Looking for help with fusarium! Probably race 3. Central Texas.

THINGS THAT DID NOT WORK:
-Serenade before it got discontinued (Bacillus subtilis) and Monterrey Disease Control (Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain D747). Not surprising as neither is listed to help with fusarium. However, our organic gardening center diagnosed it as early blight and I ignored my instincts and believed them for a while.
-Switching to containers. Even with careful controls (no ground contact, different tools) they still got it, probably from wind.
-Solarization. Fusarium and Bermuda grass came back with a vengeance and I suspect that good soil microbes died. This bed performed the worst the following year.
-Resistant hybrids. Better Bush, Viva Italia, Early Girl, Red Snapper, Rugged Boy, Heatmaster, Sungold, HM 1823 are all exceptionally BAD and die quickly. This tells me it’s probably Race 3 as these varieties only have resistance to races 1 and 2.

THINGS THAT SORT OF WORK
-Krishna’s Gujarat Village, Criolla Quetzaltepeque, and Dixie Red have withstood it. None have great flavor. Most years, Matt’s Wild Cherry, Cherokee Purple, and Coyote show some resistance and have good flavor.
-Salicylic acid both as a soil drench and foliar spray. Seemed to buy an extra week at most.
-Planting early maturing varieties so I get a harvest before disease sets in. Last year, all of the Early Girls died before harvest.

THINGS I’M TRYING THIS YEAR
-Mountain Magic, Amelia, and Buffalosun varieties (resistant to all 3 races) in addition to a bunch of early producing OP varieties. And some dwarfs to try again in containers placed upwind. Most started from seed. I usually use Light Warrior mix which has mycorrhizal fungi. Some purchased as transplants.
-Actinovate (Streptomyces lydicus). Finally found someplace that would ship a small amount and remembered to buy it before it got too hot to ship. Would you do a soil drench or foliar spray or both?

QUESTIONS:
-MycoStop (Streptomyces griseoviridis Strain K61). Is there value to using it in conjunction with Actinovate?
-RootShield (Trichoderma harzianum Rifai Strain KRL-AG2). Does anyplace sell in smaller/cheaper quantities? Anyone have a small amount to share?
-Suppressive cover crops. Information is pretty limited. Looks like maybe alliums, spinach, hairy vetch? Anyone try this?
-What other varieties have worked for you against fusarium race 3 [that taste good]?
-Anything else you’d recommend?

It's obviously not compatible with your beneficial organisms, but have you tried diluted bleach? Also, potassium bicarbonate is another fungicide that is harmless to people, it changes leaf surface ph.

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/mustard_as_a_cover_crop

There’s a lot written about Mustard and Brassicas used as a cover crop to help control Fusarium and other pathogens and pests. I like planting mustards and brassicas and later incorporating the scrap/end of season foliage into my garden soil.

There are also articles on using ground brown mustard seed as a bio fumigant.

I didn’t like Dixie Red either. Coyote is one tomato that is extra resistant to foliar issues in my experience and overall performs wonderfully in 100° plus weather. I wish the tomatoes were much bigger, but they are tasty when picked at peak ripeness and consumed immediately.

Beefmaster is a tough, disease resistant red hybrid with big fruit. I have had that carry through the whole of summer and produce a good crop both in Spring and the Fall and even a trickle of tomatoes in the worst of the summer. I like the tomatoes, maybe not as much as a great heirloom, but they aren’t bad. I have no idea if it can battle race 3.

I use kelp emulsion to battle foliage issues, I believe copper compounds and other metallic elements like Zinc in kelp are helpful against fungal infections. I have also used Hydrogen peroxide to battle fungal issues and spider mites.

I've used potassium bicarbonate frequently, usually when I'm also spraying Surround, against pests, and the two things sit in the sprayer together, with no problems, until next spray. It seems to work well against fungal diseases, when starting early, and spraying once a week. It is even more effective when paired with oil, but this can't be done, once it starts getting @90° or above, so in your area this won't be useful for very long! I have also used H2O2 spray with some success - 1 c/gallon of water, but this can't be mixed with anything (like a spreader/sticker), as it reacts with just about everything.

@pepperhead212 what’s the source or grade of potassium bicarbonate and dilution or mix rate for the potassium bicarbonate? I see different sources online, brewer’s versions, food supplements, etc.

