do you disinfect your crw cages?

[tjg911]

i've used crw cages for 4 years but i never disinfect them, too lazy. i just leave them outside all winter and put them back in place in june when the plants need support. i am now thinking this is a mistake.

i have mulched with clean straw for several years and this has eliminated foliar disease caused by rain splashing the soil onto the lower leaves, at the end of the season my plants have almost all their leaves. but last year foliar disease was bad and this year it is far far worse. on all plants the lower 50% of each plant has lost their branches. typically in late september my plants have a fair amount of foliage not the 50% they have now in early august. at this rate my plants will be dead by mid september!

the problem with dying leaves/branches starts at the bottom and works up the plant. IF the problem was pathogens on the crw cages wouldn't the disease be all over the plant not just starting at the base? maybe as the plants grow and come into contact with the upper parts of the cages the lower plant has been in contact long enough to start the problem and given the same time the upper parts of the plant would also pick up diseases on the upper parts of the crw cage?

so i now think it is necessary to spray the cages with a 10% bleach solution to kill pathogens that have survived from the prior season on the cages. is this true? do you disinfect your cages? 10% bleach or do you use a higher concentration? do you do it immediately prior to using the cage or a few weeks before?

tom

[robin303]

I guess a diluted spray of bleach wouldn't hurt. Do that with my clay pots every season.

[tjg911]

no one else has any comments? anyone use crw besides me

[TZ-OH6]

Physan 20 is a quat-ammonia compound similar (same as) to swimming pool algicide. It is made as a greenhouse disinfectant and does not harm plants. It woudln't corrode the metal of your cages orr kill your lawn when you spray it all over the place.


The big question is whether or not fungal and viral spores can survive in any appreciable numbers through the harsh elements of a winter. I don't know, but some people do sterilize their stakes each year.

[Lee]

Tom,

I too use these kind of cages and have noticed similar results to yours. I
also, would liek to hear any expereinces folks have had doing this? ANd what
procedure is best?

Lee

[dice]

One could make a dip tank, a few feet wide and a little
longer than the cages, with 2x4's for sides and piece of
plywood on the bottom. Caulk the seams and paint it, or
just cover it with 6mm plastic when you use it.

Fill up with diluted bleach or whatever other disinfectant
one prefers, and just lay the cages down in it and roll them
until the entire cage has been treated. (The disinfectant
solution will not need to be more than a half-inch deep in it,
and even an 1/8-inch might be enough. It just needs to be
deeper than the thickness of the metal in the cages for the
entire length of the cage.)

I have some small, 3' cages that I have been using for years.
I have not noticed any disease problems carried over from
one year to another. They sit outside all winter, exposed to
the weather, stacked someplace where nothing gets planted
in the spring. That does not mean that it cannot happen, only
that winter weather usually does the job. (A piece of steel wire
sitting outside in a downpour is not a friendly environment
for a disease spore.)

[tjg911]

Originally Posted by dice

I have some small, 3' cages that I have been using for years.
I have not noticed any disease problems carried over from
one year to another. They sit outside all winter, exposed to
the weather, stacked someplace where nothing gets planted
in the spring. That does not mean that it cannot happen, only
that winter weather usually does the job. (A piece of steel wire
sitting outside in a downpour is not a friendly environment
for a disease spore.)

so dice, do you use a tip tank, sounds like you do not. if you do, do you dip them just prior to putting into the garden as opposed to doing this in the fall when done for the season?

i too leave my crw cages out all winter and come early june set them around the plants when they need the support. you in the pnw probably don't have as cold winters as we have in connecticut. typically night time temperatures often go to single digits and as low as -10 is not uncommon. i assumed that the cold and exposure to the sun and elements from late october to mid june would kill any pathogens on the rusted crw cages but the rapid onset and spread of this problem this year is making me think the crw cages just incubate the healthy plants with last year's pathogens. some year's i have left the cages in the garden after tilling in october, now maybe that re-inoculates the cages come march or april? but this past year some were in my shed and some were in tall grass off the lawn. i mulch with fresh straw when i plant the tomatoes and NEVER have seen such a problem as this year and all 5 plants are the same - the only leaves now are on the top 1/3 of the plant! they are starting to look like palm trees and all the tomatoes are now naked in full sun all day.

i was thinking using a 2 gallon hand pumped spray tank with 20% bleach a few days prior to use in the garden would clean the cages. i have not seen people using crw cages discussing this problem and there are a lot of people here that use crw cages.

more feed back????

tom

[dice]

so dice, do you use a dip tank, sounds like you do not.

Correct, I do not. And some of the plants in those cage have
had diseases like early blight, late blight, etc, but plants in
subsequent years in the same cages have shown no signs of it.
I was only suggesting that as a way of maybe using less
disinfectant solution while guaranteeing complete coverage
of the wire in the cages.

If you do, do you dip them just prior to putting into the garden as opposed to doing this in the fall when done for the season?

I would do it in spring, because I have no worries about what
gets into the winter storage area for the cages (nothing planted
there, not enough sunlight). One could do it in fall, too, if one
were concerned about spores from the previous summer's plants
washing off of the cages and infecting soil where the cages are stored.

You are correct that we don't get your low temperatures up
here in winter, just plenty of rain with an occasional freeze
down to around 10F. Anything left outside has had a thorough
bath with rain water by spring.

[RonnyWil]

Try using hydrogen peroxide. Check out this link:
http://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.com/index.html

This also has ways to use peroxide in you garden.

[tjg911]

h202 is expensive. i'd need a good gallon to spray 5 cages and i'm thinking of dropping some crops and going towards more tomatoes so that may be 8-10 cages. guessing that i'd need 2 gallons to spray 10 cages. bleach is very cheap around $2 a gallon and i'd still cut it to 50%, maybe 10% or 20% is not strong enough, just guessing.

tom

[Gobig_or_Gohome_toms]

I think I am just going to fill up the sprayer this year with a diluted bleach mix and spray down the cages and stakes.

[CRAKSHOT]

I think it would be a good idea to sanitize stakes and cages.I live in S.E.Iowa,and tomato growing conditions here are less than ideal,we've had a really wet spring and summer here.Also a lot of humid days.I set out 38 plants this year,I made 29 new cages out of crw,5 ft.tall,staked down with metal conduit.and my neighbor lent me 9 of his old crw cages.Iv'e kept plants sprayed every 7-10 days with daconil,I quit spraying 2 weeks ago.The only plants showing disease problems,are the ones with the borrowed cages.I've had a very good crop this year.Every one else in town have plants that are all dead from disease.But mine still look good.So next year I plan on sanatizing all my cages,with bleach solution.