[petre]

> It's rather wiser to use the remains of the tomato to directly or indirectly make fertilizer to fertilize new tomato plants, eg by composting them [1].

Ask any agricultural engineer why that is a bad idea. Tomato pathogens from the old culture end up in your new one. That's one of the ideas behind culture rotation. But one could use that compost for other unrelated cultures like apple trees or grape vine.

[Kim_Bruning]

Huh, here's where my knowledge ends. In theory aerobic composting would run up the temperature of the compost, thus killing most pathogens. In practice clearly not, then.

Is it because composting is not always done perfectly? Or is it because some tomato pathogens intrinsically survive the process due to eg. heat resistance?

[petre]

Dunno, it's just a bad idea. The pathogens can survive in the ground over several seasons, so I'm not surprised if they also survive in the compost. It's not only bacteria and viruses but also fungi. Best practice is to use pathogen free soil and compost, crop rotation. There is even a warning against composting rotten potatoes (related to tomatoes) for avoiding late blight.

https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/tomato-diseases-disorders...