DISEASES
Jasmin Hill
26 Feb 22
Seed borne disease's, something we all need to be aware of!
Running our Seed Savers Library (SSL) I have had a lot of different seeds come through my hands from many different places, often seeds arrive that are not labeled very well so my record taking has been put to the test! If seeds are not labeled well or I don't know if they have come from a trusted Seed Saver then I won’t put them in the SSL, I am very strict about the seeds that actually get listed in our Library.
All of the seeds that are not suitable for the SSL are either grown out for seed saving purposes or donated to community gardening projects.
This year has been an eye opener for me, I have been exposed to two different seed borne diseases! Both in Solanums.. typical! Diseasey plants that they are..
The first was the chilli leaf curl virus, living up to its name with its very distorted curled up leaves.
The second is a seed borne fungus, it came in last season through some tomato seeds.. it’s called Verticillium Wilt. Its hard to diagnose this disease as it initially looks like many other diseases, last season we suspected it was early blight. I grew the same seeds again this year in a different place and discovered that whatever disease it was was definitely seed borne. As the season has progressed this year, signs of this fungus disease is showing up in the plants that were planted in my tomato house where the infected plants were last year VW is spread through Soil and through Seed.
My tomatohouse is now a contamination area, I’m grateful for always having sent all tomato plant material to the bonfire! I sure hope I did a good enough job of that last season.. I have seperate tools to use in there now too including different gloves and a designated container for any material, that is going straight to the bonfire. The tomato plants in there now are still growing really well, lots of beautiful tomatoes! But sadly I won’t be saving any Tomato seeds from this glasshouse again. I still have 3 tomato varieties I will be able to save because they have been growing in my other glasshouses.
What to do now?! I was considering removing all of the soil and starting again but this seems dangerous, moving so much contaminated soil.. and where would I put it..
Verticillium wilt can effect a wide variety of plants and I don’t want it to spread around my gardens. It doesn’t effect all plants though, and not all varieties of tomato plants either.. there are many varieties of plants that are resistant to VW.
At this stage I plan to harvest and utilise the tomatoes that are growing in there now, on healthy looking plants (all infected plants have been removed).. treating all plant material as contaminated so heading to the bonfire, including offcuts from the kitchen, no tomatoes in the compost! Once the season comes to an end I will remove as much plant material as I possibly can, to the bonfire.. And plant it out in perennials. If I can plant it out in resistant plants, not disturb the soil and keep it contained, treat the soil with the right nutrients.. then maybe in 10 years or so the fungus will die. From my research VW can remain dormant in the soil for up to 10 years.. so if I can avoid activating the fungus for more than 10 years maybe it will die. I am open to any advice..
I sure have learn’t a lot about Seed Borne Virus’s this year.
# 1 - NEVER SAVE SEEDS FROM SICK PLANTS - Always choose nice strong healthy plants to save seeds from, your looking for good traits in your seeds, the quality of the original plant will come through in the seeds it produces.
# 2 - IF YOU DON’T KNOW THE SOURCE OF YOUR SEED BE CAREFUL - Any future seeds I am unsure of, especially Solanum’s, I will grow in seperate containers and keep a close eye on. I’m not taking risks anymore, if a plant is looking sick it’s getting pulled out and burnt.
26 Feb 22
Seed borne disease's, something we all need to be aware of!
Running our Seed Savers Library (SSL) I have had a lot of different seeds come through my hands from many different places, often seeds arrive that are not labeled very well so my record taking has been put to the test! If seeds are not labeled well or I don't know if they have come from a trusted Seed Saver then I won’t put them in the SSL, I am very strict about the seeds that actually get listed in our Library.
All of the seeds that are not suitable for the SSL are either grown out for seed saving purposes or donated to community gardening projects.
This year has been an eye opener for me, I have been exposed to two different seed borne diseases! Both in Solanums.. typical! Diseasey plants that they are..
The first was the chilli leaf curl virus, living up to its name with its very distorted curled up leaves.
The second is a seed borne fungus, it came in last season through some tomato seeds.. it’s called Verticillium Wilt. Its hard to diagnose this disease as it initially looks like many other diseases, last season we suspected it was early blight. I grew the same seeds again this year in a different place and discovered that whatever disease it was was definitely seed borne. As the season has progressed this year, signs of this fungus disease is showing up in the plants that were planted in my tomato house where the infected plants were last year VW is spread through Soil and through Seed.
My tomatohouse is now a contamination area, I’m grateful for always having sent all tomato plant material to the bonfire! I sure hope I did a good enough job of that last season.. I have seperate tools to use in there now too including different gloves and a designated container for any material, that is going straight to the bonfire. The tomato plants in there now are still growing really well, lots of beautiful tomatoes! But sadly I won’t be saving any Tomato seeds from this glasshouse again. I still have 3 tomato varieties I will be able to save because they have been growing in my other glasshouses.
What to do now?! I was considering removing all of the soil and starting again but this seems dangerous, moving so much contaminated soil.. and where would I put it..
Verticillium wilt can effect a wide variety of plants and I don’t want it to spread around my gardens. It doesn’t effect all plants though, and not all varieties of tomato plants either.. there are many varieties of plants that are resistant to VW.
At this stage I plan to harvest and utilise the tomatoes that are growing in there now, on healthy looking plants (all infected plants have been removed).. treating all plant material as contaminated so heading to the bonfire, including offcuts from the kitchen, no tomatoes in the compost! Once the season comes to an end I will remove as much plant material as I possibly can, to the bonfire.. And plant it out in perennials. If I can plant it out in resistant plants, not disturb the soil and keep it contained, treat the soil with the right nutrients.. then maybe in 10 years or so the fungus will die. From my research VW can remain dormant in the soil for up to 10 years.. so if I can avoid activating the fungus for more than 10 years maybe it will die. I am open to any advice..
I sure have learn’t a lot about Seed Borne Virus’s this year.
# 1 - NEVER SAVE SEEDS FROM SICK PLANTS - Always choose nice strong healthy plants to save seeds from, your looking for good traits in your seeds, the quality of the original plant will come through in the seeds it produces.
# 2 - IF YOU DON’T KNOW THE SOURCE OF YOUR SEED BE CAREFUL - Any future seeds I am unsure of, especially Solanum’s, I will grow in seperate containers and keep a close eye on. I’m not taking risks anymore, if a plant is looking sick it’s getting pulled out and burnt.
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