When is it time to pull a plant?

[LMinAL]

I'm a newbie here! Second year of gardening. My tomatoes have septoria and bacterial speck as confirmed by my ag extension diagnostic center. I've been snipping affected foliage, applying bleach spray then alternating with Daconil and copper. The septoria seems to be better contained by Daconil, but the speck only responds to copper. Some plants are tolerating the loss better than others. The past few days have been terrible with constant rain and I haven't been able to keep preventative on them, only applications of bleach between showers. The leaves are getting fewer and further between as both diseases are spreading like wildfire.

I was wondering how much foliage does a plant need to ripen tomatoes? Some plants have 1/3 of their foliage left, but I'm down to 1/4 or less on a couple of plants. All have fruit that hasn't ripened. If it ever stops raining I'm going to put shade cloth up to prevent sun scald. It's sad to watch them slowly dying. I just wonder if its in vain and I should pull the plug on the worst of them and concentrate on the hybrids which are holding up a little better. So sad for my heirlooms - they're my favorites.

[jack03111969]

I feel your pain I have some plants that are down to 1/4 there leafs the maters seem to ripen still on them. I got 1 plant that has like 6 leafs on it with a dozen maters that are starting to turn red.

[b54red]

I am experiencing the same thing. Nothing will stop the diseases when you are having the constant showers we are having. I have many vines that extend out well over 10 ft with leaves only on the last two feet. I keep trying to guide them so they give some shade to the bare plants beneath on my trellis. As soon as the rain stops for a while I will go out and spray with the bleach spray and then clip off the bad parts the next day and decide which plants are worth leaving and start pulling up some of the others. I have allowed more suckers to develop on the tops because there is just so little foliage left further down the plants.

I'm hoping to set out some more plants for fall this week if I get a chance. If you don't have any to set out you might want to go see if you can get some Big Beefs at Home Depot or Lowes. They make excellent fall tomatoes because they are good at setting fruit in the hot weather that will surely return when the rain stops.

Bill

[kygreg]

What ratio of bleach to water do use? Thanks.

[LMinAL]

Thanks for the replies. It helps to know others are experiencing the same thing, though I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Kygreg: The ratio I used was approximate as I'm using a 16 oz sprayer and not a gallon sprayer. Check out B54Red's post titled "bleach spray" and that will give you lots of info and the correct ratio. It also depends on whether you are using the original Chlorox or the new concentrated version.

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=28509

[indigosand]

When I had septoria last season, I got rid of all affected foliage, all blossoms and pinched off all growing tips. Then I chose all the fruit I thought would reasonably ripen within the next few weeks and picked off anything too small. Sprayed the whole thing and the ground around it with Daconil and when all the fruit I had saved was close to fully ripe I harvested it all and tore the plant out. It did continue to spread until it had overtaken 1/2 the row of tomatoes but with regular spraying of Daconil it was under control and I didn't lose any more plants completely.