| I have been growing tomatoes for many years. Even though I've been using fungus resistant varieties, my plants have been dying early from fusarium wilt. The disease has spread even when I rotate them. Which variety of tomato should I grow to fight this problem? |
| I'll assume you are sure it's fusarium. (On tomatoes, symptoms include wilting, and a yellowing of leaves from the bottom of the plant upwards. If you cut through a thick basal stem, you'll see dark streaks in the center.) If you checkeach tomato variety listed in the catalog, you'll notice that some say "disease resistant, resists verticillium and fusarium wilts, etc." Choose varieties that specify that they are resistant to fusarium. Pick the ones that appeal to you andseem to have the strongest statements concerning that resistance. Burpee's Early Pick, Early Girl, Super Sweet 100, and Husky Gold look good. Note, however, that even resistant plants can contract fusarium, especially if you have nematodes in your soil that create wounds in the roots. It is very important to destroy your infected plants. Do NOT put them in your compost. Also good soil drainage is a must. You might want to try growing your tomatoes in a container (in sterile soil) fora season and see how that goes. |
