Fusarium came early this year

[Cranraspberry]

Our beloved Moreton is already on its way out due to fusarium, a full month earlier than last year. I wonder if our record breaking heat in June had anything to do with it - my understanding is that fusarium needs very warm soil temps to be most active. Has anyone seen a correlation? We were on vacation when the issues started, so I didn’t even get a chance to apply Mycostop outside of the initial application when they were first planted out.

[PlainJane]

How disappointing; I’m so sorry!

[Cranraspberry]

@PlainJane thanks, I was definitely not expecting it to be over so soon - last season we got a huge harvest before the plant started showing signs of disease. Starting to think I might have to give up on varieties without F resistance, or maybe only grow them in grow bags.

[Seven Bends]

Sorry to hear about fusarium arriving early; I'm sure that's disappointing after all the work you've put in to try to deal with it. Do the gardeners in the neighboring plots have the same issue? Is fusarium widespread throughout the community garden?

How are your other varieties doing, other than Moreton? Did you end up planting Supersonic this year? I'm growing one plant of it and so far it looks great. I hope you're having similar good luck if you tried it this year.

[Cranraspberry]

@Seven Bends it’s hard to tell just how widespread it is - I think most people plant F resistant varieties by default because they are widely available (Better Boy, Big Beef etc). I did notice that last year none of the tomatoes I planted in our donation plot had fusarium issues, so looks like it’s not 100% of the plots that are affected.

I did plant Supersonic in the donation plot this year, as well as the peppers you sent me! Funny thing - my Supersonic start got water logged and it was very small and sad looking and didn’t seem to be improving after plant out. I was worried it wouldn’t make it, so I bought a backup Supersonic from the nursery that was much bigger. Well then my start unexpectedly took off and is now 2x the size of the store bought one!

I only have two other non-resistant plants in raised beds - a Rose de Berne and Kosovo, and both are doing very well. They are in a different bed though. And the bed the Moreton is in had the most issues last year, which makes me think to maybe move my peppers there next year…

Are you having any issues with fruit set/BER after the heat wave? My grow bag Marzano Fire is 100% affected by BER (didn’t have any issues last year in the same spot), and I’m seeing a few affected fruit on the Marzito (also in grow bag), but so far nothing on the plants that are in raised beds. We were lucky to have friends come almost every day to water while we were away, only lost one cucumber plant.

[Seven Bends]

Are you having any issues with fruit set/BER after the heat wave? My grow bag Marzano Fire is 100% affected by BER (didn’t have any issues last year in the same spot), and I’m seeing a few affected fruit on the Marzito (also in grow bag), but so far nothing on the plants that are in raised beds. We were lucky to have friends come almost every day to water while we were away, only lost one cucumber plant.

I haven't spotted any blossom end rot this year. We don't usually have much problem with it, just maybe one or two paste tomatoes early each season, and we're not growing any paste tomatoes this year. We've had very little rain out here, and I've only watered the tomato plants once or twice a week all month. It helps that we grow everything in-ground -- our clay soil is great to have in a drought. Seems like it's harder to prevent/manage BER in containers and raised beds, and of course it can be more work to keep them watered. They have other advantages, of course.

I do think the heat caused a lot of blossoms to not set fruit on at least some of the plants. I'm going to take a better look tomorrow to see where things stand. I hope all the plants take advantage of the lower temps the next two days to set lots of fruit before the heat comes roaring back.

[Shule]

…
Are you having any issues with fruit set/BER after the heat wave? My grow bag Marzano Fire is 100% affected by BER (didn’t have any issues last year in the same spot), and I’m seeing a few affected fruit on the Marzito (also in grow bag), but so far nothing on the plants that are in raised beds. We were lucky to have friends come almost every day to water while we were away, only lost one cucumber plant.

That reminds me of how I used to always try to go for the early to early-ish tomatoes. Eventually, I discovered that the later ones were less prone to BER than the salad to large sized earlier ones, regardless of shape (but yeah, pastes are known for it). The cherries (including large cherries) don't tend to get BER when they're early, though. So, large cherries, like Caya, can be a good compromise. So, now I like to go for large cherries and big tomatoes (without much in-between, unless it's a cross between the two). However, I'm getting plenty of small cherries, because the Galapagos Islands volunteer abundantly every year.

About Fusarium, I'm not as familiar with that, but with our particular strain of Verticillium, two things that help prevent the symptoms from progressing (in addition to resistant plants) are frequent watering when it's hot (never let them get drought stress), and plenty of fertilizer (I prefertilize to help ensure they get a steady stream early on). Another thing that helps is reducing the lambsquarter population (whether it be by pulling the plants up or having resistant weeds supplant them). Also, avoiding growing potatoes seems to be crucial. They get Verticillium so badly, and spread it fast.

[Cranraspberry]

@Shule I actually have a Black Cherry in my third grow bag and you’re absolutely right - not a single fruit with BER so far. I did have some issues with BER on my large tomatoes last year (SOTW, Brandy Boy etc), but that was just the first few fruit and totally my fault for not watering enough early on. This year it seems to be limited to just the grow bag pastes, which isn’t really too surprising given the record heat/no rain combo we had here in June.

