My first tomato plants were determinate romas, and they produced quite a crop. I was encouraged and as my yard gets sufficient sunlight, I moved on to some determinate varieties. I got some fruit, vanquished blossom end rot with a bit of love and calcium. Then the plants began wilting bottom up. Got a few more fruit but once it was apparent I might have fusarium or verticillium in the plants, I destroyed them.
This year I tried again. Grew some lovely tomato varietals from seed including Brandywine and Cherokee chocolate and they flourished until the weather settled into the 70s for the past two weeks. Since then, although they are potted in new soil, they are all rapidly dying of wilt. Is there anything I can do to clean up the environment in the backyard? If one of these wilts is in the peripheral soil in the garden, will it come back forever?
Should I try wilt resistant plants for a few years? Does fusarium/verticillium ever cycle out of an environment?
Second issue, I bagged the dirt from last season’s diseased crops because it’s difficult to dispose of, and wanted to try solarizing it. Instead I steamed it while also alternately bathing the soil in a diluted hydrogen peroxide bath. I steamed it in layers about an inch thick so it was fully permeated and theoretically there should be no disease left in the soil, if what I’ve read about steaming is correct. Can anyone confirm this? I reused it for a few other types of plants after cleaning and it seems to be causing no issue.
My first tomato plants were determinate romas, and they produced quite a crop. I was encouraged and as my yard gets sufficient sunlight, I moved on to some determinate varieties. I got some fruit, vanquished blossom end rot with a bit of love and calcium. Then the plants began wilting bottom up. Got a few more fruit but once it was apparent I might have fusarium or verticillium in the plants, I destroyed them.
This year I tried again. Grew some lovely tomato varietals from seed including Brandywine and Cherokee chocolate and they flourished until the weather settled into the 70s for the past two weeks. Since then, although they are potted in new soil, they are all rapidly dying of wilt. Is there anything I can do to clean up the environment in the backyard? If one of these wilts is in the peripheral soil in the garden, will it come back forever?
Should I try wilt resistant plants for a few years? Does fusarium/verticillium ever cycle out of an environment?
Second issue, I bagged the dirt from last season’s diseased crops because it’s difficult to dispose of, and wanted to try solarizing it. Instead I steamed it while also alternately bathing the soil in a diluted hydrogen peroxide bath. I steamed it in layers about an inch thick so it was fully permeated and theoretically there should be no disease left in the soil, if what I’ve read about steaming is correct. Can anyone confirm this? I reused it for a few other types of plants after cleaning and it seems to be causing no issue.