My Tomato Plants Are Wilting... And Then They Die!

Tomato Wilting Symptoms (Photo by F.J Louws)

Every summer the Plant Disease and Insect Clinic receives samples from clients who tell us that their tomato plants “wilt and then die.”  This can be very discouraging for a home gardener, and devastating for a commercial grower who has a field of plants going down.  If you observe these symptoms, be prepared for some bad news!

In the piedmont and coastal plain regions of our state the most common cause of wilting and death in tomatoes is bacterial wilt.  The destructive pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum is able to wipe out home gardens and whole fields of tomatoes.  It also attacks many members of the nightshade family: tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and eggplant, along with zinnias, geraniums, sunflowers, and marigolds.  Ralstonia causes Granville wilt in tobacco (also a relative of tomatoes), the subject of some of the earliest work on plant diseases at NC State. A bulletin published in 1903 warned growers that curing Granville wilt was “hopeless.”

The most obvious symptom of bacterial wilt is wilting, followed by sudden collapse of the entire plant.  Basically, bacteria plug up the water conducting tissue in the stem. The plant is unable to transport water from the soil to the leaves and the plant wilts and dies.  

Tomato Collapse (Photo by F.J. Louws)

Burley Tobacco Wilting (Photo by H.D. Shew)

Ralstonia can survive in most soils for years without a host present. When susceptible plants are planted in infested soil, it is only a matter of time before the plant becomes infected.   A heavy rain or watering can help bacteria move through soil to the roots of susceptible plants. A few large black roots are often found where the infection got started. This is especially evident in infected tobacco plants.   

Black Roots Where Infection Took Place
(Photo by H.D. Shew)

If you suspect bacterial wilt, there are quick and easy diagnostic checks you can do yourself.  The first thing you need to do is check for vascular browning inside the stem.  Tomato stem tissue should be very light green.  The easiest way to check for vascular discoloration is to cut the stem, as shown in the image below. 

Tomato Stem: Note Brown Discoloration
(Photo by M.J. Munster)

Vascular Browning (Photo by E.C. Lookabaugh)

Next, check for bacterial ooze. The easiest method is to cut the stem off at the base.  Take the stem cutting and hang it over a glass of water (shown below).  After a few minutes, you should be able to observe a cloudy stream of bacteria oozing from the cut tissue.  It is very important not to disturb the glass of water during the test.  

Bacterial Stream Test (Photo by M.J. Munster)

Note White Bacterial Streaming (Photo by M.J. Munster)

Sometimes, it can be hard to see the bacteria. If you have access to a microscope, take a thin slice of brown vascular tissue and place it in a drop of water on a glass microscope slide.  Make 2 straight cuts across the tissue (cutting the tissue into 3 pieces).  Put a cover slip on top and look through the microscope using the 10x objective.  Within seconds, you should be able to see dark brown plumes of bacteria oozing from the slices.  

Slice Vascular Tissue on Glass Slide
(Photo by E.C. Lookabaugh)

Micrograph of Bacterial Ooze
(Photo by E.C. Lookabaugh)

If you don’t see any bacteria, you probably don’t have bacterial wilt. Fusarium wilt can cause vascular browning and is common in the Piedmont. Most modern varieties of tomatoes are resistant to Fusarium wilt, but we see it often in heirloom varieties. Southern blight or high soil salts are other potential causes of browning. Another wilt disease, Verticillium wilt, is present in many mountain areas, and has other distinctive symptoms.

Arrow Pointing to Bacterial Ooze on Tobacco Stem
(Photo H.D. Shew)

Arrow Pointing to Bacterial Ooze on Tomato Stem
(Photo by E.C. Lookabaugh)

Much as in 1903, if your plants have bacterial wilt, there is nothing you can do to save them. Infected plants will not recover and should be removed and destroyed. Replanting with new plants will not solve the problem because they will likely become infected and die too. The bacteria can persist in the soil for years, so it is best not to plant susceptible plants back into that area. Rotation with non-host plants, for example, sweet corn, for at least three years is recommended. 

