This is utterly disgusting and sad

[fredwes]

I'm sorry for all that have the blights. Most of my 70+ varieties have been hit. I am also removing blighted leaves and stems, trying to stem the tide of destruction. I have quite a few large (1 pound) and smaller tomatoes that are beginning to blush. I picked four pounds today and three pounds yesterday and am letting them ripen inside. I hope I will get a lot more tomatoes off of the vines before they succumb, and believe that the current run of three or four sunny days will help. It's interesting that some varieties seems very susceptible, others seem to hold out longer. The potato-leaved variety seem to be better able to handle it. Also Aunt Ruby's German Green is holding on well - on the other hand, Crnkovic Yugoslavian seemed to scream and fall over dead at the first sight of blight. Stems, leaves, fruit, all gone. It's the only plant I've yanked so far.
I have five tomato plots and each of them has reacted differently to the blight. Soil and ammendments are different in each garden. My neighbor has tomato plants that seem to be completely unaffected. Her plants are grown in rich compost and have thick growth. Is this compost the key?
The 12 plants on my deck, which comes off of the second story, fare among the best. They are in 3 gallon containers of potting mix, shredded bark and peat moss. Perhaps being up in the air and drying faster helps, compared with those in the ground surrounded by grass and not far from the woods, which are very wet - skunk cabbage grows there in abundance. Also the soil in this garden has been used every year, mostly for perennials, and received few ammendments.
This is a learning year for me. I know what I will do differently , which will include giving more space between plants, prune, use Actinovate, more compost, shredded bark under the plants, plant varieties that seem to be more resistant.
My Stupice has been very healthy through all this, Green Grape is doing well, Baxter's Bush Cherry is also doing well. Sungold is not bad, also Sun Sugar. Large Red Cherry is on its way out.
All four varieties in one small garden are doing well: Red Currant, Stump of the World, Sandul Moldovan, Riesentraube. This ground previously had arbor vitae bushes in it.

I wonder what the experience of others is with different varieties.

To what extent is resistance to late blight (or early blight) a consideration in the development of new varieties?
Fred

[barkeater]

rsg,

I think your mystery disease is still early blight. I noticed the other day my one black tomato has the same constant browness down low, with none of the yellow associated with EB. I looked much closer being so worried about Late Blight, and saw the concentric circles in the dark brown leaves.

Maybe EB can manifest differently in black tomatoes.

[kdoble]

I am sad to report that I have "finally" been hit with Late Blight. No question that's what it is...greasy black spots and white mold growing on the underside of the leaves. I have been spraying routinely, but we got hit with 100% humidity and heavy rains and that was the end of that. It's actually a mild outbreak, but I baggged and "toe-tagged" all but 3 plants since they show no signs of infection. The good news is, that even though I got off to a very late start, I have had a VERY plentiful harvest. So do I need to contact my local Coop. Ext. to report it even though it's well known that LB has hit our region?

[cottonpicker]

Same here, near Valley Forge, kdoble.

[boomtown]

Hi everyone. Our company has been getting a lot of calls lately regarding late blight in tomatoes. Here's some tips for you if you use Actinovate...

If late blight has already infected your plant, it's probably a goner. Once late blight symptoms appear it means the disease is in the vascular system and is aggressively parasitizing the plant. However, there is a slim chance you can still save the plant but, more importantly, you can possibly save the (as of yet) uninfected companion plants nearby using Actinovate Organic Fungicide.

If you have Late Blight
Using Actinovate in an attempt to cure late blight is a 2-step process: 1) At Day 1 water Actinovate into soil: Dissolve Actinovate into water at 1 tsp per gallon to create a solution. Water the soil around the base of the plant with the solution until the soil is completely saturated. Repeat this step 3 days later. 2) At Day 1 also begin foliar spray program: Dissolve Actinovate into water at a rate of 1 tsp per gallon to create a solution. Use solution as a foliar spray (from a spray bottle, pump up sprayer etc...) to completely cover all foliage of the plant until a run-off is created. Repeat this step every 7-days during the growing season.

