Update: Verticillium Wilt (False Alarm)

Maybe my approach was a little “swine flu-ish”… I saw some (a lot) yellow – brown – looked like the wilt… plants were not happy… droopy tops…  and I panicked.  Blogged about the impending failure of the ENTIRE tomato crop… and ran out and bought replacements…  Good boy!

Only to discover – apparently – the whipping wind, sudden spike to 90 degrees – and harsh sunlight caused the lower leaves to take on the distinct Verticillium Wilt appearance…  yet – not so much.  After several days on tomato death watch – it looks as if I sounded the alarm without cause or reason.

The first indication that – perhaps I was off track – was the fact that the Roma (VF) tomatoes looked the same as the Brandywine tomatoes…  from a “disease” perspective…  which – hindsight being free of the blur of panic – makes perfect sense.  The “V” in the VF designation indicates resistance to Verticillium…  which I know, knew, and completely refused to acknowledge…  on top of that several other varieties of the tomatoes I have growing also are V, VF or CVF resistant…  still – panic was forced to ensue.

For a long time now I have said that the media that permeates our daily lives strives to motivate us by fear.  It’s a powerful blunt instrument…  and no matter how aware you are of it’s post in your activities…  it can even get the best of an ardent observer.  So – with that – I hereby retract the “Breaking News” post – and apologize for being a fear monger.