septoria leaf spot

[sfulwood]

destroyed 35 plants in my garden. my question is: had them mulched with wheat straw. Should i dispose of the mulch with extreme prejudice ...or no? and why?

[kurt]

http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci...rop/pp659w.htm According to article this fungas overwinters.is spread on weed(leaf) refuse.Vectored by water transmission.So if it touched your straw it is growing in it and can be transmitted.

[bcday]

The Septoria that was on your tomatoes only infects solanaceous plants, not grasses such as wheat. It can only overwinter on infected weeds and crop plants in the nightshade family. Wheat straw can not be infected by Septoria and can not harbor it over the winter unless there is infected tomato or other diseased solanaceous plant material mixed with the straw.

Weeds and garden plants other than tomatoes that can be infected and carry Septoria over the winter are things like jimsonweed, horsenettle, groundcherry, and nightshade as well as potato and eggplant. Grasses and non-solanaceous weeds are not a problem re Septoria, so your mulch is safe to use as long as you get all the diseased tomato foliage out of it.

http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.corne...o_Septoria.htm

[kurt]

Just so I am clear,if some infectious septoria lands or touches the wheat straw it dies or goes dormant.Can't tell anyone else what to do but would not take a chance,sounds like 50/50 odds.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by sfulwood

destroyed 35 plants in my garden. my question is: had them mulched with wheat straw. Should i dispose of the mulch with extreme prejudice ...or no? and why?

This post of yours look as though the infected tomato plants were chopped in with the straw to make the mulch. If that is the right interpretation, then I think it would be extremely difficult to unmix the straw from the tomato plants, so if that is the case, I think I would get rid of the mulch if I were you.
Hope that helps,
-Marsha

[RayR]

The spores would be remain dormant, if splashed up onto the plant leaves up by rain, then that would trigger the spores to germinate. Spores can also be airborne, traveling on the wind and land on your plants and soil. Foliar fungal pathogens like Septoria are prevalent in the environment in most areas, the only way to really deal with it is to regularly apply biological or chemical preventatives to leaves and stems and use good cultural practices in the garden. Straw mulch never helped in my garden against Septoria, a moist biologically active mulch like compost or leaf mold can make a big impact against the spores on the soil.

As far as the straw mulch, you could till it under, the buried spores would eventually die and be consumed by microbes.

[deerhunter]

theres not much you can do. once its in the soil its there forever.

[kurt]

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs1158 A lot of promise in steam soil sterilization.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by deerhunter

theres not much you can do. once its in the soil its there forever.

http://learningstore.uwex.edu/assets/pdfs/A2606.PDF

But notice the suggested rotation cycle of 3-4 years, so it doesn't last forever in the soil as I see it.

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&gs_nf=1...8b389cb9285166

General Google search and only one link I looked at says it's almost impossible to eradicate.

In my tomato field I certainly had problems with Septoria as well as Early Blight, but Charlie, my famer friend, plowed deeply every fall and sowed a cover crop of winter rye.

That buried the spores so deeply that the next year all new infections were from air and rain and not splashback infection from spores that were shed in a previous year.

Home growers can do the same thing, but not using just a tiller b'c you have to turn the soil over deeply to bury those spores. And works the same for Early Blight ( A. solani) as well.

[lakelady]

Septoria is evil! I'm so sorry it destroyed your plants, that was me last year, nothing left but sticks with a few tomatoes. It was so sad.

[deerhunter]

interesting on the deep plowing. i usally harrow my garden in the fall and put winter rye down. do the turning over in the spring. maybe i'll plow in the fall also.

[riceke]

I laid down black plastic fabric and covered that with wheat straw and can say this is the first year that I didn't get any problems. I usually get septoria and the other problems right around ripening time. Don't know if that was it or that I planted Mule Team for the first time. I know that I didn't get any splash-up from the soil which may have helped.

[sfulwood]

Thanks for everyone's thoughts and insights. i removed the plants and disposed of them in a distant area of woods on my property. my original question was about the wheat straw i used as mulch and given the initial responses i just burned the straw where it lay. i am fortunate to have enough room that i won't have to plant tomatoes in this area for 3 or 4 years

[lakelady]

wow that is fortunate ! I will only have the same plots year after year as that is all there is in the sun.

You may also want to plant varieties that are less prone to septoria. I'm noticing this year that some get it pretty bad, and others seem less affected. For sure the potato leaf varieties seem to be more tolerant. Did you have any potato leaf plants this year in the garden?