grey mold

[Labradors2]

I'm really sorry. I should have put this under "common diseases and pests", but forgot and now I cannot move it........


I'm pretty sure this is grey mold. It completely girdled the stem and caused the top to wilt. I reluctantly cut out the whole sucker, including some large green tomatoes from Dwarf Mr. Snow -

I also found out how it gained entry! When pruning diseased leaves or to create airflow, I find that not having clippers handy, it's easy to grab a big leaf and rip it down the stem. I always hate it when that happens! Now I will try to be more careful!

Linda

[bower]

That actually looks like white rot afaik, not grey mold.

The grey mold that's rotting my stems this year doesn't even need a pruning cut. Dismal dampness and cold is quite enough for it to set in, anywhere on the stem it seems, while the plants have been so wet with cold condensation.

[RayR]

It looks like Sclerotinia Rot (a.k.a. White Mold, Timber Rot)

[Labradors2]

Thanks Bower and Ray. I'm off to look that up!

Linda

[b54red]

I have had that before and used a bleach spray but much stronger than I would use on leaves and got rid of it on the plants that were treated early enough. If you use it be sure not to spray the foliage and add some soap as a wetting agent. I used a solution that would be about half again stronger than the solution recommended by me for foliage diseases. If you are unfamiliar with the bleach spray here is a link to a good thread on it.

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.ph...t=bleach+spray

Bill

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

Thanks Bower and Ray. I'm off to look that up!

Linda

I agree with the others and already did a Google search for you;

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q...ot+of+tomatoes

Grey Mold can be a dead ringer for Late Blight, P. infestans, and many times the two have been confused.

On that Google Search look for the Cornell Vegetables OnLine which allows youto ID diseases by plant part and I think you'll see what I mean.

Carolyn

[Labradors2]

Thanks for the links Carolyn. I think this is what I had last year too because I was sure it was Late Blight and I ripped out most of the plants in a panic, then I left a few just to see what would happen and they didn't die instantly!!!!

It's very worrying that this disease can live in the soil for up to ten years and that other (cereal) crops should be planted to help get rid of it. I don't grow corn since we have a lot of raccoons and I know who would end up eating it all!!!!

I can see myself being reduced to growing everything in containers in the future.....

Linda

[Labradors2]

Thanks B54, I'm going to buy some "Chlorox" to replace my "No Name" (no ingredients listed) bleach and try spraying before it rains. I thought the Septoria around here was bad enough, but White Mold is worse .......

Our night time temps are dipping below 70 degrees - perfect for sleeping AND for tomato diseases too it seems.

Linda

[b54red]

It is just getting dark here and the temperature is still 90 degrees with a heat index of 100. At daylight today it was 78 with a heat index of 94 so right now there is no escaping the heat. In the mornings our humidity is around 90% or above but it will drop down to a mere 60 or 70 percent when the afternoon temps are near 100. I prefer the morning where at least I can breath til the sun gets up good. I have had to do everything lately around daylight in order to stay out there for more than an hour.

Remember what I said about using a bleach spray that is a good bit stronger than recommended but only on the stems; but you can try the recommended higher concentration on the stems and see if that will work. I have always had to go stronger on stem rots to get any good results but you may not. The one we get down here more often is called Southern Blight and it is a bugger to stop; but I have stopped it on some of the plants that got it. I think to stop any of these diseases the trick is to treat them early before too much damage is done. I sometimes don't see it til it is too late but still use the bleach as a sterilizing agent before pulling the plant.

Use the lower recommended amount on the foliage if you need to and see how it does. You can always bump it up to a higher concentration after waiting two days to see the results. All my formulas are based on adding to a full gallon of water because using a back pack sprayer with markings it is just so much easier to mix.

Good luck with it. Bill

[Gardeneer]

Yeah, Grey mold as the name says is GREY. We get it here late summer when the rain starts.
Unlike blight, Grey Mold affects/destroys the fruits as well. BAD !
I have also experienced that Potato leaves are easier target than RL. I could be wrong.

Gardeneer

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

Yeah, Grey mold as the name says is GREY. We get it here late summer when the rain starts.
Unlike blight, Grey Mold affects/destroys the fruits as well. BAD !
I have also experienced that Potato leaves are easier target than RL. I could be wrong.

Gardeneer

Gray Mold can be a bugger especially during rainy times. The bleach spray is very effective against it if you use it early and often during those rainy times. I have gone out between rains just to spray down my plants every few days during extended rainy spells because no fungicide will work during them. Once the rain does let up I do a bleach spray again and then I apply a copper spray the next day.

Bill

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by b54red

Gray Mold can be a bugger especially during rainy times. The bleach spray is very effective against it if you use it early and often during those rainy times. I have gone out between rains just to spray down my plants every few days during extended rainy spells because no fungicide will work during them. Once the rain does let up I do a bleach spray again and then I apply a copper spray the next day.

Bill

Tell me about GM.
Bill, How do you make your bleach spray. I would appreciate telling us.
I get GM sometime around September when our rains start coming back.

Gardeneer.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

Tell me about GM.
Bill, How do you make your bleach spray. I would appreciate telling us.
I get GM sometime around September when our rains start coming back.

Gardeneer.

Here is the thread I posted explaining it. Read it and if you have any more questions just let me know. I grow a lot of black tomatoes and they are very prone to GM and I have found through some rather trying experiences that the trick to controlling it is to get it early and don't be afraid to repeat the treatment if it shows up again. I learned about spraying between rains a several summers ago when we had a very rainy late summer and I foolishly waited for the rains to finally stop before treating and it was too little too late on some of my plants. The very next summer we had the same thing happen right in the middle of June so I tried spraying every two or three days when it wasn't raining and at the end of the 5 week rainy spell my plants looked really good and with almost no diseases present. It can be messy getting out and spraying in a very wet garden but it was worth the trouble.
http://tomatoville.com/showthread.ph...t=bleach+spray

Bill

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by b54red

Here is the thread I posted explaining it. Read it and if you have any more questions just let me know. I grow a lot of black tomatoes and they are very prone to GM and I have found through some rather trying experiences that the trick to controlling it is to get it early and don't be afraid to repeat the treatment if it shows up again. I learned about spraying between rains a several summers ago when we had a very rainy late summer and I foolishly waited for the rains to finally stop before treating and it was too little too late on some of my plants. The very next summer we had the same thing happen right in the middle of June so I tried spraying every two or three days when it wasn't raining and at the end of the 5 week rainy spell my plants looked really good and with almost no diseases present. It can be messy getting out and spraying in a very wet garden but it was worth the trouble.
http://tomatoville.com/showthread.ph...t=bleach+spray

Bill

Bill, Thanks much for the link.
I went to the link and got he info. You have done a nice job , explaining everything about it real well.

Gardeneer

[Labradors2]

Thanks B54. My plan is to try and spray the leaves to kill any spores that I may have disbursed whilst extracting the long stem from the tomato cage. Since these are dwarfs, they have a lot of foliage, and it's difficult to get to the stems. I really hope that the plant can be saved. It looks good to me, now that the offending stem has been removed.

Linda