Blight reported ~ FYI

I just got a reliable report from a long time farmer in Douglasville, GA that she just saw some tomato transplants for sale at a local nursery with symptoms of Blight. Buyers beware. I am trying to find out the originating farm/greenhouse/ company. I will let you know if and when I find more info.

Blight and other tomato diseases

Geez.. already..... This does not bode well..

Did she tell the store about it?

This is the first year we are not buying tomato transplants, I was able to get on the ball with seeds, and make hubby resist (he just has to buy a tomato or two even though we have our own and then we run out of room). We did buy broccoli, califlower, cabbage, and brussels sprouts, but they looked good, and are doing fine, in fact I really need to get out there and harvest half of the broccoli-IT'S TIME!!!!

Yes, she told the garden /nursery manager, explained details of Blight and how to reduce the spread of the disease. He refused to pull the plants.

Last year I was looking at a local farm store for some tomato plants and I noticed a man with a cigarette in one hand, picking up every single carton of tomato plants, running his hand through them. I suppose he was looking for the strongest plants. All I could think of was the tobacco mosaic virus he could have been spreading through all those plants.

I decided not to take a chance and I went to another store. That was an incident over which the store manager had no control but he still lost my sale. I've also seen workers at other stores come directly off smoke breaks and start handling tomato plants. A simple washing of the hands would take care of any potential problems.

I'm planting my own tomato seeds this year.

These are all good points. I guess everyone's best bet is to try and find a nursery that has knowledgeable staff. People that are trained on the different plants, how to care for them and how to spot disease.

Of course, that may be as difficult to find as 5 different types of compost and cheap vermiculite.

Seriously though, I will be researching different diseases and will be keeping my eyes open for them when I hit the nurseries this season. Thanks for the heads up camprn!

Although they are the easiest target, smokers are the probably least likely cause of TMV/ToMV spread, unless they work a second job harvesting tobacco on their off time.

TMV/ToMV can exist on untreated plant matter for decades, but treated tobacco for cigarettes has a much lower incident of occurrence (inspection and processing). This may not be the case for pipe/cigars/home-grown tobacco for personal use.

Because ToMV is a virus, and it's transmission vector is mechanical: anything that breaks the "skin" of the plant can transmit the disease.

So "no-smoking-joe" who doesn't follow good nursery practices (segregates tools by crop/plant type, boiling/sterilzing/sanitizing tools/cutters between plants) is just as likely, if not more likely to cross-contaminate your nursery plants as "smoking sally", who works with a Marlboro hanging out of her mouth.

Most of the current (recent) vector-analysis of TMV/ToMV cases(and other plant diseases) in nursury outbreaks has identified the introduction vector as contaminated plant holders and tools (particularly shears / snips / cutters).

That's the main reason you'll never see a serious orchid grower, nursery professional, bonsaist or hibiscus grower without their own set of tools & why they always have a spray bottle in the other hand. The bottles typically a disinfectant (or straight rubbing alcohol) and the "passive" ones will disinfect every time they change plant types .... the "obsessive" types will disinfect every time they move from one plant to another.

I "gave up the bottle" years ago, but I still have a different set of tools for my orchids, ornamentals, veggies & general-purpose.

Short story .... the smokers on the nursury staff are probably the least of your worries. I'd watch the old lady with the rusty clippers, moving around from plant type to plant type, without disinfecting . Give the smokers some friendly encouragement to quit for health reasons ... not because they are the tomato-harbinger-of-death

To a lesser extent, the same is true with most plant diseases ...... the culprit is poor tool maintenance resulting in cross-contamination/spread.

Acara, will dipping in a bleach solution do the same thing as alcohol?

Kay

That's the prevalent rumor .... never tried it personally, but disinfecting is disinfecting in my book.

Bleach is a great disinfectant ... just not sure what the impact on different kinds of plants is.

Probably bad idea in a spray bottle though ...... especialy for those of us who forget to change into our "gardening clothes" everytime we go play in the garden

acara wrote:Bleach.......

Probably bad idea in a spray bottle though ...... especialy for those of us who forget to change into our "gardening clothes" everytime we go play in the garden

+1

VA & DE Link
LI NY Link

So you can disinfect your tools when you want to by spraying them with alcohol? How long do you wait before you use the tool?

Miss M wrote:So you can disinfect your tools when you want to by spraying them with alcohol? How long do you wait before you use the tool?

Hmm, I think perhaps when the alcohol dries you are ready to go.

I have disinfectant baby whipes right out in the garden and whipe my snipers between plants.