Growing tomatoes in containers with potting soil is one option if your garden is infested. Be sure that the containers are not in contact with the native soil and be careful not to spread infested soil to new locations. 

For commercial growers, some soil treatments and the use of resistant rootstocks and grafting can be an option for the following year.  More information on root grafting can be found here:

http://www4.ncsu.edu/~clrivard/TubeGraftingTechnique.pdf

For a look at the history of the Department of Plant Pathology and Granville wilt in North Carolina agriculture, see http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/plantpath/FromLabtoField.pdf

Special thanks to Dr. David Shew for helping with this posting!

My Blueberries Look Funny...

Written by Bill Cline

In July, blueberries are ripening all across the state.  These excellent little berries can be grown in your back yard, but you may not know that they are also our most valuable commercial fresh fruit crop.  Growers in southeastern NC harvest hundreds of acres beginning in May each year, and each year the clinic receives diagnostic samples of berries affected by diseases, insects and weather.  Here are a few of the problems we have diagnosed recently:

Mummy Berry

Mummy berry is caused the fungus Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi.  This fungus overwinters on the ground underneath blueberry bushes, and in spring produces a cup-shaped mushroom that releases spores.  These spores infect and kill emerging leaf shoots, causing the primary, or shoot blight phase, of the disease.  These blighted shoots then produce a second type of spore that is carried by insects to the flowers, where the secondary, or fruit infection stage takes place.  The end result is “mummies” – berries that do not turn blue, but instead turn pink or salmon-colored and fall to the ground.  Mummy berry can be controlled with fungicides, through the use of resistant cultivars, by removal of infected fruit, and by mulching to bury any mummies remaining on the ground.

Mummy Berries: Infected berries are pink (Photo by Bill Cline)

 

Fruit rots

Fruit rotting fungi cause soft, leaky or “fuzzy” berries (visible spores or mold). Blueberries are more resistant to decay than other small fruits, but still need to be harvested in a timely fashion to avoid fruit rots.  Berries do not ripen all at once, but are picked over several weeks.  Highbush blueberries should be harvested every four or five days, while rabbiteye blueberries are harvested every seven to ten days (rabbiteye blueberries are the most common backyard species in North Carolina).  It is important to “clean” the bush at each harvest date by removing all blue fruit, to avoid having overripe, leaky berries in later pickings.  If the bushes are wet with dew or rain, wait until they dry before harvesting, since handling wet berries greatly increases post-harvest decay.  

Blueberry Fruit Rot (Photo by Bill Cline)

Exobasidium

Exobasidium vaccinii is a fungus that causes a “green spot” symptom on blueberry fruit and can also infect leaves.  This disease is becoming increasingly common in commercial fields and has also been diagnosed on blueberries in other states.  Little is known about this fungus on blueberry, and no control measures have been established.  The disease occurs sporadically and seems to be associated with high humidity -- low or sheltered parts of fields where air movement is limited.

Berries infected with Exobasidim (Photo by Bill Cline)

Insects in berries

Blueberries are sometimes infested with larval stages of insects, including blueberry maggot fly, cranberry fruit worm, cherry fruit worm, Plum curculio and a new pest, spotted-wing drosophila.  All these pests are controllable, but must be properly diagnosed since control measures vary.  Cherry fruitworm and cranberry fruitworm are frequently encountered in unsprayed fields. The cranberry fruit worm produces “frass” that looks like a small clump of sawdust on the outside of a cluster of berries, while cherry fruitworm usually affects only two berries, “gluing” the two together and producing frass only inside the fruit.

Cranberry fruitworm frass (looks like sawdust) (Photo by Bill Cline)

Hail damage

There has been quite a lot of hail this year resulting in damage to blueberry fruit.  Affected berries are usually damaged in spring while the fruit is still green.  Initially only bruised or dented, hail-damaged berries develop scars and cracks as they swell and ripen, and these symptoms can be confused with disease or insect damage.  Where hail damage is suspected, look for tattered leaves as further evidence of a hail event.

Hail damage on blueberries (Photo by Bill Cline)