Fusarium wilt on tomato plants

[jcoop75#]

Our area has had significant rainfall for the past few weeks. This has caused an outbreak of fusarium wilt on some of my tomato plants. I have pulled 4 plants so far and am looking for an organic product that will help combat this disease. Anyone have any suggestions? I have used copper spray and a Bravo mix, but it is hard to use when it rains seemingly every other day and is humid as well.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Humagro Promax. But 2 points, 1 being the active ingredient still had petri dish fusarium growth but did act to slow it by 80% and 2 fusarium being once inside the plant, usually from opportunistic things like insect bites or nematode holes in roots, the contact killer nature of the thyme oil is not going to help. I use it in conjunction with mycostop and actinovate, both of which are live bacteria, so I use distilled water and the actinovate and mycostop in a rotation with the promax which will hurt it..

 

[Chuck]

How do you know it is fusarium wilt? There is no cure or treatment. All you can do is pull up the plant and not plant there again. Plant only resistant varieties.

 

[DirtMechanic]

How do you know it is fusarium wilt? There is no cure or treatment. All you can do is pull up the plant and not plant there again. Plant only resistant varieties.

I am gonna mildly disagree on this point to the extent soil sterilization efforts have a seasonal effect, hopefully one long enough to get in some crop that is worth doing for the grower.

 

[Chuck]

I am gonna mildly disagree on this point to the extent soil sterilization efforts have a seasonal effect, hopefully one long enough to get in some crop that is worth doing for the grower.

Soil sterilization with the size of the root system of a tomato plant would be a tad difficult for most gardeners. How will you kill the spores in the soil without heating the soil to at least 180F. I sterilize my compost/potting mix but that amount is small compared to the volume of soil equal to the space of a tomato root system. The OP is concerned that he has fusarium wilt. Soil sterilization MIGHT be practical if one were growing beans but I don't think in the case of peppers or tomatoes it would be, the volume of soil just too large. This is why I asked why he thought he had fusarium wilt. There are many plants diseases that to the untrained eye resemble fusarium wilt that one can either cure or at least work around, alternia being just one of them.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Soil sterilization with the size of the root system of a tomato plant would be a tad difficult for most gardeners. How will you kill the spores in the soil without heating the soil to at least 180F. I sterilize my compost/potting mix but that amount is small compared to the volume of soil equal to the space of a tomato root system. The OP is concerned that he has fusarium wilt. Soil sterilization MIGHT be practical if one were growing beans but I don't think in the case of peppers or tomatoes it would be, the volume of soil just too large. This is why I asked why he thought he had fusarium wilt. There are many plants diseases that to the untrained eye resemble fusarium wilt that one can either cure or at least work around, alternia being just one of them.

I tilled in the thyme product I got from Humagro 4 times before I planted this season. I was on a mission. Yes it was a lot of work. But I think preparing the soil, and I mean sterilizing the soil, is incredibly important as even with my preparations and spraying post planting - by July my curcubits were just hammered by pathogens. By then the production was high enough my wife was giving me grief about the effort to manage the vegetables coming through our small kitchen. My method had a production orientation, and a terminal date. Not gonna work for everybody.

 

[Chuck]

I tilled in the thyme product I got from Humagro 4 times before I planted this season. I was on a mission. Yes it was a lot of work. But I think preparing the soil, and I mean sterilizing the soil, is incredibly important as even with my preparations and spraying post planting - by July my curcubits were just hammered by pathogens. By then the production was high enough my wife was giving me grief about the effort to manage the vegetables coming through our small kitchen. My method had a production orientation, and a terminal date. Not gonna work for everybody.

What kind of pathogens does this Humagro control? Does it literally sterilize the soil or does it act as a buffer. If it sterlizes the soil how does it terminally affect fungi and bacteria. What if anything does it do to a virus living in the soil?

 

[DirtMechanic]

As to viruses, It is my understanding so far that they need help such as transmission through a bug bite or the borehole of a nematode. My shorthand reads this as control insects equals control of viruses in a general sense. I am sure there are some that have a transmission vector that is odd. Cucumber beetles and stink bugs are my local and most prevelant problems, with bouts of mites and aphids. By tilling the humagro product into the soil, It has an opportunity to catch nema in between life stages and severely stunt the population. I only have a 6 inch tiller, so I am not going that deep, but then they do not move that far either, so soil prep really helps the plants get up to a good size and production before the attacks resume late in the season and by then it does not matter nearly as much as it would in the beginning of the season when the plants are so small.



