Gray Mold - do I spray all my plants?

[luigiwu]

or just the ones I see that are infected?

For the last couple of weeks, I've been going out there and pick off the infected leaves and spraying the plant. But every week, there is a new plant that seems to get/be infected. I started with spraying hydogen peroxide straight up and I think it killed my okra, poor thing has no leaves left - so I switched to using the diluted bleach spray (1/4cup to 1 gallon of water - though my target brand bleach doesn't tell me what the strength is...) Anyways should I be spraying EACH AND EVERY PLANT??

So far, I've been finding mold on my squashes, cukes, and peppers. My tomatoes (knock on wood) are a little away from this patch and seems fine (for now...) The pepper isn't looking too good, the leaves are shrivelled - its hard to tell if it'll bounce back.

Its been raining/drizzling on/off for a week here. I am sure the damp weather is not helping the mold issue...

[JamesL]

Luigiwu,
Yes, you need to spray them all. For every bit you see, there will be a lot of mold/mildew that is still invisible to the naked eye.
FYI- Greencure (potassium bicarbonate) is also very effective for mildew and some molds.
After you treat you need to get a protective spray on as well.
Actinovate, Serenade, Milk spray, Daconil, your choice.
H2O2 - only use 3% as a spot spray. It needs to be diluted to 1% or less if using it as a whole plant spray.
Rain- supposed to be heavy again tomorrow. Weekend should be nice weather though.
I have managed to avoid any issues so far this year and I do spray every week depending on the rain. Planning on hitting them with P bicarb (even though I don't see anything) early Saturday morning and following up with Serenade about an hour later.

[b54red]

Luigiwu, you need to go get some Clorox brand bleach. The newer version says it is 8.25%. If that is the kind you get then use 5.24 ounces added to a whole gallon of water. Make sure to spray in the late afternoon or very early in the morning before the sun is up. Make sure to get the undersides of the leaves, the stems, the fruit and even the ground directly under your plant. In about 24 hrs the infected leaves should shrivel up badly and then should be removed. Then spray a fungicide unless it is going to be raining again. If it keeps raining you can use the bleach spray every few days if you need to.

Bill

[luigiwu]

SO spray ALL the plants, even the ones that don't have any signs of illness/mold? I'm just scare the spray might harm the healthy looking ones? I guess I have to stop being such a mother hen...

I have Serenade so i have been using that, if this rain would just stop long enough for it to not keep washing away!

Bill, that's interesting you are saying to spray the infected plants with the infected leaves on them. I've been taking them off and THEN spraying...

[JamesL]

Spray them all mother hen! If it's on some it's lurking around.
I can't speak for Bill, but I do spray and then prune. The thought being you need to kill the bad stuff first so you don't spread it around. Not always possible but allowing them to dry before pruning is a better management practice as well.
I am sure Bill will come back and give you commentary about Clorox effect on healthy growth.

[b54red]

When I mix up my bleach spray for one plant I figure why not hit them all and catch some disease that is still invisible to the naked eye. Usually the bleach spray will find something I have not seen. As long as your plants are not damaged from super heavy rain and wind the bleach spray will not harm healthy leaves if sprayed very early or very late. I have found that leaves that are waterlogged and bruised by very heavy rain can be damaged even if they are not diseased. The chance of leaves in that condition not getting diseased down here are slim to none but that might not be the case in some areas with lighter disease pressure. Of course if you mix it up too strong it will burn some healthy leaves.

I spent years figuring out what the happy medium was with this stuff and in the process damaged a lot of healthy leaves with solutions too strong but even too strong it rarely would kill a plant. If the solution is too weak then it won't kill the disease you are trying to get rid of and that can be worse. I spray my tomatoes, squash and cucumbers every time I mix up a batch. If you apply it regularly to squash and cucumbers then those pesky mildews never get going good. The trouble with mildew on squash or cucumbers is if you let it get a good start then when you do spray it kills too many of the diseased leaves so the trick is to use it often and use it early. I use it on my peppers also but they are more sensitive to the bleach than most other plants so I only treat them if I see a disease problem developing.

