Is Legend Tomato happy in southeast zone 7b?

Early Blight has been a problem for my tomato plants. "Legend" is said to be somewhat Early Blight resistant. Has anyone had experience with it?

Legend was bred by Dr' Jim Baggett of Oregon State U, now retired, to include a gene for tolerance, there is no such thing as resistance, to Late Blight.

Early Blight ( A solani) can appear early or late in the season as can Late Blight ( P. infestans) but they are two separate diseases and LB is usually, but not always lethal. And Legend was bred for the PNW where LB has always been a problem. Those who have grown it don't rave about the taste either

IN AL I doubt that you have problems with LB but most certainly do with Early Blight b'c it's THE most common foliage disease world wide.

So Legend is not going to help you with ANY of the common foliage diseases, the two fungal ones, Early Blight and Septoria Leaf Spot and the two bacterial ones, Bacterial Speck and Bacterial Spot.

Hope that helps.

Carolyn

Atkinson Tomato seems to do pretty good down here.

Description
Introduced 1966 for southern, hot and humid areas by Auburn University. TomatoFest organic seeds produce indeterminate, regular-leaf, vigorous plants with good yields of 8 oz. to 1 lb., red, globe-shaped tomatoes that are very meaty with good, old-fashioned tomato flavors. Tomatoes are meaty. This is an outstanding tomato for sandwiches, salads and canning. Great for growing in Southeastern U.S. and tropical regions. Disease Resistant.

This message was edited Jan 27, 2012 8:41 PM

But Atkinson has no tolerance to Early Blight ( A. solani) which is what the original poster asked about.

THe fungal and bacterial foliage diseases are spread via air and embedded in raindrops so there's really no way to prevent new infections, unless for the fungal ones you use a good anti-fungal such as Daconil, which yes, is synthetic, but has less toxicity than several organic certified agents such as Rotenone.

Carolyn

No, it doesn't hurt at all to mention another variety such as Atkinson, but the last two words you used were Disease Resistant, and I think that might be a bit confusing to the original poster and perhaps others.

YOu could have meant systemic diseases or foliage diseases, but no doubt not foliage diseases when one sees that Atkinson was introduced in 1966.

Here's the description for Atkinson from the NCSU Cultivar list:

Atkinson (AU 22 and STEP 500) - Breeder: Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama. Vendor: Corneli Seed Co. Characteristics: indeterminate vine, strong; fruit meaty, large to 1.1 pounds, small core, good color and flavor, green shouldered; suitable for green wraps, fresh market, and home gardens. Resistance: nematodes and fusarium wilt race 1. Similar: Marion. Adaptation: southeastern U.S. Atkinson tomato, Auburn Agr. Expt. Sta. Leaf. 73, Nov. 1966.


So it has tolerance to Fusarium race 1 and nematodes, both of which are systemic diseases, and varieties with those genes inserted are not resistant, they just live a week or two more which gives time for many large commercial places to get the Brix level ( soluble sugars), up to where they want them before harvesting starts.

Creole is another variety that does well in hot humid conditions, and there are many more that do well in those conditions as well.

I'm not trying to be difficult, honest I'm not, but I did think that when you typed in Disease Resistant that that could be misinterpreted.

Carolyn

Carolyn and Cricket: thank you both for taking the time to respond. My extension agent last summer told me that early blight is in the soil (and air?) and rampant in central Alabama so I should start spraying with Daconil before any symptoms begin. After watching my tomatoes, I fully believe him. This year I'll start spraying as soon as I plant, even though I hate to use any chemicals.

I couldn't find Daconil, but I did find chlorothanilol (hope spelling is correct), which is supposedly the same chemical, but maybe better for home gardens? Do you recommend this?

Many thanks.

It does seem they are taking Daconil off the market around here. I have been using Fung-O-Nil. I do not know any thing about the Chlorothan product.
Maybe check Home Depot or your local Co-Op for the Daconil.

Is there anything that can be used as a sol drench on edibles? Ive tried Daconil 2 years in a row and my plants still died. They had crown rot with some leaf and fruit lesions. I think it is Alternia Stem Canker (I know its not usually seen here but...) I was going to burn the area but it has been either too windy or too wet. Thanks!

Cricket, I was told Daconil has been taken off the market and Chlorothalonil (sp?) is the same chemical in safer form, or that's how I remember it.

http://www.savewithgreen.com/green-tips/organic-gardening/tomatoplantdiseases.html

I have the same problems....been searching for the best treatments....not sure there is any such thing as Best.

The link above gives a few suggestions for organic fungicide treatments. Some homemade.

I also like to spray the soil down with diluted original plain MouthWash. It also acts as an organic fungicide. Makes the garden smell fresh too. Haha
I use one of those ortho hose end sprayers and put 1 cup of mouth wash, 1 cup of antibacterial dish soap, 1 cup of water. Set dial to 1 tablespoon per gallon. Drench
I like the mixture they list in the Link above. I think I will try it.

I dont know if I would consider mouthwash organic. But I would consider using it. About how much area does your mixture cover? I'm wondering if you could also apply some to each hole as you plant? Interesting!

Cricket, I didn't see a recipe in that link- can you help me out?

here ya go Jo

At the first sign of early blight, it is advised to clip off infected leaves, but only if the foliage is dry. Messing around with damp, infected foliage will only serve to spread millions of fungal spores throughout the garden and infect other tomato plants. After infected foliage is removed (if possible) it is advised to spray down the tomato plants with a mixture of one part milk to four parts water, along with 1 teaspoon of baking soda for every quart of water used. A few drops of liquid soap will help to make the spray stick. The reason this spray is effective is that dried milk when exposed to the Sun's ray's temporarily changes into a disinfectant, while the bicarbonate component of baking soda kills new fungal colonies. Although copper and sulfur are commonly used to treat fungal outbreaks, copper does not break down in the soil readily and is toxic to earthworms and many beneficial microorganisms. As for Sulfur, it can burn foliage and make the soil too acidic.