H2O2 is pretty inexpensive. A quart is about a dollar or so.

Wild tomatoes by their very nature show extremely strong resistance to foliar diseases, wilt diseases, and mites. That's why I'm experimenting here in San Antonio with species of wild tomato. L. Hirsutm varieties have been shown strong resistance to Fusarium race 3 and early blight. Woolly Kate and the Red, Yellow, and Orange Centflor are L. Hirsutum crosses are the only ones that are available. Check out my grow blog (San Antonio Sandbur patch) since I talked about this in a recent post.


https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ai ... mplasm.pdf

file:///C:/Users/dwsta/Downloads/manager,+a10.pdf

How certain are you of your fusarium diagnosis? If you're certain, my only suggestion that you haven't already mentioned is liming your soil if it's acidic. Also, apparently using nitrate nitrogen fertilizer (as opposed to ammonium nitrogen) is helpful in suppressing it.

If you're not 100% certain of your diagnosis, maybe describe and post pictures of the symptoms here, or contact your state agricultural extension service if they're available to home gardeners. If you've identified the wrong disease, you could be pursuing the wrong solutions.

How many years have you grown tomatoes? Did you have success at this location in previous years, and then suddenly this disease appeared and killed everything? Is fusarium race 3 common in your area?

karstopography wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 7:23 pm @pepperhead212 what’s the source or grade of potassium bicarbonate and dilution or mix rate for the potassium bicarbonate? I see different sources online, brewer’s versions, food supplements, etc.

H2O2 is pretty inexpensive. A quart is about a dollar or so.

I usually mix 1½ tb potassium bicarbonate per gal - when mixing with oil, I put in 1/4 c oil to this, and I put spreader sticker to this (I use ThermX70 for these things).
The one I get is a 2½ lb container of potassium bicarbonate from Amazon. Of course, the price has gone up from 18.99 (what hasn't?), but it has lasted me close to 4 years now (I wouldn't have remembered that, I just saw the entry in Amazon of my last order!). And I even put some in my hydroponics. And the peroxide I do get at the dollar stores, so it is cheap, and I use 1/2 c/gallon.

For some reason that Amazon link isn't posting. Even when I go to edit, the link shows, both times I tried, but disappeared when I hit submit. Oh well, the company of the 2½ lb container of potassium bicarbonate is Earthborn Elements, and it's $23.99 now.

@Cole_Robbie and @karstopography and @pepperhead212 I have not tried diluted bleach, peroxide or potassium bicarbonate on tomatoes. My understanding was that fusarium acts by clogging the vascular system/xylem vessels and that sprays intended to kill the fungus on contact on the leaves don’t work. That said, nothing I’m doing is working and I’m willing to believe that these sprays could have secondary mechanisms of action. So if y’all are saying these work for fusarium, specifically, and not just other fungal nasties, I’m willing to try it on a container-grown plant to start. We hit 90 degrees on Feb 22 last year so, yep, you’re right @pepperhead212 , oil isn’t the best option. I do spray with kelp when I remember to, which is probably not often enough.

karstopography wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 5:16 pm https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/mustard_as_a_cover_crop

There’s a lot written about Mustard and Brassicas used as a cover crop to help control Fusarium and other pathogens and pests. I like planting mustards and brassicas and later incorporating the scrap/end of season foliage into my garden soil.

There are also articles on using ground brown mustard seed as a bio fumigant.

Good call! I’ve seen the research on mustards and brassicas for root knot nematodes but missed it for fusarium. Makes sense, though. I leave the brassica roots in my soil and use the residue as a green manure, too. I’d also read about alliums and spinach working vs fusarium. So I’ll make note of where my garlic and spinach were planted and see if those areas have more resistance. I might try mustard seed meal for a container tomato, too.

karstopography wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 5:16 pm https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/mustard_as_a_cover_crop

I didn’t like Dixie Red either. Coyote is one tomato that is extra resistant to foliar issues in my experience and overall performs wonderfully in 100° plus weather. I wish the tomatoes were much bigger, but they are tasty when picked at peak ripeness and consumed immediately.

