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Perhaps the biggest problem with blight on tomatoes is with its cousin the humble potato. With the majority of potato varieties being highly susceptible to this virulent fungus, the late summer air is full of pathonogenic spores just waiting for a suitable host plant to infect. It's Unfortunate that the closely related tomato plant more than readily fits the bill.
This can be a particular problem with tomatoes, especially when grown outside in the more temperate regions of the country. With the late cropping of most true outdoor varieties – and even later cropping if glasshouse varieties are grown outside – the ripening fruit will often coincide with the seasonal incidence of ‘Late Blight’. If the late summer season is particularly hot and humid, your tomato crops will probably stand little hope of survival and your years worth of work can end up as another pile being burned at the local incinerator.
Recently there have been some new introductions that have performed extremely well against Late Blight. Given time - and improved availability - these hardier varieties will hopefully give tomato growers around the world a well deserved break. The three best performing varieties are listed below.
TOMATO ‘LEGEND’
This particular variety was bred in the USA by Dr. Jim Baggett at Oregon State University. In recent tests ‘Legend’ had shown impressive blight tolerance, and in particular during trials in a ‘garden’ situation. It produces large, glossy red fruits with an expected crop of up to 6lbs per plant. The fruit have a slightly flatter shape compared to the norm and come almost completely seedless. Fortunately for most gardeners, best results are produced when the plants were grown outdoors but they are also perfectly fine for growing under glass. They have an excellent flavour and should be sown 6-8 weeks before expected lasts frosts - in the United Kingdom this will be any time from March onwards.
TOMATO ‘FERLINE’ F1 Hybrid
Not only has this new variety shown excellent tolerance to ‘Late Blight’, it has also proven itself to be highly resistant against both fusarium wilt and verticillium wilt. As with the new ‘Legend’ cultivar, ‘Ferline’ has also tested extremely well in garden trials. It produces heavy crops – up to 5lbs per plant – of flavoursome, deep red fruits. Although it does well sown outdoors ‘Ferline’ is also suitable for growing under glass.
TOMATO ‘FANTASIO’ F1 Hybrid
This can be a particular problem with tomatoes, especially when grown outside in the more temperate regions of the country. With the late cropping of most true outdoor varieties – and even later cropping if glasshouse varieties are grown outside – the ripening fruit will often coincide with the seasonal incidence of ‘Late Blight’. If the late summer season is particularly hot and humid, your tomato crops will probably stand little hope of survival and your years worth of work can end up as another pile being burned at the local incinerator.
Recently there have been some new introductions that have performed extremely well against Late Blight. Given time - and improved availability - these hardier varieties will hopefully give tomato growers around the world a well deserved break. The three best performing varieties are listed below.
TOMATO ‘LEGEND’
This particular variety was bred in the USA by Dr. Jim Baggett at Oregon State University. In recent tests ‘Legend’ had shown impressive blight tolerance, and in particular during trials in a ‘garden’ situation. It produces large, glossy red fruits with an expected crop of up to 6lbs per plant. The fruit have a slightly flatter shape compared to the norm and come almost completely seedless. Fortunately for most gardeners, best results are produced when the plants were grown outdoors but they are also perfectly fine for growing under glass. They have an excellent flavour and should be sown 6-8 weeks before expected lasts frosts - in the United Kingdom this will be any time from March onwards.
TOMATO ‘FERLINE’ F1 Hybrid
Not only has this new variety shown excellent tolerance to ‘Late Blight’, it has also proven itself to be highly resistant against both fusarium wilt and verticillium wilt. As with the new ‘Legend’ cultivar, ‘Ferline’ has also tested extremely well in garden trials. It produces heavy crops – up to 5lbs per plant – of flavoursome, deep red fruits. Although it does well sown outdoors ‘Ferline’ is also suitable for growing under glass.
TOMATO ‘FANTASIO’ F1 Hybrid
This is a deliciously flavoured variety that has also trialled well in the garden situation against ‘Late Blight’ infection. In fact it has also shown good resistance to Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Verticilium wilt, Fusarium Wilts, and nematodes too. Tomato ‘Fantastico will bear you a good crop of round fruits, with each plant producing up to around 6lbs of tomatoes.
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2 comments:
Is very helpful to change our habits, we need to think the obesity is very danger for everybody, is like a pump that can explot any time. So is necesary to take care of ourselves, exercising and taking good and healthy food and stop eating junk food. The life is too short, so we need to take care of us every single day for enjoy the things that the life gave to us. I bought my house through costa rica homes for sale so i want to enjoy it for long time. That is why i eat healthy including tomatoes, lettuce, vegetables and fruits.
Thank you for posting this list, it is exceedingly helpful, as I'm revamping my tomato varieties this year.
Sincerely
Staci S.
Master Gardener
Blight Beleaguered Pennsylvania
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