If you had trouble growing tomatoes the past two or three years, join the crowd. Both home garden and commercial tomato crops in Florida have been hard hit in recent years by Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV) and bacterial wilt.

The varieties of tomatoes that we commonly grow here in north Florida have no resistance to these diseases. Such standard varieties are likely to be resistant to such common diseases as Fusarium, Alternaria and Verticillium, but not bacterial wilt or Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus.

Plant breeders have been working to develop new disease-resistant varieties. While they have not had a lot of success with the bacterial wilt problem, they have developed new tomato varieties that are more resistant to Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus.

One of the new varieties resistant to TSWV is called Amelia. Commercial growers in Florida are having good success with this new cultivar. The fruit is large (8 oz), uniform, red, firm and aromatic. Amelia is described as ideal for green and vine ripe harvest. It was bred especially for the southeastern United States and is resistant to multiple diseases.

But there is one big problem with Amelia tomatoes: You are not likely to find them, or any other tomato resistant to TSWV, at garden centers in north Florida. Perhaps if we start asking for Amelia tomatoes by name they will begin stocking them locally.

Until then, our only alternative is to grow Amelia tomatoes from seed. Time is getting short to start your tomato transplants, so get you seeds ordered as soon as possible. I purchased Amelia tomato seeds from Willhite Seed Company. Use my custom search engine to explore other suppliers.

Later this week, secrets to growing tomatoes that are full of flavor!