bleach spray

[b54red]

Glad it helped Worth. I used it for the first time on English Peas this year and it was amazing. I feared it would be too harsh for them but it wasn't. I have found it will definitely stop powdery or downy mildews on squash if used early and regularly. Just make sure to use it early and not wait till it spreads to every leaf because if the leaves are infected badly it can kill or shrivel up the leaves to the point you have no leaves. The same is true of gray mold. It is much more effective to use it early and frequently and not as a last resort. As long as you use a reasonable mix that isn't way too strong and don't spray it in the bright sunlight frequent use doesn't seem to have any deleterious affects.

Bill

[jtjmartin]

We've had a lot of heat and humidity early - with 3 inches of rain in the last 24 hours. I think I have some gray mold for the first time.

I hit it tonight with a 3/4 strength bleach spray. I've only had to use it a few times before with great effect.

Jeff

[HBKitmitto]

I'm trying this now this year. Between the crazy rainy weather bringing on diseases and the pest pressure, I'm so close to throwing in the towel on this year's garden. Last night I decided I was not a quitter and went out with the bleach spray. I've got copper and neem on the way to me and should be here tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

[nhardy]

I have had Septoria and sprayed with the recommended fungicides. I was pre-spraying before I saw anything to no avail. I used new weed block fabric underneath them for years to control overgrowth of weeds. And still, I could not get ahead of it with Septoria always winning the battle. Until last year, I remembered your post. I decided to pretreat my beds with the bleach solution. Huge difference in my plants. I have not used any fungicide.

[arnorrian]

Just tried bleach spray on my minis, their lower leaves started to yellow. Fingers crossed!

[bbjm]

I've used the bleach spray for the last few years, but I'm never prepared for the amount of dead leaves. I had a plant showing signs of early blight so sprayed it and those in the raised bed with it. The degree of leaf loss was fairly predicted. Two weeks later I needed to spray again, but decided to spray the whole tomato patch (four beds of six to seven plants each) and the degree of loss freaked me out because I had not seen any disease on half the garden, yet some plants had damaged or dead leaves to nearly the growing tips. I also had blackening of the parts of the stems which I have not seen before. I know it's not burn from the spray because I know what that looks like and I use only 5.5 oz. of 6% bleach (old large bottle of Clorox) and a few drops of dawn/gallon of water. What disease would end up with blackened stems after the spray? In other words what was there that I couldn't see until I sprayed? I'm afraid I have gray mold and didn't know it.

BL

[b54red]

Originally Posted by bbjm

I've used the bleach spray for the last few years, but I'm never prepared for the amount of dead leaves. I had a plant showing signs of early blight so sprayed it and those in the raised bed with it. The degree of leaf loss was fairly predicted. Two weeks later I needed to spray again, but decided to spray the whole tomato patch (four beds of six to seven plants each) and the degree of loss freaked me out because I had not seen any disease on half the garden, yet some plants had damaged or dead leaves to nearly the growing tips. I also had blackening of the parts of the stems which I have not seen before. I know it's not burn from the spray because I know what that looks like and I use only 5.5 oz. of 6% bleach (old large bottle of Clorox) and a few drops of dawn/gallon of water. What disease would end up with blackened stems after the spray? In other words what was there that I couldn't see until I sprayed? I'm afraid I have gray mold and didn't know it.

BL

The only thing besides gray mold that can cause that kind of leaf die off when using the bleach spray is if the plants have been totally pounded by torrential rains and beat up with high winds. When that happens it is better to let the leaves heal up some before spraying. I hope you didn't spray in the middle of the day because that can be very damaging to leaves.

I have had that same kind of reaction when I allowed gray mold to persist on the plant for too long. I was also shocked at how far up the plant it had spread. I think that if you allow gray mold to persist on the plant for too long it seems to become systemic and then there is no stopping it. I have no specific scientific knowledge to base that on except my own observations. Every time I have allowed gray mold to go untreated to the point it shows up in stem and fruit lesions no treatment will stop it that I have tried. When it gets to that point it reminds me of Late Blight in how fast is will take down a plant. Spraying with the bleach spray at that point will slow it down some but not stop it like it can do when gray mold is caught and treated early.

Bill

[bbjm]

It has been terribly sultry here. The rain has slowed down but the heat and humidity is really just awful. I think it was mold given the blackening stems. If it is the mold, I've never had it before and I had no idea it was on my plants. I thought I was just treating a little bit of early blight. I pulled three plants yesterday - both of my Cherokee Purples and a Dester. They were still alive, but I have plenty of other plants/varieties and knew they were just going to be a pain to deal with all year. More than half of the 29 plants I have left are Prue and Wes and they are actually doing much better than the rest. Those two are my mainstay varieties b/c my family loves them both. Prue has been trouble free for me. It has extremely sparse foliage so lots of air between leaves. Wes seems to get disease later in the season, but always pumps out plenty of tomatoes for me. I think it will be an okay season in the long run.

I spray the bleach solution (and most other things) as the sun is going down. I'm familiar enough with your bleach spray to know that the bleach just uncovered the problem and did not cause it.

BL

[b54red]

I haven't used the bleach spray this season except on my English peas. It has been terribly dry here and other than EB my disease issues have been light. We finally got a little rain here this week so far only 3/10 but I am hopeful for a good bit more. I know it will bring other problems which will probably require the bleach spray but my water bills have been far too expensive besides the almost daily need to water for the past three months.

Bill

[HBKitmitto]

My results have been so amazing. I was honestly thinking my tomato year was over before it even got started. I did a regimen of the bleach spray and then wait 2 days, cut off all dying foliage and then I went in with a mixture of copper and neem oil. I had to do several times but the plants are nice and lush and healthy looking now. I'm so grateful for all of the knowledge and support in this forum!

