Tomato diseases: Part 1

By Rennie Phillips

Most everyone who gardens grows tomatoes of one kind and color. Some like them red and some yellow, while others like them black and others like them orange. But one thing about growing tomatoes: most of us want them to taste good. Some, however, grow tomatoes to sell to an indiscriminate clientele, so taste isn't as important as appearance. Almost all of the time, it is next to impossible to get that perfect tomato, one that tastes good and looks good and grows good. Virtually impossible.

Some of the best-tasting tomatoes, like most of the heirlooms, don't look all that good, and they are an easy prey to disease. However, some of the most disease-resistant tomatoes will look really good but their taste won't be that good. We kind of have to choose whether we want a tomato that is easy to grow and looks good or we choose a tomato that tastes good. It's kind of up to us if we grow our own tomatoes.

Common problems that give tomatoes a hard time are Verticillium Wilt, Fusarium Wilt, Early Blight, Late Blight and Septoria Leaf Blight. Some environmental problems are fruit cracking, catfacing and blossom end rot. These are common diseases or problems that every tomato grower will face in one form or another and to a varying degree. Each of the diseases is abbreviated by letters. For example Verticillium Wilt is represented by "V." Early Blight is represented by "Eb" and Late Blight by "Lb." There are a bunch of these diseases and their abbreviations.

As a general rule, all heirlooms or open-pollinated tomato varieties aren't resistant to any of these diseases. They might be slightly resistant but only slightly. However, most hybrids have been bred to be resistant to a varying degree to many of these diseases. Most of the time, the more resistant the tomato variety, the less tasty the tomato will be. Some tomato varieties are bred to be grown in greenhouses, and to me they simply don't taste like I want my tomatoes to taste. However you can grow most good-tasting tomatoes in an outside garden and in a high tunnel and the taste will be very similar. It all depends on the variety.

I grow a hybrid called Plum Regal, which is a fairly large Roma type tomato that normally is about 2 ½ inches long and about 1 ½ in diameter. Plum Regal is a hybrid, and it has a great disease resistance package that is represented by the abbreviation VFFTswvEbLb The V means that it has resistance to Verticillium Wilt. The FF means a resistance to Fusarium Wilt Races 1 and 2. The Tswv is a resistance to tomato-spotted wilt Virus. The Eb is a resistance to Early Blight. And the Lb is a resistance to Late Blight. It has a great taste, but I don't think it will taste as good as an open-pollinated Roma. However it will resist diseases where the open pollinated won't.

I also grow a Mountain Merit Hybrid Tomato with a disease package of VFFFNTswvEbLb. It is a little more disease resistant than Plum Regal in that it is resistant to Fusarium Wilt Races 1, 2 and 3, while Plum Regal is resistant to only races 1 and 2. Mountain Merit is also resistant to Nematodes. The great part is it is resistant to both early and light blight as is Plum Regal.

Jet Star is one that I grow and it's a favorite in our area and it has a great taste. Most of the fruit will be 10 to 12 ounces or so and pretty much blemish free. It lacks in disease resistance; however, trials dealing with cracking of the skin has shown Jet Star is one of the best varieties to not have cracking. Cracking is when the skin cracks from heat or uneven moisture. I grow a bunch of Big Beef. Big Beef has a good disease package, however it lacks early- and late-blight resistance which is common where I live. But Big Beef consistently grows good, puts on a ton of tomatoes and has a better than average taste. So my Big Beef suffer from early blight which will eventually kill the tomato in late summer which I plan for. One benefit to Big Beef is it has resistance to tobacco mosaic virus which is introduced into the garden with tobacco products or those who use tobacco.

Some of these varieties will grow only 5 feet tall or so and most will set all their fruit to ripen in a two- to three-week period. Others will grow all summer clear up to frost or until disease or bugs kill them. Every few weeks they will put on a new set of branches and a new fruit stem and this will keep happening till the plant dies. Indeterminates and determinates each have their place.

Next week we'll look at the different diseases and how to recognize them. Until then check out your favorite tomato variety and see what their disease resistance is. Simply Google or DuckDuckGo "Tomato Resistance Chart" and also check your variety by typing in "Variety Disease Resistance" like "Celebrity Disease Resistance."