when disease is running rampant

[TightenUp]

what do you do?

i have 10 plants

1 def has bacterial speck

at least 3 have bacterial canker

1 has white powdery mildew(i think)

every plant has some sort of disease. mostly black specks and dots on leaves but some on stems.

SO WHAT WOULD YOU DO?????????

fyi- been spraying with actinovate exel lg and molasses.

i think my next move is to spray with b54red's bleach solution

[Crandrew]

Join the club Im running 3 tiers of backups as replacements.

GL.

[TightenUp]

are you suggesting i rip out the worst looking plants?

[attml]

I have used Seranade http://www.gardeners.com/Serenade-Ga...efault,pd.html in the past with some success. The Actinovate is good too!

As far as diseases themself, some can be airborne contracted, some can be contact contracted (carried by insects, other falling leaves) and some diseases are soil born. I have had great luck this year using Bio-Tone and Plant Success Soluable to help with disease control as a preventitive which I applied very early on and continue to do. The other things I do are cutting back the lower branches and putting down hay so that I don't get soil splash onto the plants. Some people use grass clippings as mulch but if you do make sure you don't have any grass diseases first.

In my experience tomato diseases seem to slow down in dry conditions so make sure you aren't over watering and don't water in the evening where excess water sits in the soil/roots overnight. You don't want to wet the leaves unless you are applying a drench like Actinovate. I always water early in the morning after the sun comes up and never on days when they are calling for rain. These aren't full proof answers but maybe it will help you by slowing things down and with the Actinovate you can get it under control. Good luck!

Mark

[Crandrew]

Originally Posted by TightenUp

are you suggesting i rip out the worst looking plants?

No, some of those will allow you to products ever fruit before the plant dies. Others you might want to yank so the disease doesn't transfer to the others.

This year I figured if I wanted 4 plants to produce thought the season i better grow 12. Some on here have already pulled a third of their plants due to disease.

Depends on the disease.

My understanding is actinovate, exel, daconil, serenade etc only work as prevention and not as a retroactive measure.

I spray weekly with actinovate+exel lg+ molasses. I also spray with molasses and neem oil. So far I got some septoria and maybe something else. Ugh

[TightenUp]

Originally Posted by attml

I have used Seranade http://www.gardeners.com/Serenade-Ga...efault,pd.html in the past with some success. The Actinovate is good too!

As far as diseases themself, some can be airborne contracted, some can be contact contracted (carried by insects, other falling leaves) and some diseases are soil born. I have had great luck this year using Bio-Tone and Plant Success Soluable to help with disease control as a preventitive which I applied very early on and continue to do. The other things I do are cutting back the lower branches and putting down hay so that I don't get soil splash onto the plants. Some people use grass clippings as mulch but if you do make sure you don't have any grass diseases first.

In my experience tomato diseases seem to slow down in dry conditions so make sure you aren't over watering and don't water in the evening where excess water sits in the soil/roots overnight. You don't want to wet the leaves unless you are applying a drench like Actinovate. I always water early in the morning after the sun comes up and never on days when they are calling for rain. These aren't full proof answers but maybe it will help you by slowing things down and with the Actinovate you can get it under control. Good luck!

Mark

thanks for the tips. i used mycogrow soluble with actinovate as a drench when i planted out. as far as watering goes i havent turned it on more than a handful of times over the last month, just so much rain.

i have about 5 to 6 inches of straw so i'm not concerned with splash back from soil.

i really hope the weather starts cooperating. i'm still not sure if i should rip a few plants out and head to the nursery hoping to find some suitable replacements. its prob early enough in the season to get away with it

[Sun City Linda]

Yep, I seem to have a fair amount of leaf disease this year also. Funny, I planted out later this year too!

[amideutch]

I wouldn't worry to much about the black spots. What are you using for a dosage rate on the EXEL LG? Ami

[TightenUp]

ami

i pulled 3 plants which showed severe signs of disease on the stems and new growth. 2 of these were cher purple and the kelloggs breakfast between the 2 is barely showing any signs of disease. i guess cher purple doesnt do well in my climate.

if i pulled all the infected leaves off those plants i would only be left with a stem so it was time to go. guess i wont have any purple maters this year

i am currently using 2 tablespoons per gallon of exel lg along with 1/2 teaspoon of actinovate per gallon.

by the way i am pretty sure the disease was bacterial canker or bacterial spot. i have another plant on the other side of the bed with bacterial speck.