Bacterial canker everywhere!

[happychick]

We are living on a tiny lot, so I don't have tons of room to garden. I have 4 tiny beds (3 raised and 1 not) and plants in 2 of them have had bacterial canker. It's possible that one of the plants in 1 of the 2 uninfected beds actually did have it as well, but it started looking wonky and I immediately pulled it up, because I didn't want to give it a chance to spread if that's what it was. The other two plants in that bed never seemed to have anything wrong with them, though, so maybe not.

Anyway, I really need to be able to plant in those two beds again. Otherwise, I'm only going to be able to plant maybe 5 plants, which really isn't enough for my family - especially sicne they'd all have to be determinates based on what we have set up in the areas we could use. Plus, this is my first year gardening, so you know, I have lots of problems and don't expect too much from my plants - still working out the kinks.

So I started seeds for a fall crop. Is there anything I can do to make those beds useable again? Soil microorganisms that might outcompete the canker? Anything?

[amideutch]

HappyChick, Here's some info on Bacterial Canker. Ami
http://vegdis.cas.psu.edu/03Diseases/D105.html

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by happychick

We are living on a tiny lot, so I don't have tons of room to garden. I have 4 tiny beds (3 raised and 1 not) and plants in 2 of them have had bacterial canker. It's possible that one of the plants in 1 of the 2 uninfected beds actually did have it as well, but it started looking wonky and I immediately pulled it up, because I didn't want to give it a chance to spread if that's what it was. The other two plants in that bed never seemed to have anything wrong with them, though, so maybe not.

I guess I really love tomatoes because I would not have pulled a plant if I saw a few leaves diseased with bacteria or fungus. Instead, I pluck off the worst leaves and spray the plants with daconil (a fungus blocker) again. Unless the leaves are touching between plants, I don't think bacterial canker would readily jump from plant to plant unless you have a lot of insect activity or heavy rains.

Bacteria and fungus are caused by the plants being watered at night and going to bed wet, or by soil splashback from heavy rain. Make sure you are using drip hoses to water the plants (not that they've needed much watering the past 2 months) and not using any kind of overhead watering. And I wonder if you have a thick enough layer of mulch. 2-3 inches of mulch are essential in S.E. Texas. I have a 2" thick layer of straw, but you can also use pine straw, hay, shredded newspaper and grass clippings (which aren't weed-n-feeded), or shredded or whole pine bark chips. Just something so that it is almost impossible for the soil to splash up onto the leaves.

Originally Posted by happychick

Anyway, I really need to be able to plant in those two beds again. Otherwise, I'm only going to be able to plant maybe 5 plants, which really isn't enough for my family - especially sicne they'd all have to be determinates based on what we have set up in the areas we could use. Plus, this is my first year gardening, so you know, I have lots of problems and don't expect too much from my plants - still working out the kinks.

So I started seeds for a fall crop. Is there anything I can do to make those beds useable again? Soil microorganisms that might outcompete the canker? Anything?

This isn't like fusarium or verticillium whose presence is a foregone omen of disaster. Bacterial and fungal problems are always going to be in the soil, even your first year. The secret is to keep them in the soil and off your plants.

I plucked off 2/3 of the leaves off of one of my Kimberly plants which had some kind of bacterial speck or spot and it bounced back and gave me lots of fruit. And none of the surrounding plants were significantly affected. By the middle of the season, I've plucked off the bottom 8-12 inches of foliage off of all my tomato plants because of signs of early blight (fungus).

Spray with Daconil (chlorothanonil) every week. It's $12 for a 29% concentrate that you dilute down to 1 tbsp per gallon and apply with a $10 one gallon wand sprayer. The pre-mixed "Ready to spray" bottles are lousy. There are sprays for bacteria like copper sprays but they are not particularly effective and there is the concern of soil toxicity with copper buildup.

I know for a fact that my soil has septoria, early blight, and anthracnose in it. But I don't let it ruin my day.

Hope to see you at South East Texas Tomato Fest 2008!!

