Septoria (?) Trouble Controlling - chlorothalonil

[dustdevil]

Originally Posted by b54red

I started another experiment today in the worst fusarium ridden bed in my garden. I used the solution in the holes where I am going to plant some more fall tomatoes. I saturated the each of the prepared spots and will wait a day or two to be sure all the Clorox is oxidized. I know this might kill some wigglers but I have plenty and I am only trying it in a few spots.

All is not lost...the resultant albinos can be used to monitor worm migration.

[b54red]

I had a real surprise today when I planted in the holes I treated with the diluted Clorox. I expected to see no worms but I did see some so maybe the solution needs to be stronger when used as a soil drench or maybe worms can tolerate the dilute Clorox better than I thought. I'm just hoping it will slow the fusarium long enough for the new plants to get a good start before they get it. All of my potted up tomatoes have already been treated with Root Shield twice and I am going to treat some of the new plantings also. The Clorox should be totally gone so the Root Shield should be able to colonize the roots without having to compete with fusarium.
For the past month I have been treating all of my new plantings with Root Shield but have been losing half of them within 5 or 6 days. In a week I will know if this helped at all or was just a waste of time.

[dustdevil]

B54, as always, interesting to hear what you're doing to battle tomato diseases.

[b54red]

I'm waging a guerrilla war and don't abide by any Geneva conventions. If I can disrupt the enemy then I will. I hope this new land mine I'm trying will slow down the fusarium convoys. It's getting about time to start ambushing whiteflies again.

[tam91]

Wow, what a struggle - that sounds so frustrating. I hope you beat the fusarium soon.

[b54red]

I don't think I'll ever beat the fusarium. I'm just hoping to slow it down a little.

[tam91]

Bummer. I was very displeased to have to go to containers (walnut trees) but I guess there are some good sides to it (fewer diseases).

Question - usually at the end of the season, I dump out the tomato container soil, and plant beans or whatever there the next year, and get new soil for the tomato containers. Most of my tomatoes have no disease at all. A couple have septoria, but are doing ok. Two have something else (two different something elses actually) and I don't know quite what it is. Should I discard the soil from those containers (unknown ick and/or septoria) in the back yard or something, instead of in the garden?

[b54red]

I sure wouldn't waste good soil. If you are growing in containers more than likely your problems are foliage diseases or some mineral deficiency.

[tam91]

The two I am pretty certain are septoria - I was wondering if it would overwinter. Happily, Cornell says it won't, just remove plant debris. So I'd hate to waste the good soil too.

The "turning brown and crunchy" one worried me a little more though.

[jmartin9]

So tam91, did you figure out what was causing the "turning brown and crunchy"?

[Rootwad]

Got a question I cannot find concentrated Daconil in any of the stores in town except TSC and it is on clearance with only three left on the shelve.Are they going to stop offering the concentrated type? If so woo is me.

[kath]

Do they carry Fung-onil or any of the other products that contain 29.6% chlorothalinol? Several companies make it in a concentrate.

[NewDawn223]

I bought Daconil concentrate from either Amazon or Ebay.

[paneman]

daconil is available at Ozbo.com. Great place for finding all your hard to find fungicide and herbicides. Their shipping rates are a treat as well.

-Kurtis

[denno70]

I grew some nice tomatoes a few years back, and then had two seasons where the tomato season was interrupted by one of these blight type diseases. I did another soil test in 2009, using three locations in my garden. To my surprise the phosphate levels had dropped below the acceptable levels, and I had tested only three years earlier. I had some idea that using as much compost, worm poop and other organic things would take care of the NPK levels. Apparently, they do help the nitrogen and potash need, but not much for the phosphate, according to the soil test results. In 2010, I started using 10-10-10 along with the compost and I could see a turn around for that season. Then in 2011 I decided to really experiment and used some super-phosphate along with the 10-10-10, and the results really blew me away. I only used the super-phosphate(0-45-0) on selected items, like my heirloom tomatoes and sweet potatoes. The tomatoes grew as they should, producing well into late August, and of great size and flavor.
The sweet potatoes really reacted with the biggest potato coming in at 5.5 pounds! Since then I have done well with most of the garden, using the regular fertilizer, and selectively using the super-phosphate. The thing I learned is if you go back to the basics of having your soil balanced, the plants will overcome many of these diseases, which will return if I don't supply the necessary ingredients.