would the spray also function well as a general fungicide ?

****

I try to grow tomatoes and all else with no or a minimal use of sprays, etc., but will do so when needed as I said above.

And the best product to help prevent Late Blight, as noted by the many Cornell studies and others is called Daconil, which can be sprayed up to the day of harvest. Daconil is chlorothalonil and Ortho Garden Disease Control has the correct concentration of 29.6% active ingredient. There are other brands but you want the concentrate with 29.6% active ingredient.

It is also effective at preventing the two major Fungal foliage pathogens of tomatoes as well as Powdery Mildew.

A copper product such as Kocide or similar is perhaps next best, but no where's near as good as Daconil.

there are many mant threads here about Late Blight that you can also find by doing a search.

THose who garden organically will not use Daconil b'c it's synthetic. I don't care if something is synthetic or organic b/c what concerns me more is the toxicity of a product for man, pets, kids, fish, bees, and the environment in general.

And since Daconil can be sprayed to the day of harvest it does have low toxicity. it'[s also the most widely used anti-fungal in the world and there's more data on it than any other anti-fungal.

I have one request for anyone reading my post. That is, I was asked what ***I*** would spray with and I don't want this thread to turn into a thread on Daconil, organicness, etc, as have so many threads here. I would ask that you post your concerns in the organic Forum here at GW instead.

Thanks for your cooperation.

OK, I've answered your question about what I would do and fingers crossed this doesn't mess up the thread which I know can happen since I've been posting here for many many years.

Carolyn

looking for late blight resitant tomatoes

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