[amideutch]

happychick, I don't think we really solved your problem. If your soil is diseased with Bacterial Canker you really can't do much about it to eradicate it other than let it lay for about 3 years. If a surrogate garden is not practical there is another way. Its a type of grow-bed gardening Dr. Jacob Mittleider developed and rather than calling them grow-beds he calls them grow-boxes. Rather than using soil he uses different combinations of sawdust, perlite, sand, coffee hulls, peat moss, and pine bark. With the above ingredients you can make about 5 different growing mediums.
You use a feeding solution made out of fertilizer salts to feed the plants. I don't see why you couldn't use an organic
feeding solution as well. You can grow about any kind of vegetables in these grow-boxes.
When you make your beds you lay down a piece of plastic to separate your grow-box from the diseased soil. Should work and you don't have to worry about disease or weeds.
Here is a link to a site that carries his books and literature. His book on "Lets Grow Tomatoes" is an excellent read and also shows you how to make and use the grow-boxes and is downloadable in pdf format. Hopes this helps. Ami
http://foodforeveryone.org/

Jim Kennard who worked with Dr. Mittleider for several years runs the food for everyone organization and will answer any question you may have reagarding Dr. Mittleider's method. His e-mail address is;
jbkennard@gmail.com

[Suze]

Happychick - just curious; how did you arrive at a diagnosis of bacterial canker? Are you seeing any wilting, what does a cross section of a stem look like, etc.?

[hasshoes]

Is this bacterial canker? I didn't find any lesions, but the leaves are black but hanging on. . .

Sigh. . . it's my one mater plant that has lots of fruit on it

Do I pull it? From what I've read, spraying doesn't help as it gets infected by the roots. . .

[amideutch]

hasshoes, I would remove the the leaves that seem to be affected and see what happens. Ami

[hasshoes]

I've been removing the stems with black, burnt looking leaves, but it keeps spreading up the plant. Several other plants have started to do this now too, though on one plant the leaves are crisping randomly. . . not from the bottom up.

Is this late blight? Bacterial canker? It's weird. . . I cut the plant and the stems are normal and green. . . and none of the stalks are oozing or discolored. . . what the heck is this. . . and is it spreading via the air? Should I pull?

The plant is still growing and has perfect looking tomatoes. . . just few leaves at this point. . .

Thanks again! I promise to one day use all this newfound wisdom to help others ;0) :0)

[feldon30]

Late blight moves much faster than that.

With the leaves just dying like that with no signs of TSWV that I can see, if I didn't know any better I'd say it's some kind of physiological problem. Some kind of extreme stress. But the plant is not wilting. I'm stumped.

[hasshoes]

The plant(s) was perfectly green and lovely before all this. . . no spots, etc. I've checked the plants at all hours to determine if it is "leaf mold" or whatever, but the leaves seem to go from lovely to crisp within hours. . . . Also, they are not slimey when wet. . .

Anyone? I swear, it's like the plague. . . .

[barkeater]

Hasshoes, I only looked at 1 thumbnail since on dialup it loaded excruciatingly slow, but there was no sign of canker. The leaves, if anything look like they could be infected with grey mold (botrytis).

Bacterial canker is easy to recognize by the deformities, stitching, and raised cankers on the fruit.

Earlier on, with close inspection you may see cankers on the stem. Standing back and looking, the plant won't look healthy, although you may not be able to put your finger on it. But the plant will have a bit of a brownish cast, and a bit stunted.

BTW, are you spraying your plants with anything, and if so, what?

[rsg2001]

I have one plant that has the same exact symptoms, a Black Krim that's in a container. I also generally find that in my garden, Black Cherry succombs to this later in the season. I've never figured out what it was based on looking at many of the tomato disease web sites. I spray my garden with Messenger every three weeks, and Serenade every 7 to 14 days which usually keeps diseases in check.

[hasshoes]

I spray (drench at this point) Serenade once a week, but we've had a ton of rainy days this summer, so I'm not sure how much has stuck.

If it's grey mold should I pull? I'd rather sacrifice a couple plants than deal with a ton of them like this!!!!

RSG2001. . . interestingly, it's my Black Krim and Paul R that have this. . . . Do you tend to get fruit from infected plants with this funk? Does it spread?

Thanks again! Happy Weekend :0)
Heather

[blatanna]

I have the vary same problem. All my plants are in the greenhouse but only one has this desease (whatever it is) and thats my black Kumato. It has been sick for weeks but i just keep taking the wilted dried up leaves off the plant. Its still producing some great looking toms and despite being surrounded by a greenhouse full of toms no others have sucumed to this disease. I am assuming it has something to do with the awful wet summer we are having.