1part milk
4 parts water
1teaspoon baking soda per quart of mixture
A few drops of liquid soap

about the mouthwash= it's suppose to be environmentally safe all around.
You can spray plants with it in addition to drenching the surface soils.
I am not sure how much area it really does cover. I normally spray the plants and the soil until everything is saturated in the late evening which is an area 20x35 with that one hose end sprayer full of mixture.

Something to think about...if you drench your garden bed with fungicide....you will have to add a lot of organic matter into it a few weeks later cause the fungicide will kill many good microorganisms that help the plants take up nutrients. That subject gets kinda scientifically DEEP and I am not smart enough to explain it. I just know it.

Turning the soil over is also suppose to help cut down on disease and fungal infections. Deep Turning of the Soil.
(Up is down and down is Up.) Dig in, lift, flip over.

Thanks Cricket. Im going to try the mouthwash thing. Also not going to plant tomatoes in that area unless its for experimental purposes only. I cant watch that dry brown canker go around the stem again.. I have no idea where it came from.

Daconil has not been taken off the market, It's the Ortho brand and Fung-o-nil is the Bonide brand and both have the active ingredient cholorothalonil.

Yes. Cholorothalonil is synthetic but has a lower toxicty level than does Rotenone which is certified organic.

I could care less if a product is synthetic or organic, for I'm concerned with toxcity to humans, pets and the environment in general


What you want is the 29.6% concentrate to dilute up and if you read the instructions you'll see that it can be used up THE DAY of harvest which is telling you quite a bit.

There's a tremendous amount of information out there about Early Blight b'c it's the most common foliar fungal disease in the world

All NEW infections come from spores spread in the air and in raindrops. But if you've had previous infections and the spores have fallen to the ground there can be what's called Splash Back infection/ Chlorothalonil cannot destroy spores in the ground. What it does is to coat the upper leaf surface preventing attachment of fungal tomato foliage pathogens and has been used for over 30 years plus and not just for tomatoes so there's huge anout of experience with this excellent ant-fungal/

In controlled studies milk and othe similar substances have not been found to be useful.

Hope that helps/

Carolyn

Whatever is in my garden gets the stem first, not the leaves. Really want to try a soil drench.

Are you saying that eventually it gets to the leaves but the stems come first or thj leaves are never infectioned?

HEre's a thread that I know should help you make a diagnosis and take a look at the TAMU site as well as the two Cornell ones which I think are three of the best around.

There is no soil drench that kills viruses or bacteria or fungi in the soil. as far as I know/

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=21

Carolyn

This message was edited Feb 7, 2012 4:02 PM

I can't post a link on this iPad. But it starts on the stems then moves to the leaves then the fruit.

Seminis-Grower Resourse-tomato diseases-Alternaria Stem Canker: Causal Agent Alternaria alternata f. Sp. lycoppersici. Explains it perfectly. I posted a thread in 2010 and may hunt it down...

But it says it starts as dry concentric rings on the stems. The toxin produced by the stems growing in the stem canker moves into the upper part of the plant, killing the interveinal leaf tissue. As the disease progresses gray flecks can appear on the fruit....

So from what I understand since the leaves are not attack from the outside that's why the fungicide doesn't work. It looks exactly like what I've been seeing. I think I may grow something else in that area this year but would raised beds help. One year it just showed up never had seen it before.

Thanks

Lisa, I've had the Seminis monograph on tomato diseases for many years as well as the Cornell one which includes diseases of other crops, and Seminins pictures are included at most of the major disease sites. Neither monographs are available for sale these days/

I would like to suggest to you that Alternaria Stem Canker is found almost exclusively in CA and suggest that you look at Bacterial Canker which is much more common.

Same prognosis, though.

Carolyn

How is bacterial canker treated? I have a picture from Seminis and it looks exactly like Alternia Stem Canker (Fungal) (PDF I think). Where would it come from and how come Im the only one with it and just in one garden? Beans and other stuff grow fine there so thats what Im growing there this year. I even had the grayish lessions on the fruit. Hopefully Ill have time tomorrow to start a new thread or revive the old one. I realize that ASC is found mostly in CA but things go under reported here and since Im from Ca maybe I brought it on something. Everything is blight here. The garden the year before (2009) was the best Id ever have then this. however, this showed up after a very wet and cool winter spring. Thanks

This message was edited Feb 26, 2012 3:07 PM

BPlum, there was an article in Alabama Gardening magazine last year about research done by a group of Master Gardeners with a spray regimen for blight, etc on veggie garden plants. It was quite eye-opening with the combinations (mostly diluted by half from the manufacturer's recommendation). I posted it on another thread somewhere last year but will try to find my copy and summarize for you if interested. Basically, they tried 3 different formulations of a concoction (including Daconil as one of the ingredients), spraying regularlyl as soon as the plants were in the ground. I followed the instructions and had great results, even with all the early spring rains. The later weather messed with other growing conditions but I had great results.

Outsideplaying, I'd love to see the article. Thank you. But don't go to too much trouble.

I'll look for it and pass it along this week. It's in my stack of last year's magazines...somewhere. But I know I still have it.

BPlum, check your d-mail.