Need help identifying foliar diseases

[DogsandDirt]

B54red, I meant to say I was going to add chlorothionil to the treatment regimen a few days after the bleach, not with the bleach. The sentence was poorly worded. What is the name of the IGR you use?

Dewayne, I had to order the Take Down from Worm's Way. I could never find it in the metroplex. I did see a multi-purpose powder at Calloways that contained sulfur, copper and pyrethrin. I was hestitant to try it since you can't use any oil based products on the plants for several weeks after exposure to sulfur (at least that's what the container said). If you try it please let us know how it works. How are your plants recovering from the hail?

Feldon, any suggestions for a mulch for containers? I was thinking pine bark if I can find it.

[Dewayne mater]

D&D - I'm gonna have to take the product back as between the restriction of no oils for 21 days and no 90 degree heat, by the time 21 days have passed since my last neem oil treatment, it'll be 90 daily almost certainly. Gotta find a different insecticide now...beyond soap and neem (and b.t. I just put out) as those may slow things down, but certainly do not stop anything.

As for the hail, my earthtainer plants have shaken that off and are doing incredibly well. Great growth, lots of tomatoes, lots of flowers. I think a liquid Calcium treatment (Cal mag) is in my near future because of the good numbers of fruit set. My soil garden plants are well behind now. 3 of nine are rocking, 3 of 9 are pretty good, and 3 of 9 are looking so far behind I don't know if they'll produce because by the time they get ready to do so, it'll be too hot. Funny because the ground plants started off more quickly - to my surprise - but are now well behind. I'm thinking the growth of trees and shrubs on all sides of my little plot may be cutting down on the sun hours per day, which is can be a huge factor.

On the mulch question, I like the pine bark for sure and that is what i've seen recommended here, elsewhere and by guys that work at good garden centers. Good luck.

Dewayne mater

[b54red]

Dogs, the IGR I use is Martins. I get the four ounce size because I applied it twice last year and you use one ounce to the gallon of spray mix.

[DogsandDirt]

I sprayed several plants with a bleach solution on Sunday 5/13 to kill this fungal issue (likely Septoria, seeing how stubborn it is). Here's some before and after pictures. I think the Superfanstastic is done as soon as those last fruit develop a blush. It was the first to set fruit and looked so beautiful in the beginning, now I'm not even seeing any new growth. So sad. The Better Boy, Early Girl, Sweet 100, and Sungold also have yellow leaves but they at least have new growth. I sprayed every plant with Azamax yesterday to try to stay ahead of the mites. Those with yellow leaves and gray mold I need to spray with bleach again. It seems every day I need to hit them with something. I'm thinking of trying a copper soap next, or a product called OxiDate (made with hydrogen dioxide). http://www.enviroselects.com/oxidate...ngicide-1.html


I think it's just too late for preventative with Daconil for these guys.

A question about Daconil: I have a bottle of ready to use and it is so thick I don't see how I can even spary one plant evenly with one bottle. Is the concentrate any thinner and easier to spray?

[kurt]

To slow down the problem would be to remove the affected leaves asap.Then spray the good looking foilage.I see some plant tags that look like the plants were store bought maybe?If so, that is a possibility where the crud came from and spread.

[Dewayne mater]

I wouldn't give up on anything yet! All of these plants have some living leaves, meaning the plant is alive. Consider removing affected leaves, spraying with daconil and fertilizing with tomato tone to encourage new growth.

As for the use of Daconil with already affected plants, I'm doing it. My theory is that I may defeat the current disease with bleach spray, but, new ones can crop up at any time!

Finally, yes, Daconil is thick. I think the idea is that the viscosity helps it stick to the leaf surfaces. A standard hose end sprayer has no problem with it, fyi.

Good luck!

Dewayne mater

[DogsandDirt]

Thanks for the suggestions. I did prune the affected parts off the Early Girl and Sungold this morning. They're looking pretty naked. The Superfantastic, Better Boy, and Sweet 100 are next. The Superfantastic is the one I'm not sure is going to make it.

12 of my 15 plants are Chef Jeff's from Calloways. It may have come in with them, but I wold have thought more of the other plants from there would have shown signs as well. The Better Boy that's affected came from a farmers market. The Sungold came from a different nursery.

Does the underside of the leaves need to be sprayed with the Daconil or just the tops?

How are your plants doing, Dewayne?

[Dewayne mater]

You have to get all surfaces with daconil in my opinion. This probably applies to all stems too.

