Illness taking over my plants, please help!

[lakelady]

I am completely stumped as to what happened to my plants in one of my beds of tomatoes. Seemingly overnight, they went to healthy and green and lush, to browning leaves and I can't figure it out. I've been searching all day for online photos and getting bug eyed.

It started this morning when I noticed several plants not looking so healthy, a little wilted. This afternoon after work, holy cow, many more of them look bad and lots of leaves are turning brown. Not just the bottom, not just the top, sort of in the middle if you will. I have not sprayed any insecticides, my neighbors have not either (man across the street on the mountain doesn't even do any yardwork . This bed is directly along the side of the house below the road. One potted plant almost looks like early blight, but none of the others. The ONLY thing I have done, is yesterday I sprayed with Excel LG. Nothing more. Over a week ago, I sprayed with soapy solution and some neem oil, but it did not affect plants at all.

I'm really worried I could lose all these plants in a few days and also concerned that the other garden beds are next. I didn't have time to check them out before dark.

Any ideas at all???

[Boutique Tomatoes]

That looks more like fertilizer burn than disease to me.

I know Raybo had said he had burned his plants a few years ago by eyeballing the Excel LG concentration...

If that's it, they should recover, just look a little sad for a while.

[kath]

It looks like burn of some sort to me, too- I made a mistake using too much insecticidal soap once and many of the plants in my entire garden looked like that- only worse. The rain will help wash off the excess and new growth should make this a distant memory soon.

[bcday]

It doesn't look like a disease to me, either. It looks more like physiological damage. I would stop spraying them for a while and see if they outgrow it. The new growth in one pic looks healthy. .

[lakelady]

oh thank goodness. These are my biggest plants and have flowers, and even baby fruits on the Vorlon. I have not fertilized in weeks so the only thing I can conclude is the Excel LG. Mark, you may have a point. I didn't weigh the liquid, but I did use the little window on the side and measurements to pour into my 2 gallon sprayer. ugh. A few of my plants keeled over today, or would have if they were not tied up to posts.

Call me paranoid, but last year I lost most of my plants to septoria and didn't spray until I found serious evidence of disease. We have had rain for the past two weeks almost daily, even if small amounts the plants are wet all the time. Had a chance on a dry day yesterday to go spray so I did since so many members here recommend doing so. I'd really like to get a great tomato season in as the last few years have been pretty crummy.

The eggplants are not looking so great either, but the slugs are really doing a number on them so I sprinkled eggshells all around the base of each plant hoping they won't veture there again.

I had interplanted Favas with this group of tomatoes and they are infested with lots of black aphids, and those leaves, some of them, are turning black which has me stumped. Last time I try that, I've been worrying they will carry disease to my tomatoes now.

Below is the reason I wanted to spray so badly, not sure, but it looked like symptoms of early blight. This is in a potted tomato plant, and yes I know its fuzzy, I think I need glasses, lol....looked like it was focused when I snapped it!

We just had a quick rain (again) for all of about 5 minutes so everything is wet again.

[kath]

Yup- looks like EB- I've got it too on several of my older, fruiting plants...sigh. Like you, I found time to spray with Excel/Actinovate this week but it rained 8 hours later. It's been raining here since ~ 6:30 this evening- I think we're supposed to get enough of a break in the rain to make spraying worthwhile on Thurs. You're using 1 TBS/gal. of the Excel, right?

Last year Septoria wiped most of my tomatoes out by mid-Sept. so I'm paranoid, too, and worried about Late Blight with all this rain. The new growth on some of my potato plants is a dark grayish green color and the leaves are small and wilty. I'm searching to figure that one out and hoping it won't affect the tomato plants, too.

[z_willus_d]

Anotoniette, I've performed weekly spraying of the Actinovate/Agri-Fos/Molasses combination. I sprayed in the afternoon yesterday with the following:
- 2 L water
- 1 TBS Molasses
- 1 tsp Agri-Fos/Excel-LG (same stuff)
- 0.5 tsp Green Cure Fungicide
- 0.5 tsp Actinovate

I was surprised to find several plants with a speckled yellowing today, and not just on the lowest leaves but kind of in the middle. They don't look quite like yours, but I'm half way hopeful, half-way concerned that it had something to do with my spraying. I know I'm breaking the normal formula adding the Green Cure, but I've heard good things about it. I might try reducing my concentrations next round for the GreenCure and Agri-Fos.

I hope your plants recover quickly.
-naysen

[walkinggin]

regarding mixing Greencure with other products, I looked into that just a few days ago and according to their FAQS they advise against it:

Can GreenCure be used with a hose-end sprayer?
We DO NOT recommend using a hose-end sprayer because it would be difficult to control the mix proportions. For spraying that requires more than a handheld spray bottle, we recommend using a pump tank sprayer.

Can I mix GreenCure with other products such as pesticides?
We DO NOT recommend mixing the product with other products because it could inadvertantly reduce the usefulness of GreenCure by altering its PH level.
Do I need to add surfactants (spreader/sticker) or oils to GreenCure?
NO. The formula in GreenCure already contains just the right amount of surfactants in order to maximize the benefits of the potassium bicarbonate. More than 350 surfactants where tested and ultimately the combination of ingredients in GreenCure were found to be significantly more effective than other ingredients while maintaining the less toxic characteristics of the base formula. Adding in additional ingredients would change the formula and could cause burning of the leaves.

[z_willus_d]

Walking, yes, I'm probably screwing up some balance. I guess I should just skip the Green Cure, or spray it every other week in lieu of the Actinovate/Excel combo.

Thanks for sharing their responses. BTW, how well has Green Cure worked for you?
-naysen

[Crandrew]

I use the same mixture minus the green cure and experience zero negative effects. Maybe cut it out of the mixture.

[RayR]

Ya, you have to be careful about mixing chemical compounds when you don't know what chemical reactions might be occurring. Mixing Phosphorus Acids (Exel LG) + Potassium Bicarbonate (Green Cure) creates something else maybe (Any chemists out there?) that possibly could be harmful to plants or may at least neutralize the effectiveness of the products.
You also have to consider what effect it may have on biological's like Actinovate as the resulting compounds might kill the good bacteria.

[z_willus_d]

I agree. I mix the components and looked for any visual reaction, didn't see one and moved on. It would be better to know the actual effects in play. I guess I'll just cut out the green cure from my rotation, or alternate bi-weekly.
Thanks,
Naysen

[tjg911]

whatever you do DON"T go to any big box stores and ask a man!

just kidding with you, i agree it looks like a burn. i have no idea what that stuff is you sprayed. disease wouldn't just hit the middle of the plants. hope they recover.

tom

[lakelady]

Well, good news is the progressive "damage" stopped. Seemed like it hit around 12-24 hours, continued to progress another 12 hours or so and stopped. No more burning leaves and they are beginning to look healthy again! whew! After all that work and building/digging new garden spaces, I was so upset at the prospect that all my work was for naught.

Now I just have to figure out how to "splint" the few plants I accidentally broke in my panic the other night while rushing through it all. Just a few ... I guess some gauze and a little stick will have to do !

And Kath, yes I used more than that. I followed the instructions on the package!