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.

Comments

[Jeph Remley]

You're too late. You've already spread the fear. I went out and bought an extra 20 plants JUST IN CASE something catastrophic was going on!!!

[Andy]

Sorry... I have some extra to :)