Everyone,
I've been researching this Fusarium Wilt problem for some time now and
suspect I also have this problem in my garden. It seems that once
your garden soil has been infected the cure requires treatment such
as.. many years (up to 10) of non-use or.. expensive fumigation
treatment or.. solarization treatment over the hot summer months.
All undesirable due to expense or loss of use of the garden.
I want a quick inexpensive fix.

I'm thinking outside the box and wondering if we could possibly burn
out the disease. Since solarization invloves covering the soil with
plastic and allowing the sun to super heat the soil for several months
which kills the fungus in the soil I'm thinking that the disease must
be in the top few inches of soil.

Ok, with all that said, I came across this torch in my tool catalog

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...egoryId=349700

500,000 BTU Propane Torch Kit
Burns weeds and stumps! Heats roof materials, water and sand. Thaws
pipes, heats motors, melts ice and snow. With 6-ft. hose, safety
valve, flame head and 21in. handle. Operates off of a 20 lb propane
tank like the one in the gas BBQ.

I was wondering if this torch could be used to super heat the top soil
in my garden where I suspect is infected with the Fusarium Wilt.
seems like this torch would be powerful enough to heat the top few
inches of soil to over 500 degrees F. within about 15 to 30 seconds. I
could probably do a 1 foot by 1 foot section in about 1 minute or a 10
by 10 area in about 1- 1/2 hours.

I can't try it now because I have tomatoes planted. My plants are now
about 3 foot tall with no fruits yet. For me, the wilt problem
usually dosen't kick in until about the end of July and I'm usually
able to get a half decent harvest before the wilt really kicks in.

Anyway, do you think that torching the soil is a feasible solution
for killing the fungus in the topsoil?

---pete---