Heirloom tomatoes are delicious, but not disease resistant
Can I save my tomato seeds, if I really like a tomato I just ate? My question would be, is it an heirloom or hybrid fruit? Most people won’t have an answer.
As I said last week, heirloom seeds will produce “children” like themselves. A hybrid will produce “children” that are like one, or the other, parent of itself. It won’t reproduce itself. Saving seeds from them, will be a gamble.
Some of the best things about hybrids is that they’re bred for resistance to certain prevalent diseases. How will you know what they’re resistant to? On the tag, or package, there will be some letters like F1, V, F, N, T. The first one indicates it’s generation. The others tell you that this plant/seed is resistant to verticillium wilt, fusarium blight, nematodes, and tobacco mosaic. A little aside about tobacco mosaic; if you use any tobacco product, be sure to wash your hands well, before handling your plants, because you can be the carrier of that disease! There may be different combinations, with each initial telling you something.
I live in upper East Tennessee, and growing tomatoes here can be a special challenge, and this time of year is extra tough. Tomatoes are kind of picky about growing conditions. They prefer no excess and no want. Too much or too little of air flow, sun, temperature, water, fertilizer, can seriously hamper a tomato crop. Add some disease-carrying pests and you have a frustrating scenario.
Heirlooms, for all their deliciousness, are not known to be disease resistant. In our experiment garden this year, we’re growing heirloom tomatoes exclusively, and pretty quickly, after planting, curly-top virus was evident. It’s not contagious, but here’s no cure. Then there’s fusarium blight, nematodes, verticillium wilt (among several wilts), tobacco mosaic, and more. Leaf hoppers can carry diseases from plant to plant, as can other pests. Then there are the pests that want to munch on the leaves and the fruit. Can this be prevented, without chemicals? I haven’t found a way, although I do know growers who use “clean” sprays and dusts to slow the progress, and extend the harvest.
I don’t think there are any tomatoes that are resistant to everything, because there are lots of things that are after your tomatoes, but you can do as much as you can, to get a tasty harvest.
The Tennessee Dirtgirl
