this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2025
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Aka how to spread diseases to your home garden.
There is extensive processes to minimize the spread of diseases from seed stock. Unless you know what you are doing it's a great way to turn your home garden ground zero for the local plague.
For example -
Tomato- seed needs to extracted with acid or a peroxide to kill bacterial canker.
Pepper - TMV virus is ubiquitous in commercially grown peppers. The seed needs to be treated with TSP (Trisodium phosphate).
Watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydews and others. Seed needs to be treated with peroxide to eliminate bacterial fruit blotch.
For the cantaloupe and honeydew up to 80% of the fruit grown in some regions are infected with SQMV. The seeds of these fruit should not be saved.
For pumpkins/squash the seeds are almost always infected with ZYMV. Seed plants need to be grown in protected culture to prevent this.
Potatoes - since potatoes are a tuber every single major disease is transmitted from one generation to the next. This includes virus, fungi and bacterial infections. If you want scab and blights and viruses riddled plants this is an great way to do it
God damn this is good to know. So on the specifics on potatoes: I was always under the impression a potato is just grown from more potatoes. In this case you'd need to grow it from a seed? Are there potato seeds??? I need to google this.
Potatoes are grown from both seed and tubers.
Plant breeders develop new varieties from true seed. These plants are in the diploid state. They then convert them to the tetraploid state by application of colchicine. After conversion they are only replicated via tubers.
The first generation is completed in the laboratory by cell culture. This ensures the starting point is free from diseases. Then they go to small sterilized plots where a few potatoes become more. This process repeats for several years increasing in quantity until the first pre-commercial potatoes are grown. During this time all fields are carefully inspected for diseases and contaminated productions are sold for consomption.
The potatoes are finally sent out to growers for commercial production. That's where they pick up all the lovely diseases and then are sent to the store.
Amazing info, truly, thank you! Have a great evening!