How do I get rid of the diseases for fall crop

[Fiishergurl]

I am going to pull all of the rest of my plants in a couple of weeks. Everything is growing in self watering containers with potting mix, perlite, vermiculite, plastic covering on the top and mulch on top of that.

We have had terrible leaf diseases... grey mold, powdery mildew, and something that made the leaves yellow and then turn brown and worked it's way up the plants that didn't get the mold.

The containers are either on concrete or on grass and some are staked and some are growing against trellises.

Can I sterilize things enough (stakes, used velcro tape, trellises, concrete, etc) enough that my fall babies won't get the diseases? It will still be humid and hot by the time I put the new seedlings out so I want to try to clean things up as much as possible before that happens.

I do plan to scrape the topsoil (2 inches or so) off each container and replace the plastic and mulch.

Thanks for any advice!

Ginny

[AlittleSalt]

I am curious as well. I know there are many others here that know a lot more than I do about plant diseases and such. I had a tomato plant that did just like you wrote about. The leaves turned yellow, then brown, and then the plant died. It was during a two week time period where it rained just about every other day with temperatures in the 80s.

Sorry I don't have advice though.

[Keiththibodeaux]

First, pray for a dry fall. After a dose of Actinovate, mulch like crazy, starting now, . In August till if all up, treat with Actinovate again, and plant resistant tomatoes. Watch for nitrogen deficiency. Fertilize as needed.

[kurt]

At each season end I have been for the last 10 years nuking everything with a combination of PHYSAN,Bleach,Alchohol.I have a concrete mixing tub that I use as a drench for all the containers(black plastic).After a hose down and wash with some antimold deck cleaner they go in the drench,hose rinse and then dried in sun then stored in contractor bags.All my staking are bamboo poles that get washed,hosed then put in a drench (Physan/bleach)that consists of a couple of rain gutters sealed on each end to make a long trough.All the poles have already been coated 1 1/2ft up from bottom with asphalt roof coating since the in ground season duration tends to rot them out.All the bamboo is coated once every couple of years with a linseed oil to keep them fresh and sealed for the wet/sun rot and dry out.Used to use velcro but that is a perfect medium for pathogen spores and molecules.I reroll my polyethelene electricians pull string and that gets soaked in a bucket of the solution also.All the rapid clips I use get soaked and hosed also.Wood stakes have open grains that harbor molds,pathogens spores,bacterias etc.Might be some work but has prevented a lot of reoccuring headaches from seasons past.All my clippers,shovels,hand scoops get the same.Snips and clippers get alchohol cleaning and some baby oil for lubrication.All my soil gets scattered out in the yard where needed.

[Fiishergurl]

Thabks for the replies. Kurt what is the mix of physan and other products?

Ginny