As for my plants, they are hanging on...some by just a thread others better. I don't know if I can post picture because I don't know if I can stand photographic proof of how sorry they look! I was stunned by how many leaves were affected considering the regimen I had been following. Still, the ones less affected are producing now, even though they look ugly. I used a liquid fertilizer in the fill tube on all of them on the last 2 waterings I've done and new growth is happening. On some of them, flowering is happening. At this point, I'm hoping to get a few more to set over the next week or two and by then, it will likely be too hot for much if any more fruit set. (however, the weather channel only has one day reaching 90 in the 10 day forecast so fingers crossed for a longer setting time). This year has been a bit humbling to say the least! Next year, Daconil starts the day they are planted out!

Dewayne mater

[Sun City Linda]

spray them over, under and around. =)

[DogsandDirt]

Originally Posted by Sun City Linda

spray them over, under and around. =)

On the bright side, spraying will be easier now that they're just about naked!

[b54red]

We have had rain several times the last few days. It has been cloudy and drizzly between the rains with very high humidity. I went out late today to check the plants and found thousands of worms on the lower sides of the leaves of many of my tomato plants. They were anywhere from 1/8 inch long to 1/2 inch and they were feeding heavily. I turned over some of the large potato leaves to find hundreds under one leaf. I had been using bt for the past couple of weeks since I had seen a few leaves affected and it had seemed to slow them down; but the constant rains must have washed it all off. I also found about a dozen plants with Gray Mold on them. So far it not too bad on most of them; but I learned the hard way last year how fast and how devastating it can be if it isn't stopped.

Since I only had time to do one spraying before dark I opted for Sevin because the worms are getting out of hand and I know how fast they can spread as they get larger. I will have to wait another day to use the bleach on the Gray Mold.

AAAHHHH summer is here in the deep south.

[carolyn137]

About Daconil.

There's no need to spray the undersides of leaves since Daconil works by covering the specific attachment sites for the fungal diseases on the upper leaf surface. There are no attachment sites for the two most common foliage diseases, Early Blight ( A. solani) and Septoria Leaf Spot, on the underside of the leaf.

The dilution of the concentrate, which is 29.6% chlorothalonil, has been worked out to give maximum concentration to cover those attachement sites, which is why one should not use Daconil at the same time another product is being used as a foliar spray.

And that b'c they cause competition with the Daconil molecules so all fungal attachment sites may not be covered.

And how do I know that? B'c about 10 years ago I thought it was a great idea to mix Daconil with some seaweed prep fertilizer, but decided to call Ortho, talked with a nice man who explained to me all about molecule competition and said that spraying with anything other than Daconil should be done a few days apart.

Hope that helps.

[Dewayne mater]

Thank you Carolyn! What I LOVE about this site is the opportunity to learn from those with so much more knowledge and experience! I have often wished for a Carolyn "bat phone" to help with problems and feel really lucky when you weigh in! Thanks again.

B54red - that is so creepy! Straight out of a 1950's horror flick....attack of a million worms. Whenever I feel like I life in a terribly inhospitable tomato climate, I read some of your posts and am thankful to not have to deal with everything you do!! Have you ever tried one of Raybo's earthtainers? It might seem crazy when you have the great space to grow that you do, but it would interesting to try 2 or 3 and see if that approach substantially helped with the various issues you face. They aren't magical and this year my tainers have had more problems than those in the ground, but, usually they have been healthier, produced earlier, heavier and a few tainer plants have even weathered the entire summer and produced in the fall, something I've never accomplished in the ground grown tomatoes. Might be an interesting side project for you. Good luck!

Dewayne Mater

[b54red]

Dewayne I went out this morning to clip some of the damaged leaves to get ready to spray the bleach this evening. The Sevin worked like a dream. Where there were thousands of the little leaf munchers I couldn't find a single one alive.

I tried containers for two years but found it way too much trouble. I still have all the foliage diseases and pests and even got fusarium in a couple. The plants did ok but I found the taste a little more bland than the ones grown in the soil and fruit size and production was less. Despite the problems with the soil around here it produces some of the best tasting tomatoes. That is why the commercial growers are around here. They get a premium on their crop because of the taste; but they only have to grow for the main crop and then can allow them all to die. I like to try to have tomatoes for a much longer time and that is the main problem.

[b54red]

The Gray Mold was much more widespread than I thought. When I went out this morning the evidence was clear after the bleach spraying. It was on nearly every one of my black tomatoes and a few of the others. Dana's Dusky Rose was hit the worst and it even ruined a nice large tomato on one of my Spudakee plants. I really couldn't have sprayed but one day sooner because of the constant rain and drizzle for the past 10 days. I love getting a good rain but I want it over with in two days because when it hangs around for much longer the diseases just spread like mad on the wet plants.