Fusarium wilt?

[Smiles Jr.]

My poor heirloom tomatoes are really struggling this year. First I allowed them to get sunburned during hardening off. Then it rained for 6 weeks and has continued to be a very wet spring. Then we had a freakish spell of 90* temperature for two weeks. What next?

I think I have a very bad fungus problem. There is no known cure for fusarium wilt that I know of. According to my research on the internet these plants should be removed and destroyed immediately. Boo Hoo. For those of you who know about these things, does this look like fusarium? It came upon the plants very quickly. Almost over night. The affected leaves have very bright yellow areas. The affected leaves are near the upper regions of the plants (not near the ground). I think I have about 20 plants with these yellow blemishes on the leaves. Hey Steve, maybe I need to go read your 'Giving up' thread again.

 

[lesa]

I'm no expert- but if they were mine, I would go out and cut off any branch that looks like that (and throw it in the garbage-no compost.) Then, wait and see....

 

[digitS']

Fusarium wilt seems to be primarily a disease of the stem and roots. The only real problem I have with it is with some varieties of basil. It just isn't a problem once things are outdoors here. (Fortunately, there are resistant basil choices .)

I'd do just as Lesa suggests and see if the plants can just keep growing.

No expert here on plant pathology but, Smiles, I think those heirlooms still have a good shot at life.

Steve

Vegetable MD Online, Cornell

 

[vfem]

I think Lesa is right, remove those bad branches and wait. It looks more like there was damage there and they started to go bad from that. I've found many similar branches and leaves on a few of mine... but from storm damage and what looks to be bug damage I just remove the bad spots and move on. If it was disease, it would be spreading out of control and the whole plant would look sickly and droopy.

I hope that's the case!

 

[chris09]

That don't look like Fusarium wilt.

Fusarium wilt and Fusarium crown rot symptoms (Figure 7) begin as yellowing of older leaves. With Fusarium crown rot, the leaves often turn brown or black and eventually wilt. With Fusarium wilt, the yellow leaves turn downward and droop. Fusarium oxysporum, the cause of both diseases, is a common tomato fungus that lives in the plant's vascular system, which carries water from the roots to the leaves. To see if either of these diseases is present:
Check watering practices. Both over- and underwatering can mimic disease symptoms.
Check the roots. Discolored roots indicate root rot.
Cut the lower or main stem and look inside at the vascular tissue. Fusarium wilt causes a dark brown discoloration within the vascular tissue. Fusarium crown rot causes a rot or canker at the base of the stem and possibly a root rot.
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/02949.html

Chris

 

[Smiles Jr.]

I sure hope you guys are correct. I'd hate to have the fusarium wilt. It may be the result of all the rain here. It's pouring down outside right now. AGAIN!

Maybe I could get 100 umbrellas for my plants.

I picked many of the yellow leaves and stems off of about 20 plants yesterday. We'll see.

 

[nachoqtpie]

Can you send a bit of that rain my way??