Can you recommend Organic safe anti-fungal spray please? - Page 2

b54red · June 2, 2013

If you are not wedded to being totally organic then you could try the dilute bleach spray I have been using for years. If it is a non systemic foliage disease then the spray will usually kill it or stop its spread long enough for the plant to recover. It will however kill all or most of the infected leaves within a few days. I highly recommend you use some kind of fungicide. Copper fungicides are considered organic I believe and should at least slow the spread of the disease.

Although you don't live as far down in disease land as I do you are in the South and foliage diseases are the bane of tomato growing down here. Without fungicides used regularly it is hard to keep your plants healthy for long once the humidity and temperatures get high down here.

Bill

z_willus_d · June 2, 2013

Lindsey, I've been fighting fungi myself on many of my tomato vines. It can be difficult to fight once it's taken hold, and even regular preventative spraying may not help keep it away. I think something that I really need to start trying (and perhaps could help you as well) is to limit the vines to 1 or 2 leaders and train English garden style . The idea is to have a vine that is very exposed to air and sunlight and not a compacted mess of leaves (like what I have) left to bush out and block out sunlight and air circulation. If I can get 2x the vines in the same space, and they produce .5x the output but remain healthy, that would be a good trade-off.

As an example of this, take a look at what Anne's doing with here vines in this post:
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=27840

I wish you all the luck with ID'ing your issue(s). If you can post some pics, you might get more specific advice. The cure sometimes differs depending on the problem.
-naysen

linzelu100 · June 3, 2013

I don't mind doing the work necessary for my plants if it will help- my concern is I keep pruning the sick leaves off and it seems like every 2 days I am doing it again and then again. Some plants are dead and just stems now! I don't know how many can be removed, a plant needs photosynthesis. I'm down to about 80 tomato plants. Sopping wet spring, poor drainage in clay soil. They were sitting in puddles for three days.

I am not an organic garden by commercial standards or anything, but I won't use toxins that are bad for my family/land. Bleach seems safe, I use it in my house. I never heard of it being used in the garden. Why is that not organic? Because it kills off good bugs, or something else I don't know about?

I don't do any pruning (except for sick leaves) because I don't understand the system and avoid doing more damage than good.

My father came over today and told me how good my garden looked (but he's not a gardener). I showed him the diseased leaves and he pointed to all the flowers/tomatoes. Then I showed him what happens to the flowers once the disease reaches it. They turn brown/black and die and a tomato never forms. Some of these tomatoes I am growing are hard to come by- I am doing a grow out for a gardening friend who's mother died and left tons of seeds. She wanted them to go on. It seems they may not get that chance. If I could get just a few tomatoes from each, I could get fresh seed and I would feel much better about the whole thing.

Next year we plan on learning from this and doing foot high raised beds; we will probably do 6 each year due to cost. 4 foot by 25 foot. My spring in general has been daunting...not just the gardening. Just thankful and happy for what we have, I would just like to learn from this so I don't repeat it.

Thanks for the help

Lindsey

z_willus_d · June 4, 2013

Lindsey, I've been right were you are many times. You have a bunch of beautiful plants and they hold your pride as well as your hopes.. Then a few leaves start to look off, but they're hardly worth noticing. Next thing you know, the weather changes, or the temperature, or the plants reach a certain maturity, and you realize a couple of your plants are seriously impacted by something. Before you know what you're dealing with the others are catching on to the same. So you decide to go out and do what they say you should - remove all those "bad" branches leaves. It takes a lot of time and effort, and hell, it's always rough cutting into one "babies;" but you do it. You feel like you're ready to see the plants move on from all the mess, even if they're minus 15% of their previous foliage. Sleep on it, feel good about it. Then in 2 days, you're brought to disgust when you see that the next 15% (or maybe 20% this time) of the foliage looks just like the stuff you just removed.

Yep, I've been there. All I can say is there is a learning experience to be had. The key is you need to identify all the maladies at work (pests, nematodes, fungi, bacteria, viruses, etc.), and then adopt some plan of attack. It's, of course, always better to deter the invasion than fight it once the bad guys are behind walls. But that parts always easier said than done. If I were you, I'd spend some time taking pictures of your plants and post them here. Provide as many details as you can on the incursion. Also, try and contact one of the local experts (maybe a university extension program or master gardener, etc.)

Still wishing you the best.
-naysen

linzelu100 · June 4, 2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by z_willus_d

Lindsey, I've been right were you are many times. You have a bunch of beautiful plants and they hold your pride as well as your hopes.. Then a few leaves start to look off, but they're hardly worth noticing. Next thing you know, the weather changes, or the temperature, or the plants reach a certain maturity, and you realize a couple of your plants are seriously impacted by something. Before you know what you're dealing with the others are catching on to the same. So you decide to go out and do what they say you should - remove all those "bad" branches leaves. It takes a lot of time and effort, and hell, it's always rough cutting into one "babies;" but you do it. You feel like you're ready to see the plants move on from all the mess, even if they're minus 15% of their previous foliage. Sleep on it, feel good about it. Then in 2 days, you're brought to disgust when you see that the next 15% (or maybe 20% this time) of the foliage looks just like the stuff you just removed.

