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Are there any heirloom tomato varieties that are resistant to tomato / tobacco mosaic virus?

We have it in the garden. It seems a difficult thing to get rid of, so I'm wondering whether there are any resistant heirloom varieties, or are we destined to grow resistant hybrids forever?

Public Comments

1. Yes and no. It sounds like TMV is persistent in the soil (100 years?). But by moving your garden (rotation), properly treating seeds of the varieties you want to grow (to avoid reintroducing the virus), controlling certain perennial weeds close to your garden, and some basic sanitation, you could do just fine. To be safe, plant some resistant varieties and some heirlooms until you get it figured out. Proper seed treatment is critical to maintaining old varieties of tomatos or other crops. Problems like TMV can rapidly be spread around by infected seeds. It is worth noting that the virus is not normally spread by insects. Contaminated seeds, and human contact with infected plants are the most common means of spread. These are fixable. http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/factsheets/Viruses_Tomato.htm http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/pp/notes/oldnotes/vg15.htm
2. I have no idea if there are any heirloom varieties resistant to TMV currently in existence (I am thinking this is very likely) but if you want to take a few years, you can breed your own heirlooms to be resistant to TMV and other diseases by gowing a lot of tomatoes each year (like over 400 plants, most of which will be burned at the end of the season) and keeping seeds from those that survive TMV (and a few should each year). After 5 to 10 years you ought to have some varieties that are quite resistant to TMV. Rotation is very good advice. You might want to ask around about this at the following forums http://gardenweb.com http://www.idigmygarden.com/fourms http://www.newfarm.org
3. Most of the hierloom varieties are not going to be resistant but there are a few, I can not recall the variety names now. See my answer in your other question for how to reduce infection.
4. things I've done to protect my heirloom tomato varieties: mulch the soil- so that water isn't bouncing back up to the leaves reinfecting them prune bottom leaves so that they are not touching the ground keep the yellowing, spotting leaves pruned off and thrown away plant in different areas each year spray my tomato cages with bleach water every spring get all tomato debris out of my garden every fall (and till in a bunch of tree leaves) and everything else that "KLU" mentioned
5. i do not know myself, but go to www.tomatofest.com and shoot the owner an email. he is very helpful and very knowledgeable. he may be able to narrow down the some 500 heirloom varieties has has for sale to some that have TMV resistance.