grey mold

[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]

Well I did it. Bought some Clorox and mixed up a quart into a hand sprayer, then I sprayed the plants that looked the worst. It was interesting to see the stems go rust-coloured as the bleach mixture trickled down (must be the tomato tar!)

I sprayed them yesterday evening, then rushed out to see the carnage first thing this morning - nothing had really happened! Perhaps my mixture was a little weak as I really couldn't find out the percentage of chlorine in my Clorox "original" bottle. I used just over 1 oz to a quart.

Linda

[Gardeneer]

I was in grocery store shopping and noticed that Clorox has some that says 33% stronger. Then I found the sodium hypochlorite content 8.25% . So the weaker ones should have had 6.20%.

I am going to use it when the rain season begins in September.

[Labradors2]

Thanks Gardeneer! I'll bet mine was the weaker solution (which was made in the US by the way). Next time I'll make it a tad stronger!

Linda

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

Thanks Gardeneer! I'll bet mine was the weaker solution (which was made in the US by the way). Next time I'll make it a tad stronger!

Linda

Linda the sodium hypochlorite percentage should be somewhere on the bottle if you bought Clorox brand. Sometimes it is hard to find and the writing is small but you should look again carefully for it and you should see it. Most of the newer versions are the 8.25%. I haven't seen any of the older formulation in a year or so but it may still be around and it has a concentration of 6% and the really old formulation had a concentration of 5.25%.

I was out clipping off the dead and dying leaves from spider mite damage and had to take a little break. When I went out it was only 75 but now it is 80 but the humidity is over 90% which is draining.

Bill

[Labradors2]

Bill,

After wasting a lot of time online (they don't seem to want to offer this information). I finally called consumer services and learned that our Canadian (made in the US) "Clorox" brand of bleach contains 8.25% sodium hypochlorite. So your recommendation of 5 oz to a gallon should do the trick here!

I don't envy you all that humidity. We have just gone through a heatwave and it's difficult to spend much time out in the garden in that weather! Thank goodness ours broke today!

Many thanks,
Linda

[b54red]

Linda I'm not even worried about diseases right now because thanks to the spider mites I have almost no leaves left on any of my older plants and they are starting to mess up my younger plants. I just clipped the dying stems and leaves off the tomatoes in one bed planted in late April and when I got through there were almost no leaves left except a few tufts at the top. All the fruit is just totally exposed to the sun so most of it will be lost. I will spray them again with DE and see if I can get some good healthy new growth going without spider mites but if I can't I'm just going to pull them. I have another bed that is in the same shape with spider mites and I haven't even started pruning all the bad stuff off it yet.

Bill

[Labradors2]

Bill,

So sorry to hear about the spider mites! I just started a new thread with a link to a site that suggests using very hot peppers to control them. Perhaps it would work...... I hope so!

Linda