Yep, I've been there. All I can say is there is a learning experience to be had. The key is you need to identify all the maladies at work (pests, nematodes, fungi, bacteria, viruses, etc.), and then adopt some plan of attack. It's, of course, always better to deter the invasion than fight it once the bad guys are behind walls. But that parts always easier said than done. If I were you, I'd spend some time taking pictures of your plants and post them here. Provide as many details as you can on the incursion. Also, try and contact one of the local experts (maybe a university extension program or master gardener, etc.)

Still wishing you the best.
-naysen

Yes your post has been my feelings exactly. I will post a pic from this morning of the new black spots.

I haven't noticed any pests/insects near or around my tomato plants, except for a few flea beetles here and there eating some holes. Tomatoes are positioned in full sun, surrounded by woods, sunken down in red clay soil (I know not the best for drainage I am learning the hard way). They have been sitting in puddles of water which is when I noticed the first set of brown spots which turned out to be early blight. I sprayed with Eco Smart anti-fungal organic spray and noticed 5 days later these black spots. I have not been able to respray because it has been in the 90's now and the bottle states to not spray in high heat or it could kill the plant, but I have been removing bad leaves. All the new growth is vigorous and healthy, a handful of plants appear stunted, but some are growing upward just fine. I can't think of anything else you might need to know.

Lindsey

b54red · June 4, 2013

Lindsey, I think you might need to use the bleach spray to get things under control and then you can follow up with a copper spray as a preventative. One good thing about the bleach spray is it will kill most molds and bacteria on contact and then be gone within a short time because of the speed with which it oxidizes. If your plants still have healthy growth that is not infected then they will benefit from getting rid of the bulk of the spores causing you so many problems. If your problems are not some type of systemic disease then the solution will begin drying up all the sick leaves within two days after applying it. The bleach spray however is not a preventative so new diseases can start soon after it is used. That is why I recommend using a fungicide the next day as a preventive measure.

Add 5 ounces of the new concentrated regular Clorox bleach to a full gallon of water and add a couple of drops of dish washing liquid. Spray near sundown or before sunrise in the morning with a fine mist on all parts of the plant. Immediately wash out your sprayer because bleach is very corrosive. Do not put any other chemicals in the mixture! The biggest danger while spraying is spilling the bleach solution on your clothes and getting some faded spots so don't wear nice clothes when spraying.

If you are not sure about this just use it on a few plants and check the results. In a few days the sick parts of the plant should be withered up and the healthy growth unaffected. Don't be surprised if the spray shows you that the diseases have spread further than you thought. Usually there is a lot more disease than you can actually see. If you have any questions just PM me and I'll try to answer them.

Bill

z_willus_d · June 4, 2013

Lindesy, thanks for posting your pic. It looks similar to me to the photos I've seen on the web of Bacterial Speck/Spot and Septoria. You can type those conditions in and read about them at UCD or one of the other university sites. Click the "images" tab to see pictures. I've never dealt with those diseases here in dry/hot California (at least I don't think I have), so I'm not really qualified, even anecdotal, to help you narrow down on it. I'm sure others here can help though.

Other questions they might ask:
- Do you have any fruit set, and if so does it show any signs of blackening or infection?
- Do your tomato stems show any blemishes, dark spots, infection?
- Are you seeing other patterns of infection on the leaves besides the spots? You could have multiple issues.
- Do you have thrips (small bugs that can live in your blossoms). They vector viruses. You can tap/vibrate your flower over a white piece of paper to see if any bugs come out. Then view them under 10x magnification. They can fly as adults.

Good luck.
-naysen

linzelu100 · June 4, 2013

- Do you have any fruit set, and if so does it show any signs of blackening or infection? Yes on some plants and no to the healthier plants that just recently caught "THE DISEASE!".

- Do your tomato stems show any blemishes, dark spots, infection? No preoblems on stems.

THe others I have to research...not sure.

linzelu100 · June 12, 2013

Well a new update. I haven't been able to spray bleach or antifungal in weeks because it has been blazing hot OR pouring rain, non-stop. Half of my tomato plants a full and growing in lush, but now have black spotting on the stem. I don't know how bad that is..probably bad

The other half are crippled and stunted. I will probably rip them up. Next year I am spraying as a preventive measure either bleach or anti-fungal spray. It was never necessary before, but living in the low grounds, now it is. I can't wait to start over next year with high raised beds...and I am definetly spacing more than 2 1/2 feet. Some of my plants were bought, and interplanted and have now gotten infected as well from plant leaves touching.

Any idea about the stem becoming black now?