Interesting about Verticillium - if I remember correctly I believe V is more common in cooler areas while F prefers heat? Unfortunately my Rose de Berne in a different bed has also started showing signs of F, it’s an enormous monster of a plant though, so hopefully it can pull through for a while longer than the Moreton. I have a Kosovo next to the RdB, we’ll see how long it takes for that one to start showing symptoms.

[Shule]

@Shule I actually have a Black Cherry in my third grow bag and you’re absolutely right - not a single fruit with BER so far. I did have some issues with BER on my large tomatoes last year (SOTW, Brandy Boy etc), but that was just the first few fruit and totally my fault for not watering enough early on. This year it seems to be limited to just the grow bag pastes, which isn’t really too surprising given the record heat/no rain combo we had here in June.

Interesting about Verticillium - if I remember correctly I believe V is more common in cooler areas while F prefers heat? Unfortunately my Rose de Berne in a different bed has also started showing signs of F, it’s an enormous monster of a plant though, so hopefully it can pull through for a while longer than the Moreton. I have a Kosovo next to the RdB, we’ll see how long it takes for that one to start showing symptoms.

I've read that one prefers cooler weather and one prefers hotter, too; I forgot which. However, in practice, the kind we have tends to show more foliar signs and symptoms from the heat (if not watered enough). Symptoms are more rampant under pest pressure, and when there's a lot of infected lambsquarter, too. Wilt symptoms might be less predictable (and they don't require foliar symptoms to show up first). Thankfully, I've only seen the wilt symptoms that kill the plant happen in tomatoes about nine times in the past six years (six years ago is when the Verticillium began, but I didn't know what it was for a while). The wilt can happen pretty suddenly. The foliar symptoms that cause leaf loss are more gradual (and manageable).

The reason I think it's Verticillium and not another kind of wilt is because we get the classic V-shaped chlorosis sometimes. I could be wrong, but I don't think that shows up in Fusarium (or if it does, no one has ever said so to my knowledge).

[Shule]

Here's a picture of the V-shaped chlorosis on a wonderberry. Two leaves show it; you can see the second further down if you zoom in.

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Wonderberries are fairly resistant at this size and beyond, though. I don't predict wilt in this plant.

[Seven Bends]

Unfortunately my Rose de Berne in a different bed has also started showing signs of F, it’s an enormous monster of a plant though, so hopefully it can pull through for a while longer than the Moreton. I have a Kosovo next to the RdB, we’ll see how long it takes for that one to start showing symptoms.

If you get a chance this summer, could you post a picture or two of some of your plants showing the fusarium symptoms? I've only seen it in person once, so I'd appreciate the chance to see how it manifests around here, and how it looks different from the early blight I'm more familiar with.

[Cranraspberry]

@Shule interesting, I didn’t realize V presented that way.

@Seven Bends sure thing. I basically know it’s F once I start seeing bright fully yellow leaves with no brown/dry fungus-type spots in the middle of the plant (they tend to start showing up first on smaller suckers coming from close to the base of the plant). Then once you cut a stem you see the telltale brown vascular spots. Here are a couple of pictures from last year where you can see the yellowed sucker and the brown on the cut stem.

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[Cranraspberry]

@Seven Bends here are a few from the garden today. Rose de Berne and Chef’s Choice Pink (which is supposed to be resistant, so hoping it will pull through).

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[Seven Bends]

@Cranraspberry, thanks! Those latest pictures make it so obvious; they look just like the pics at the extension service sites showing the classic yellow flagging. I hope the plants keep going and produce for you.

[JayneR13]

I've yet to have Fusarium, but I had BER on the Gothic tomato I was asked to grow for the MMMM swap last year. I've also had Verticillium on potatoes, and yes, it does spread very quickly! Last year I learned about blackleg disease of potato, which forced me to dig mine two months early to have any harvest at all. My tomatoes get Septoria on a regular basis. I tried organic methods with that one year and saw my crop decimated.

Plant pathology was fun in college. In my veggie garden, not so much! Thanks for the pictures though. If I see that one, I'll have a better idea what I'm looking at. Always something to learn in the garden, right?

[Cranraspberry]

@JayneR13 it was very confusing when I first got it - it looked similar enough to early blight (which I was familiar with), but spread so much faster and didn’t respond to sprays. Now I know exactly what it is once I see that light bright yellow.

I do wonder if the fact that it’s a full month early this year has to do with the heat, or if it’s an indication that the issue is getting worse in my soil.

[JayneR13]

I can't speak to your soil, but I know that mine is getting waterlogged! A couple of my squashes have rotted on the vine, which I've read is BER due to calcium deficiency in the fruits. The waterlogged soil isn't allowing the plants to uptake the calcium and guess what! It's T-storming as I type. Stop Rot spray it is, both for my garden and the food pantry. We've gotten quite a lot of rain this year! It's more like a rain forest than temperate climate. Sigh.