[b54red]

Originally Posted by HBKitmitto

My results have been so amazing. I was honestly thinking my tomato year was over before it even got started. I did a regimen of the bleach spray and then wait 2 days, cut off all dying foliage and then I went in with a mixture of copper and neem oil. I had to do several times but the plants are nice and lush and healthy looking now. I'm so grateful for all of the knowledge and support in this forum!

Keep up the copper spraying every 10 days and keep a close eye out for the return of any of the diseases you have been dealing with. If you get Early Blight then try removing all affected leaves and spraying with Daconil for prevention.

Due to the dry weather and extremely high temps my problem this year on my tomatoes has been spider mites. I thought after the nearly inch of rain we got last week that it would help with them but no such luck. I had to get out the Permethrin, Dawn and DE and spray all my tomatoes. Up til this week I hadn't had any mites on my newer plants but they are leaving the dying dried up old ones they have ruined and are now getting into my new plants so all my tomato plants got a good thorough spraying yesterday. I had to do this a month or so ago and it worked really good and the plants started back setting fruit again and making tomatoes. This time after a week or so I will do it again just to make sure.

Bill

[bbjm]

Bill, You've probably answered this before, but how do you fit in copper and/or Daconil with your DE spraying. It seems like you'd want to avoid spraying after the DE spray.

Also, Do you think the film from spraying the DE helps prevent sunscald at all? I've lost so much foliage, that I've already lost a couple to the sun. It seems like the DE dust/film on the leaves would also prevent fungus from attaching to the leaves, but maybe that is too much to hope for.

Bret

[TigrikT]

Bill,
With 100f and rain in forecast what would be the best strategy? Do daconil/copper before rain, or skip, do the bleach after rain and then preventative? I am worried about spraying copper in such heat. The temps will break after rain. Thx

Bbjm, idk about DE but I am using Surround (kaolin) for sunscald prevention. It also helps with insects and fungus. It can be mixed with copper, spinosad etc

[b54red]

Originally Posted by bbjm

Bill, You've probably answered this before, but how do you fit in copper and/or Daconil with your DE spraying. It seems like you'd want to avoid spraying after the DE spray.

Also, Do you think the film from spraying the DE helps prevent sunscald at all? I've lost so much foliage, that I've already lost a couple to the sun. It seems like the DE dust/film on the leaves would also prevent fungus from attaching to the leaves, but maybe that is too much to hope for.

Bret

If rain is approaching and EB is your problem then spray with Daconil before the rain. After the rain you can use bleach spray or if it rains for days you can use it between rains to lessen the diseases you will have when the rain ends. I would follow up with a copper spray after the rain has stopped unless EB is the only problem. I just haven't had much luck using copper for EB. I find Daconil far more effective at preventing it but once you get it you just have to bite the bullet and remove diseased leaves.

If you are dealing with any kind of speck or spot disease you can alternate copper and Daconil. I have had more luck with copper on those types of problems and also on preventing gray mold. As with any diseases removing the affected leaves after spraying with bleach spray is essential. With Septoria I usually end up alternating bleach and copper during times of rainy weather and using some Daconil if it is fairly dry weather as a preventative. Rainy weather and Septoria is a recipe for disaster as it spreads so fast during rainy weather and it is a hard disease to control. I get really aggressive with Septoria and spray almost daily with bleach spray if it is rainy and spend a lot of time removing leaves.

I'm sorry I can't be more specific about how to use them but for me all four things have to be used at different times and conditions. Alternating different approaches also is something that should be tried at times. To simplify.

Prolonged rainy spell: bleach, bleach, bleach, then copper
After prolonged rainy spell: prune, spray, prune, spray
Early Blight: Daconil, prune, Daconil
Gray Mold: bleach, prune, bleach, prune, copper
Spot and Speck: copper, prune, copper, prune, Daconil and prayer

Bill

[b54red]

Originally Posted by TigrikT

Bill,
With 100f and rain in forecast what would be the best strategy? Do daconil/copper before rain, or skip, do the bleach after rain and then preventative? I am worried about spraying copper in such heat. The temps will break after rain. Thx

Bbjm, idk about DE but I am using Surround (kaolin) for sunscald prevention. It also helps with insects and fungus. It can be mixed with copper, spinosad etc

If you are dealing with Early Blight then I would remove any diseased leaves and spray with Daconil before the rain. After the rain look for any more diseased leaves and remove them and spray again with Daconil. If the rainy period lasts for more than a day or two then go out between rains and spray with the bleach spray to lessen the effects of the rain in spreading the disease. When spraying the bleach spray make sure to get all parts of the plant including undersides of leaves and stems along with the ground below.

If you are dealing with something else then I would go ahead and use the lowest amount of copper recommended before the rain and use it very early in the morning or very late in the evening due to the heat. I have had the 100 degree weather since early May and it does restrict the time at which it is safer to spray.

I mixed a very heavy dose of DE in a gallon of water with a healthy dose of Dawn to improve coverage and sticking and sprayed all my exposed fruit both tomatoes and bell peppers yesterday. Make sure to strain it before pouring into the sprayer and keep shaking it as you work. Even so I barely made it through before my sprayer and filter needed a thorough rinsing to stop it from clogging. I used about a cup and a half of DE in a single gallon of water. I have a good back pack sprayer with a filter before the wand which really helps. It also helps not to put to fine a setting on the tip or it could clog quickly. This really helps prevent scalding with all the exposed fruit I have from fighting EB and spider mites.

Bill