Preventing Late Blight (Next Year)
Using Actinovate to try to prevent late blight is also a 2-step process: 1) At Day 1 water Actinovate into soil: Dissolve Actinovate into water at 1 tsp per gallon to create a solution. Water the soil around the base of the plant with the solution until the soil is completely saturated. Repeat this step every 2-4 weeks 2) At Day 1 also begin foliar spray program: Dissolve Actinovate into water at a rate of 1 tsp per gallon to create a solution. Use solution as a foliar spray (from a spray bottle, pump up sprayer etc...) to completely cover all foliage of the plant until a run-off is created. Repeat this step every 7-14 days during the growing season.

Precautions: Do not mix with copper products. If copper products are necessary, apply those first and then wait 7 days before starting the Actinovate regimens.
Recommended Companion Products: Any adjuvant is fine (even a couple of drops of dish soap per gallon). Seaweed extract, humic acid, kelp and fish emulsion all help Actinovate grow and are recommended to applied in con★★★★★★★★ with it. You may want to use a spreader sticker for the foliar applications.

Good Luck Everyone!

Boomer Cardinale, Marketing Director
Natural Industries

[hasshoes]

I used Actinovate regularly and religiously and it did nothing for my plants I planted at an organic farm.

They looked just as bad as one's I've seen that were sprayed with nothing.

Maybe it works for some people but not for me.

Can we see a data sheet of Actinovate Late Blight trials? Thanks!

ps- On a more positive note, Actinovate has my lawn looking awesome.

[KLorentz]

There where warnings for LB here in Michigan. So far we have not had it here but we are getting a lot of rain the last couple weeks. Crossing fingers. Like Carolyn I got a late start but for health reasons and my maters went out in June which has never happened before but was unavoidable. I have some huge Brandywines and some others which are for the most still green. There has even been talk of possible snow in September. Lets hope for the best.


Kevin

[boomtown]

Originally Posted by hasshoes

I used Actinovate regularly and religiously and it did nothing for my plants I planted at an organic farm.

They looked just as bad as one's I've seen that were sprayed with nothing.

Maybe it works for some people but not for me.

Can we see a data sheet of Actinovate Late Blight trials? Thanks!

ps- On a more positive note, Actinovate has my lawn looking awesome.

Sorry Actinovate didn't work you hashoes! Did you follow the directions I stated above? Try it again on a section of your plants next year and make sure you have some sticking agent so the Actinovate microbes can linger on the foliage. Good luck!

[hasshoes]

I did. . . I also drenched the soil more and re-sprayed after rains.

I used molasses on occasion to help the Actinovate stick. Is there an organic sticking agent that you would recommend?

[boomtown]

My retail manager recommends Turbo Spreader Sticker from Bonide. Also yucca plant extract has been mentioned often. Again sorry about the disease getting through. If ONE SPORE makes it into the vascular system of the plant, it's all over for the plant I'm afraid.

[Plantersville]

No desease here but growing season was awful short and what tomaotes I got were not large at all. First month it did nothing but rain then when it quit raining we had temps over 100 for many, many days with no rain at all. It was not a good growing season for sure.

[Jimche]

It does not appear to be true that, once a plant has LB, it is a goner. About 80% of our 650 tomato plants showed signs of LB on the foliage several weeks ago, before the sunny and dry weather replaced the dismal LB-friendly conditions we had for the beginning of the summer. Less than 5% of the plants experienced stem damage and died, though the disease did reduce yield to about 30% of what we had expected, as it spread to the fruit and thinned out the foliage. After LB set it, we sprayed some of the plants with a peroxide solution twice and the whole garden once with Bravo (Chlorothalonil). The peroxide sprayed area seems to have fared best, but it happens to also be the highest ground and may have a less-humid microenvironment or something. The warmer, sunnier weather may be the biggest factor in our favor. Unfortunately, it looks like we are in the midst of the mirk again, as it is getting cold and wet here. I would be intersted to hear how others have fared through this season of LB.

[KLorentz]

I have bacterial speck right now on some of my toms. Does not seem to be hurting my mater plants much.



Kevin