[tomato] seed borne
Byron (Tomato@GlobalGarden.com)
Thu, 17 Jun 1999 09:46:23 -0400
Mr Wyatt
I only plant a part package of pepper and tomato seeds so I can have
more varieties. I sent my remaining seeds to UNH and had them
tested there. They confirmed the diseases were seed borne. The
plant diseases were confirmed by my County Agent.
I may be a homegardener, but I use these folks for the data that I need.
I lost 1/3 of my pepper and tomato crop 1 year out of 50 years of
gardening. This was the one and only year I bought seeds from Totally
Tomatoes. My normal crop loss is less than 2%
Oh yes I lost 50% of my crop one year due to a late snow storm
24" of heavy wet stuff. I suppose that makes me a bad gardener also
My current practice of buying seeds is, I look in the catalogs for the
statement "All our seeds are treated for seed borne diseases" either
hot water or chlorine AKA Georgia Treatment. or the statement "all
our seeds are tested for seed borne diseases". If I really want a variety
that is not, then I do my own treatment before I plant my seeds.
I learned a lesson the hard way, My goal of this was to help some
folks understand more about it and maybe preventing pulling up 2/3
grown plants and burning them, and not being able to plant for 2 or
3 years in that spot.
There are quite a few seed borne diseases out there, and folks like
you who distribute imported, untested seeds, help spread these
diseases. While looking for that data on TMV, I found that there are
more reported cases of TMV in Sweet Bells in Calif. than in the whole
US tobacco crop. It would not surprise to see the day when we get
an imported disease that wipes out everything. TomTMV is one of
them that has started.
As far as mink manure goes, I had a site from Nels Peterson explaining
the stuff, Regretfully I lost the addy in a crash. I know the stuff is in
very limited supply, and available to only a few Northern teir state
gardeners.
Byron