Beefmaster is a tough, disease resistant red hybrid with big fruit. I have had that carry through the whole of summer and produce a good crop both in Spring and the Fall and even a trickle of tomatoes in the worst of the summer. I like the tomatoes, maybe not as much as a great heirloom, but they aren’t bad. I have no idea if it can battle race 3.

I love coyote! Even though it had some wilt issues last year, disease progression was slow and it was still extremely productive up until our 110 degree days when I stopped watering. Beefmaster did great for me when I used to garden in North Texas but I think it’s only resistant to fusarium race 1 and not race 3.

Wildcat82 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 8:14 pm L. Hirsutm varieties have been shown strong resistance to Fusarium race 3 and early blight. Woolly Kate and the Red, Yellow, and Orange Centflor are L. Hirsutum crosses are the only ones that are available. Check out my grow blog (San Antonio Sandbur patch) since I talked about this in a recent post.

Oh interesting! I think a friend is growing centiflor varieties so maybe I can swap transplants. I’m working my way through your grow blog now. Seems like I’m following a similar calendar as you. Folks here like Silvery Fir Tree for their October-planted container tomato but I can’t comment on taste/mushiness because I haven't tried it.

Seven Bends wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 8:25 pm If you're certain, my only suggestion that you haven't already mentioned is liming your soil if it's acidic. Also, apparently using nitrate nitrogen fertilizer (as opposed to ammonium nitrogen) is helpful in suppressing it.

Lime would not be a great addition to our soil here because it's not acidic. I use organic fertilizer so I’ve not used any synthetic ammonia nitrogen. Good thoughts, though!

Seven Bends wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 8:25 pm How many years have you grown tomatoes? Did you have success at this location in previous years, and then suddenly this disease appeared and killed everything? Is fusarium race 3 common in your area?

These are good troubleshooting questions and ideas. Fusarium is common in our area. Race 3 is a guess. Whatever I have, everyone in my neighborhood has, too. It’s been this way since before I’ve moved here in 2015. I’ve been growing tomatoes since the early 2000s.

Seven Bends wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 8:25 pm How certain are you of your fusarium diagnosis?

I’m 93% certain that it’s fusarium. Race 3 is an educated guess and I plan to get it tested this year. Our garden center guy is a bully and I shouldn’t have listened to him. He just wore me down and I've been too busy the last few summers to really stop and think about it. It doesn’t have the dark bullseye spots of early blight.

I’ll try to dig out a picture but the symptoms have the hallmarks of fusarium: progression of yellowing —> wilting —> browning —> defoliation; yellowing begins on bottom leaves and moves up; yellowing is often one-sided; cutting the stem reveals brown vascular tissue. Using Serenade and Monterrey Disease Control might have worked a little better had it been a different pathogen. Even if I weren’t sure based on symptoms, the disease resistant hybrids that have failed all have a lack of fusarium race 3 in common and all have some resistance to other pathogens. I’d expect some of them to do better if it were a different pathogen.

This is what they’re resistant to:
Other fusarium races: Sun Gold, Better Bush, Viva Italia, Early Girl, Red Snapper, Rugged Boy, Heatmaster, HM 1823, Super Sweet 100
Fusarium crown and root rot: HM 1823
Anthracnose: Viva Italia
Alternaria alternata: Red Snapper
Alternaria stem canker: Heatmaster
Bacterial Speck: Viva Italia
Bacterial Wilt: Heatmaster
Blight, Early: Matt’s Wild Cherry, Coyote, Super Sweet 100
Blight, Fulvia: Coyote
Blight, Late: Matt’s Wild Cherry, Rugged Boy, Super Sweet 100
Gray Leaf Spot: Rugged Boy, Heatmaster, HM 1823
Root Knot Nematodes: Better Bush, Viva Italia, Early Girl, Rugged Boy, Heatmaster
Septoria Leaf Spot: Coyote
Tomato Mosaic Virus: Sun Gold
Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus: Red Snapper
Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus: Red Snapper
Tobacco Mosaic Virus: Early Girl, Rugged Boy, Heatmaster, Super Sweet 100
Verticillium: Sun Gold, Better Bush, Viva Italia, Early Girl, Red Snapper, Rugged Boy, Heatmaster, HM 1823, Super Sweet 100

I had a couple of new beds that came down with Verticillium wilt in their second year. These beds are about all that I have so I went full force after it. I applied two treatments of pool shock (chlorine) to the beds and surrounding pathways last fall. My thoughts were that if you were told to bleach your tools between plants and beds to kill the pathogens, then it should work on the beds too. Some say that it would ruin my soil. My thought was that my soil is useless for growing for 7-8 years so by applying chlorine, what was I losing, they were ruined anyways.

