So does anyone have any info on these two varieties in regards to proven disease resistance?.......thanks.

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None whatsoever. I'd seen that table before and agree that some don't make sense. Cornell is not in a nematode area and I don't see how they even determined that unless they were doing challenge experiments, which I doubt.

More likely it could have been anecdotal information from their other website where folks post info about the varieties they've grown and someone may have mentioned it there.

But not always are dignoses made by home gardeners the correct ones in my experience.

And yes, there's lots of anecdotal info at the other Cornell website where folks list their varieties that's also wrong or misleading.

Knowing Prudens Purple well as well as Omar's Lebanese, which I first listed in the SSE YEarbook many years ago, I don't think I've ever seen anyone refer to them as nematode tolerant, which just means a week or two more growth anyway. That extra time might be of use to the commercial large scale farmer who harvests based on Brix measurements but I can't see it being all that important to the home gardener.

Carolyn

Okay, thanks. I'm on a quest of sorts to nail down some open pollinated varieties with good tolerance to rkn which will be used for rootstock so that I can maintain a good inventory of seed for rootstock and therefore avoid having to buy seed for this purpose every year. I would rather spend the money on obtaining new varieties.

Hi Gardenman I read and enjoy your post. It would be helpful if I knew what part of the country your in. thanks Bill-- no info in profile????

I know one tomato breeder at a Univeristy who tried almost all the common root stocks available by seed, such as Maxifort and Beaufort, etc, and he ended up concluding that something like Celebrity F1 was just as good for open field growing. And I just checked and Celebrity does have N tolerance as do many other F1 hybrids.

I too would like to know where you're growing since soutern RKN's the most important of the nematode diseases , has such a limited geographic distribution. But maybe you've already had rkn's diagnosed and known to be a problem where you grow tomatoes.

I think another thing to think about is that such resistances to RKN's are not, rather, it's tolerance, so all you get is a couple of weeks more for fruit maturation which is important for large scale commercial growers b'c they determine harvest time by Brix readings, but I can't see a great advantage for the home gardener. Just my opinion.

Carolyn

I live fairly close to the gulf coast in south Texas and I have had to put up with rkn for several years though not in every part of the garden and have been working to suppress/eliminate the rkn. While making headway with treating the rkn, I'm taking the time to also test out other options such as grafting. Carolyn, I have observed another bonus with the Maxifort and Beaufort rootstock along with the extension of the season in that they allow you to get out of the starting gate with some susceptible varieties. For instance, Lillian's Yellow Heirloom is a highly vulnerable variety when it comes to trying to grow in rkn infested soil and this variety will barely make 2' tall and will be very spindly. When pulled, the roots have the definitive signs. But graft them onto Maxifort or Beaufort and no problem. So really where I have my focus in terms of grafting is to ensure that the season does not come to an end before it really gets started.

It would be nice though, if an open pollinated variety could be confirmed to have the resistance to allow a good harvest with any variety. I am testing some again this year but am not able to confirm anything as of yet.

Gardenman - Same experience with RKN. Have you had any luck aside from solarization, or replacing soil in raised beds?

Carolyn137 - I think you are incorrect about the limited geography of RKN. They can live in soil for years without a host, even in somewhat cold temps. That's why covercropping with marigolds doesn't eradicate, it just dampens RKN temporarily. You need a good long freeze, or rather a really wet long freeze, to eradicate them. I've read a lot of scholarly articles and don't remember where I saw it but my impression is that the lower 2/3 of the continental US has widespread RKN.

I would love to find some relief from these little root vampires.

@Baby G: this post is from 8 years ago. You might want to start a new topic. Gardenman last posted on GWF January 20, 2010.