How to get these seed lines?

[annie]

Does anyone know how to get some seeds for the seed lines, NC96LB and NC215E, which are cited in a Cornell study on resistance to Early Blight in tomatoes?

vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/NewsArticles/Tom_Deploy.htm

They are cited in Table 1, not far down from the top of the page.

Here is the discussion of the two lines in the Cornell study:

The lowest levels of early blight occurred in lines with early blight resistance in a homozygous background, represented by NC96LB and NC215E. These two genotypes performed indistinguishably under all three treatments; there is no indication that the presence of the LB resistance either reduces or increases early blight disease resistance. It is important to note that this resistance does not completely block the disease under severe conditions in the water control treatment, however the cumulative disease of these resistant genotypes was ca. half that of the susceptible control in the absence of applied control agents. The resistance could be a valuable part of a total IPM strategy for early blight control.

I'd like to have the two lines on hand for crossing or probably more likely, grafting, to experiment with adding Early Blight resistance to some tomatoes that don't have any known tolerance to it.

Since the weather in Georgia is so hot and humid, it is difficult to find the optimal time to cross plants -- it's very short!

[jcm05]

Annie, try to get your hands on the two or three released hybrids from NCSU. Those appear to be lines from their breeding program. Mountain Magic F1 is one of them you may be able to get from your buddy Carolyn. I am growing two plants now and neither of them have a speck of foliage disease on them while every other plant (130+) have at least some. I have crossed it to multiple OP varieties this year that I will grow next season.

[annie]

John

I suppose Randy Gardener is the one to contact at NCSU to see if he can send some seeds. Though I don't know the protocol -- whether to send money or what. I suppose first I should ask if he has some seeds for those two lines he can spare. If I have a few of each, I should be able to grow them and save the seeds afterward to use in other experiments.

Isn't Mountain Magic F1 supposed to be released for commercial sales in 2011 since it didn't make it for 2010? I'd sure like to get it for next season, but I have Mountain Fresh Plus F1 on standby, said to be tolerant of Early Blight as well as the diseases covered by FFVN. It is very heartening to hear that MMF1 grows disease-free for you!

I saw another variety I'm going to get, and it's Brandeva, a cross of Eva Purple Ball and Brandywine, offered here.

www.gardenmedicinals.com/pages/tomatoes.html

There is a claim that it's tolerant of Septoria as well as Early Blight, Late Blight, and BER. It may be a real winner if the tolerances hold the plants healthy for most of the season and the fruit is tasty.

For lots of years, fruit-taste was the primary characteristic I sought in tomatoes, but I'm shifting disease-tolerance right up there with taste after several seasons of battling Late Blight and other diseases affecting tomatoes here in Georgia. I'm sure the disease spores lie thickly over my garden beds, and I cannot alternate crops any more than I already do. Besides, even if the beds were spore-free, I've no doubt the spores would quickly move in and settle down on the tomato plants.

So my plan of disease-attack is three-fold:

1. new varieties that are more disease-tolerant
2. new clean seeds (I have surely saved seeds that have germ plasms that are infected)
3. crossing disease-tolerant strains with each other OR grafting them to each other with a strong rootstock. A third element can be added to grafted tomatoes with an interstock. Maybe two or three diseases can be built into the ultimate plant that way.

Lots of fun possibilities lie ahead!

[jcm05]

Darrel Jones has repeatedly observed septoria tolerance on Eva Purple Ball and one other which I forget. Mulio has also observed better septoria tolerance on Mountain Magic then all other varieties in his garden this season.