The biggest hangup I have with getting people to use this bleach spray correctly is getting them to use it early enough to do some real good. Most want to delay and try other things until the plant is in desperate shape and then they finally get around to using the bleach spray and are surprised when most of the leaves shrivel up after getting sprayed. The trouble with waiting too long is that the disease spreads far more than is readily visible and so if a plant looks like half the leaves are affected by disease then odds are most of them are. That is why you should spray at the first appearance of a disease with as little delay as possible.

Another thing, don't try to save a dollar by using no name bleach because there is no telling what the strength of it is. Probably it is much weaker but I have seen no name bleaches that were stronger than Clorox. At least with a name brand you know what the chemical makeup is and can adjust your solution to match.

Bill

[JamesL]

Luigiwu,
Wow did we get some rain last night huh? Beautiful afternoon though once it dried out.
I was going to spray and prune this am but it was a little too wet. On my agenda now for tomorrow.
How's it going with you?

[luigiwu]

James,
When I left home and when I left work, it was a torrential downpour! My sunflower plants were all kissing the group this morning. I had to prop them back up -hope it does the trick! This weather, its going to be a little chilly tonight, I hope the plants will be okay!

So I was up early and I did spray everything. Its kinda bad new regarding the grey mold. Everything I'm reading about this says its bad new if not contained. SO they quickest thing was to just pick up some clorox and try the bleach spray (as I would have to wait for the Greencure to come in the mail.) So I took the bleach spray and sprayed the heck out of the plants in the problematic corner of my small yard which is largely a couple of pepper plants and okra too. But at the end of pruning/stringing-up of everything, I'm realizing that the grey mold has spread past that initial corner. I think I need to spray the heck out of everything now - its hard as my tomatoes are doing great - look super healthy, setting lots of fruits - and I do not know how they'll tolerate the bleach spray... tough love time, right? Gotta contain that gray mold, right?

Oh and I had followed up this morning bleach spray with serenade that I had mixed up a week ago, man it STUNK! lol.

How are your plants doing? I know I started mine way to early but I am still shocked that every single tomato plant has quite a bit of fruit on them!

[JamesL]

Mold is definitely bad and you do need to try and kill it as quickly as possible. The bleach spray is gentler than you think and it breaks down rather quickly. If you have bad mold the bleach appears to be doing damage to the plants, but it is really just killing the mold which has already spread but is not yet visible.
Serenade does stink!
My plants are doing great! I am somewhat surprised but I have had no issues - yet. No bugs and no disease. I am always waiting for the the other shoe to drop though....
Spraying tomorrow am for sure.

[madddawg]

I have been reading up on the the bleach spray and will be using it this evening.
I found this very helpful, Thanks B54 red!
http://tomatoville.com/showthread.ph...ghlight=bleach

It has been very wet here, for at least the last 3 weeks, we have had at least 3 inches of rain, most of it in 2 or 3 days.
Next month we probably wont get any..

[luigiwu]

I don't know if the bleach spray is working or not but the corner of the garden which the sickest plants is looking worst than ever... Can someone tell me if the bleach spray is bad for butterflies and ladybugs? I sprayed again tonight. Is spraying first thing again in the morning overkill?

Below 2pics: Chervena Chuska peppers



Below: vining squash I think. The squash plant looked pretty healthy (I thought) before I started the bleach spray. I can't tell if the sickness was just lurking, now brought out by the bleach spray or is it getting burned??

[JamesL]

I don't think you need to spray again in the morning, unless you are putting on a protective coat of Serenade.
Spraying directly on ladybugs is probably not good for them. Bleach breaks down quickly into salt and water though.
Is the white on the cucumbers just the dead leaf material? Any more signs of mold?
The leaves look about like they should after spraying. Take the worst ones off.

[luigiwu]

I have no idea what the white on the squash/cuke leaves are... they definitely did not look like that before I started spraying! They used to look perfectly healthy! And shucks, the garden is now teaming with baby ladybug which I'm now killing with my bleach spray... booo.

[JamesL]

The white is just bare spots right? Not fuzzy mold? It was hard to tell from the picture.

[Stvrob]

I would like to point out that sodium hypochlorite solutions at the strength that is being discussed here (about 3,000 parts per million) is NOT safe to breath. If you live in an area where your water is chlorinated, this will be 1000 to 3000 times greater than the concentration of the vapors when you take a shower. If you operate your sprayer at a very high pressure, the mist that is formed is very effective at vaporizing the solution and making it easier to breath in. Please be very careful when spraying bleach at these concentrations.