Can You Still Water Tomatoes That Have Fusarium Wilt? The Correct Watering Method

SummaryOnce a tomato plant has fusarium wilt, it must not be watered, because fusarium wilt is a soil-borne disease that can spread through flowing water, so watering a tomato plant with fusarium wilt will accelerate the spread of the pathogen. The correct approach is, in the early stage of the disease, to drench the soil within a range of about 1-2m around the diseased plant with 50% carbendazim wettable powder, once every 10 days, for 3-4 consecutive drenchings, but note that the drenching agent is harmful to humans and livestock, so direct contact should be avoided.

I. Can Tomatoes With Fusarium Wilt Be Watered

1. Tomato fusarium wilt is also called wilt disease, and it mostly occurs during the flowering and fruiting stage of tomatoes. If a tomato is infected with this type of virus, it must not be watered, as watering will accelerate the spread of the pathogen.

2. Tomatoes infected with fusarium wilt often die during the full fruiting stage, and if the damage is local, the whole plant will show symptoms.

3. For tomato fusarium wilt, the best period for prevention and control is before and after transplanting.

4. Before transplanting, closing the greenhouse at high temperature can kill the pathogenic bacteria, and at the same time applying more biological bacterial fertilizer can inhibit infection by the pathogenic bacteria.

5. After transplanting, biological bacterial fertilizer, chitin, etc. can be applied with irrigation water to cultivate beneficial microbial communities in the soil, which can likewise inhibit the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria.

II. Symptoms of Tomato Fusarium Wilt

1. Tomato fusarium wilt generally begins to develop at the flowering stage of tomatoes, and the affected parts are the leaves, stems and roots. In the early stage of the disease, the lower leaves of the tomato turn yellow and then wither, but they do not fall off.

2. The disease develops from the bottom upward, and in the late stage of the disease, except for the top few leaves, all the leaves of the whole plant will die.

3. After pulling out a diseased plant, the roots can be seen to have turned brown, and when the stem is cut open the vascular bundles turn yellowish-brown. The symptoms of fusarium wilt and bacterial wilt are somewhat similar.

III. Prevention and Control Methods for Tomato Fusarium Wilt

1. When planting tomatoes, choose disease-free seeds for treatment, and seeds can be selected and retained from disease-free plants. For seed disinfection, 0.3%-0.5% of 50% captan wettable powder can be used for seed dressing.

2. Choose tomato land that has not been planted for three years or more as the seedbed. If the previous old seedbed is used, the seedbed soil should be disinfected once with formalin.

3. Diseased land should be rotated with other vegetables for 3-4 years. Organic fertilizer should be fully decomposed organic fertilizer and should be spread evenly to avoid burning the roots.

4. During the planting of tomatoes, if diseased plants are first seen, 50% carbendazim wettable powder can be used to drench the soil around the roots of the plants, with 250g-500g of medicinal solution per plant. Drench about once every 10 days, for 3-4 consecutive drenchings.

5. To save the amount of pesticide, when diseased plants are first seen, it is enough to drench the medicinal solution within a range of 1-2 meters around the diseased plants; there is no need to drench the whole field universally.

6. In addition, note that the drenching agent is toxic and harmful to humans and livestock, so contact should be avoided. If it accidentally adheres to the skin during the drenching process, it should be washed immediately with soapy water.

7. There are also obvious differences among different tomato varieties. Varieties such as Xi'an Dahong and Mansi are relatively disease-resistant and can be chosen for planting.