Promax® has been proven effective in controlling:

Nematodes

• Burrowing Rodopholus

• Root knot Meloidogyne incognita

• Spiral Helicotylenchus

• Lesion Pratylenchus

• Lance Hoplolaimus galeatus

• Ring Criconemella xenoplax

• Cyst Heterodera glycines

• Reniform Rotylenchus robustus

• Stunt Tylenchorhynchus

• Sting Belonolaimus

Pathogens

• Club Root Plasmodiophora brassicae

• Black Rot Xanthomonas campestris

• Anthracnose Fruit Rot Colletotrichum sp.

• Charcoal Rot Macrophomina sp.

• Crown Rot Fusarium sp.

• Damping Off Fusarium sp., Phytophthora sp., Pythium sp., Rhizoctonia sp.

• Grey Mold Botrytis sp.

• Root Rot Fusarium sp., Cylindrocarpon destructans, Pythium sp., Rhizoctonia sp.

• Stem rot Phytophtora sp., Sclerotium sp.

• Verticillium Wilt Verticillium sp.

• Stem Rot Sclerotium rolfsii

• White Rot Sclerotium cepivorum

 

[Chuck]

Of all of the above the only pathogens that I THINK I have had are damping off and stem rot. Most of my problems are not listed. This product seems to be a break thru in soil pathogen controls. Perhaps it will lead to complete controls. I would much rather have something like this than GMO's

 

[DirtMechanic]

Of all of the above the only pathogens that I THINK I have had are damping off and stem rot. Most of my problems are not listed. This product seems to be a break thru in soil pathogen controls. Perhaps it will lead to complete controls. I would much rather have something like this than GMO's

It is no perfect fix I promise you. It did improve my overused plot though. And it was noticeably improved but breakthrough is a strong word. Essential oils are dangerous though too concentrated anything is a problem. Balance right?

I suspect it is a combo of thyme oil, humic materials from that arizona mine they own and molasses. But it worries me 90 some odd percent of the ingredients are not listed. I could not even fathom what reporting requirements are and as far as OMRI listing it looks like the BBB where you pay them and if you are not too contaminated they say you are a good business. I went to tbe OMRI site and was not overwhelmed. Some lady started it or something at some point. I was at work but did not get far off the front page.

 

[headfullofbees]

3% hydrogen peroxide, 4oz per gallon, as a soil soak.

 

[DirtMechanic]

I would like to learn more about h2o2..any links lying around that you are not using?

 

[Chuck]

I would like to learn more about h2o2..any links lying around that you are not using?

I can say that it does not work on early blight.

 

[DirtMechanic]

I have become aware that so much blending of components into a weekly program is necessary that I really see a benefit in a google calendar customization where one can keep up with it on a phone or other convenient means but also notate blend rates or push and pull application dates forward and backward while seeing the weather forcast for the time periods involved.

 

[headfullofbees]

I can say that it does not work on early blight.

Have you tried it as a preventative, rather than reactive use?

 

[Chuck]

Have you tried it as a preventative, rather than reactive use?

No, I haven't. I don't see anything in h2o2 that would stay on the plant for any length of time that would prevent EB. Possibly if I sprayed super often it would work. Perhaps a surfactant to help it stick on the plant? All I really know is that once EB shows up h202 does not work on tomatoes.

 

[headfullofbees]

H2O2 is not for spraying on plants, it's a soil soak whereby when it breaks down into water and oxygen, it will form O2 molecules, unless there is fungus to attack, when it will oxidise and kill the fungus.
Fusarium and verticillium wilts are both soil-borne, so my hope, rather than expectation, would be that it might at least help in the short-run, and eradicate the problem in the long-run.
As for EB, I would imagine you'd have to soak your soil periodically, but it would help against infection by soil-splash, even if it wouldn't help with the wind-borne element.
For that I'd use foliar a-a-c-t. with double molasses.

 

[DirtMechanic]

I am of the opinion that I am less of a hobby gardener and more of a fungus and virus manager.

 

[Chuck]

H2O2 is not for spraying on plants, it's a soil soak whereby when it breaks down into water and oxygen, it will form O2 molecules, unless there is fungus to attack, when it will oxidise and kill the fungus.
Fusarium and verticillium wilts are both soil-borne, so my hope, rather than expectation, would be that it might at least help in the short-run, and eradicate the problem in the long-run.
As for EB, I would imagine you'd have to soak your soil periodically, but it would help against infection by soil-splash, even if it wouldn't help with the wind-borne element.
For that I'd use foliar a-a-c-t. with double molasses.

I haven't used h2o2 as a soil drench but many times with aact.