This treatment did not kill my worms or sow bugs but it most likely did harm my soil biology. I will be adding plenty of compost and additional mycos to the soil prior to planting an experimental crop. We shall see how this worked this coming season.

MissS wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 9:35 am I had a couple of new beds that came down with Verticillium wilt in their second year. These beds are about all that I have so I went full force after it. I applied two treatments of pool shock (chlorine) to the beds and surrounding pathways last fall. My thoughts were that if you were told to bleach your tools between plants and beds to kill the pathogens, then it should work on the beds too. Some say that it would ruin my soil. My thought was that my soil is useless for growing for 7-8 years so by applying chlorine, what was I losing, they were ruined anyways.

This treatment did not kill my worms or sow bugs but it most likely did harm my soil biology. I will be adding plenty of compost and additional mycos to the soil prior to planting an experimental crop. We shall see how this worked this coming season.

That’s crazy. I Wonder if the anything remains from the pool shock treatment in the soil, any detrimental levels of salts or ions that might be a problem? I suppose the gaseous Chlorine evaporates pretty rapidly.

https://sensorex.com/using-the-best-poo ... -chemical/ Looks like there are three main types. I guess in the long run you might be adding calcium or potassium to the soil if you used those types of shock. Probably isn’t a problem, unless the sodium version was used, but maybe even that it’s not enough to cause long term damage, I’m just wondering.

MissS wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 9:35 am I applied two treatments of pool shock (chlorine) to the beds and surrounding pathways last fall.

I understand your desperation! Let me know if it works! And maybe check the ph of your soil?

I'm actually really curious because this sounds like my solarization experiment but with a different method of killing everything. In terms of productivity, that bed bounced back after a year and a lot of amending but it still has fusarium.

GVGardens wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 12:33 am

Wildcat82 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 8:14 pm L. Hirsutm varieties have been shown strong resistance to Fusarium race 3 and early blight. Woolly Kate and the Red, Yellow, and Orange Centflor are L. Hirsutum crosses are the only ones that are available. Check out my grow blog (San Antonio Sandbur patch) since I talked about this in a recent post.

Oh interesting! I think a friend is growing centiflor varieties so maybe I can swap transplants. I’m working my way through your grow blog now. Seems like I’m following a similar calendar as you. Folks here like Silvery Fir Tree for their October-planted container tomato but I can’t comment on taste/mushiness because I haven't tried it.

Keep in mind that multiflora's are not the same as Centiflor's. Only Centiflor's and Wooly Kate are L. Hirsutum crosses as far as I know. So unless your friend is growing these exact varieies, they likely are not L.Hirsutum crosses.

In the links I provided above, it appears that 90%+ varieties of L. Hirsutum are highly resistant to fusarium race 3.

Wildcat82 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 11:18 am So unless your friend is growing these exact varieies, they likely are not L.Hirsutum crosses.

In the links I provided above, it appears that 90%+ varieties of L. Hirsutum are highly resistant to fusarium race 3.

They’re centiflor from Peace Seedlings, the company run by Dr. Kapuler’s daughter and her partner. I didn’t start any because I’m trying to scale back on the indeterminate cherries so I have more room to grow other things. But I’ll make an exception for these because I've now read the studies and it seems like a promising lead. Thanks for the tip!

@Wildcat82 Though, anecdotally from reviews, it seems like the red centiflors have the most resistance to fusarium. Not sure all crosses got good resistance. And I don’t think all L.Hirsutum cultivars have resistance. In the study you linked, they used 10 L. hirsutum accessions and 5 were found to be highly resistant to race 3. That said, it’s definitely worth trying!

Have you considered grafting to resistant root stock? That’s my backup plan if our fusarium situation keeps getting worse. Mycostop didn’t do much for us last season, this year I want to try applying it more aggressively at weekly intervals.