As i posted on another thread of yours IF Bacterial Wilt is what you have - and there are ways to get a definitive diagnosis - then what you can grow in that area without first treating the soil will be severely limited. BW has at least two or three different bacteria that cause the disease and that allows it to affect many different crops depending on which of the bacteria is in your soil. It can infect all of the cucurbit family, many of the squash varieties, all of the solanaceous crops, and even many grasses. So once the diagnosis is confirmed extensive treatment that includes intensive long-term solarization, beneficial nematodes, and acidification of the soil is recommended before planting anything there. Lots of info with both making the diagnosis and treating the soil is available from your local county ag extension and online too. Dave

Dennis, The bigger problem in cooler climates for peaches is perennial canker. Perennial canker (aka Valsa canker, Cytospora canker, Leucostoma canker) is caused by a fungus. It is certainly much more serious in my locale. The problem w/ perennial canker is that, well, it's perennial. Black perennial cankers want to just keep growing/expanding year after year. I believe it's worse in cooler climates because trees are damaged more by winter kill and southwest injury, as well as the fact the fungus grows at cool temps when the trees are inactive and have no defenses. As Drew alluded, bacterial peach canker is more rare in the north. It can cause complete collapse of the tree. My understanding is that sweet cherries are more susc. to bacterial canker than peaches. I've heard of whole orchards of sweet cherries collapsing and dying from bacterial canker. As Ramble mentions, I've always heard copper will help against bacterial canker, but the link below from U.C. Davis says that bactericides have no reliable effect on bacterial canker. Bactericides are effective against bacterial spot. Because of that, I wonder if people have reasoned bactericides must also be effective against bacterial canker, although that may not be the case. There are a few sources which indicate copper may help against bacterial canker, but I'm inclined to think it probably doesn't help. From what I can tell, bacterial canker has a modus operandi on stone fruits somewhat like fireblight on pome fruits. Both are caused by bacteria. Both can become systemic. Both can cause sudden collapse of the trees. Both can cause cankers, but the cankers don't expand appreciatively year after year. Copper is effective against fireblight, but that's only because it prevents the innoculum from entering the flowers. Once fireblight enters the wood tissue, bactericides like copper have no effect. The bacterium is more or less insulated from the bactericide. It appears the same thing happens w/ bacterial canker in peach/cherry, except that the bacterium mostly enters the tree through pruning, some other damage to the bark, or leaf scars, vs through blooms. Because of that, there would seem to be less justification in applying a bactericide for control of the disease. Once the disease is systemic, the pathogen would again be insulated from the bactericide, as w/ the case in fireblight. Anyway, that's my understanding of the topic. Copper is also a fungicide, and so may have some effect against perennial (fungal) cankers, although perennial cankers don't become systemic, like bacterial canker. Perennial cankers just keep growing until they girdle the affected limb and kill it. Here is a link that might be useful: Bacterial Canker on Peach

Bruce I have had many problems growing tomatoes in ground. (Gainesville) I don't think I have had bacterial wilt, but one section of my garden will not let a tomato plant live to produce. They get to decent size then wilt overnight and die. My best luck so far (6th year gardening) has been with containers using new potting medium. MetroMix 500 has been best by far. Cheap stuff does not do so well. I have also had reasonable luck growing in bags of Black Kow. I did loose a Celebrity in a Black Kow bag over in the zone of death this year though (as well as every tomato and eggplant in ground there). The bags are raised above the ground by partially finished compost and insulated from the sun by more partially finished compost. All my compost starts in the fall from bagged leaves from the neighborhood, so none of my diseases have much chance to infiltrate it. My compost pile this year was a 15 foot diameter by three feet tall cylindrical pile. After its first year, the compost and Black Kow goes into the general garden plot for my flowers. I do try to insulate my pots from the sun. Last year I surrounded the pots with leaves. This year I just used bigger pots. The larger the pots, the less danger from heat damage. 15-20 gallon-ish. It does get expensive. 2.8 cu ft of metro mix is approaching $20. That is good for one or two plants in one large container. The plastic container itself approaching $10 each. Ouch. Add the cost of water and fertilizer and you need about 35 tomatoes to get to $1 each. I do not think I really answered your question about how to combat bacterial wilt. But my view is that you can't beat it, just avoid it. That means being vigilant about avoiding cross contamination via tools, hoses, scissors, etc. I feel sorry for in ground plants in Florida. View your yard as an ocean of soil. Any tomato plant you plant in ground is at the mercy of all that is swimming around beneath it. Planting in pots is like a swimming pool. You have to put effort into monitoring the chemicals and temperature, but by and far your plants won't get eaten alive. This year is my first year using PVC for tomato cages also. CRW has been preferred in the past, but it is rough and rusty witch I feel can carry over disease from one year to the next. The roughness creates wounds on the vine which can lead to infection. I went to PVC because it is smooth and modular. It can be broken down at the end of the year and submerged in bleach/water. I do not know how long it will last in the sun though. So far it is great. 8 ft tall cages so far. I can add more as I need to. Good luck. Vance

Kate- Hoping it isn't bacterial wilt, but if it is, welcome to the club. Here's what I've done to get around: I grow my indeterminate tomatoes, eggplant and peppers(my wilt killed my peppers and eggplant too) in 5 gallon containers in a pine bark based mix(see container growing forum). I've take some special steps based on my experience and the hot, humid climate of the SC coast, including converting my containers to self-watering containers by elevating over 2 gallon plastic wash basins($1 at dollar store)using wicks all season long, and draping white plastic garbage bags over containers and basins to beat the heat/reduce evaporation. (First season in containers I made the mistake of putting containers on the ground exposing roots to the wilt). While my tomato plants may not be as large as in ground plants, I have a few more to make up the difference. My eggplant and peppers are more productive than they were in the ground. For comparison, this year I made and used two homemade E-box containers...plants in these have not done as well. In past years, my plants were done by now, whether in ground or in containers...this year they are still producing in the heat and humidity, I assume from the conversion to self-watering, which also has conserved water and fertilizer. If you want more details/opinions justlet me know. As for where I used to grow tomatoes, etc., I now grow just about everything else I want to and can in my climate, including carrots, onions,lettuce, kale, chard, beans,raspberries, blueberries, cucumbers, summer and winter squash and okra....all seem unaffected by the continuing presence of the wilt(put a few tomato plants in the ground to test and now four years later it is still there) Good Luck! Tom