Linze

Kazfam · June 24, 2013

I feel your pain lindsey...my peppers are battling bacterial leaf spot because of the deluge of rain here in Upstate South Carolina. May not get much from the sweet bells and bananas this year.

I agree with prevention...spraying BEFORE any disease rears its ugly head.

Live and learn...deep breath and put it all in perspective. Gardening should be a stress reliever not a stress creator, yes?

Do you ever wonder how the South was such a strong agricultural area in the early years of this country's existence? So much to contend with regarding weather and the like.

ScottinAtlanta · June 24, 2013

Linday, Sounds like you are fighting the good fight. I saw a real difference here in Georgia with a heavy mulch of wheat straw - about 2-3 inches - around every tomato. It seems to protect the plants from the soil splashes. Of course I get the yellowing, but ruthless removal of a frond that shows any yellowing, careful cleaning of equipment and hands in bleach, and weekly spraying of Actinovate/Exel alternating with Daconil, and of course the mulch, seems to slow down the march of yellow.

linzelu100 · June 24, 2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kazfam

Do you ever wonder how the South was such a strong agricultural area in the early years of this country's existence? So much to contend with regarding weather and the like.

I do! I wonder how in the world did one family live on their land providing their own wood, food, education, clothing...and so on and so on. I am trying so hard at this semi-homesteading act and boy am I missing a lot. I wish my parents and my parents parents were growers and could help. Right now they are learning as much as they can from me b/c gardening is so fun and they caught the bug late in life. I count my blessings and move on

linzelu100 · June 24, 2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottinAtlanta

Linday, Sounds like you are fighting the good fight. I saw a real difference here in Georgia with a heavy mulch of wheat straw - about 2-3 inches - around every tomato. It seems to protect the plants from the soil splashes. Of course I get the yellowing, but ruthless removal of a frond that shows any yellowing, careful cleaning of equipment and hands in bleach, and weekly spraying of Actinovate/Exel alternating with Daconil, and of course the mulch, seems to slow down the march of yellow.

I have since mulched with straw and yes, it has slowed everything down. A lot of the plants are recovering and yes we have been eating a few sungolds here and there. Some big tomatoes are forming. Next year I am learning from this and doing preventive spray- planting later (what's the point rushing when they die anyway?) and mulching right away. Oh yeah...raised beds for better drainage.

Thanks everyone,
Lindsey

madddawg · July 2, 2013

I read thru most of the threads here, and got some ideas of how to cure what I think is blight. I went to nursery and they recommended some stuff called Hi Yield. Its active ingredient is manganese ethylenebisdithiocarbamate. Organic, I don't think so. Safe. That's a decision that you will have to decide.

linzelu100 · July 2, 2013

Oh I am long gone on trying to save these plants- I tried the sprays, bleach, pruning. They ALL have it now, and I am pretty sure a lot of other illness too. Next year, I will be prepared! I should get a few tomatoes from most of my plants. Once that happens I am ripping them out and planting a mess of kale. It's no tomato dinner, but at least I can grow it

June 24, 2013	#25
Kazfam Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Upstate South Carolina Posts: 113	I feel your pain lindsey...my peppers are battling bacterial leaf spot because of the deluge of rain here in Upstate South Carolina. May not get much from the sweet bells and bananas this year. I agree with prevention...spraying BEFORE any disease rears its ugly head. Live and learn...deep breath and put it all in perspective. Gardening should be a stress reliever not a stress creator, yes? Do you ever wonder how the South was such a strong agricultural area in the early years of this country's existence? So much to contend with regarding weather and the like. __________________ God Almighty first planted a garden, and indeed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment of the spirit of man, without which buildings and palaces are but gross handiwork. Francis Bacon

July 2, 2013	#29
madddawg Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Missouri Posts: 407	I read thru most of the threads here, and got some ideas of how to cure what I think is blight. I went to nursery and they recommended some stuff called Hi Yield. Its active ingredient is manganese ethylenebisdithiocarbamate. Organic, I don't think so. Safe. That's a decision that you will have to decide. __________________ I grow a garden not just for the food I harvest, but for the creation of life itself. Johnny Cash Last edited by madddawg; July 2, 2013 at 06:42 PM.

June 2, 2013	#16
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	If you are not wedded to being totally organic then you could try the dilute bleach spray I have been using for years. If it is a non systemic foliage disease then the spray will usually kill it or stop its spread long enough for the plant to recover. It will however kill all or most of the infected leaves within a few days. I highly recommend you use some kind of fungicide. Copper fungicides are considered organic I believe and should at least slow the spread of the disease. Although you don't live as far down in disease land as I do you are in the South and foliage diseases are the bane of tomato growing down here. Without fungicides used regularly it is hard to keep your plants healthy for long once the humidity and temperatures get high down here. Bill

June 2, 2013	#17
z_willus_d Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Eastern Suburb of Sacramento, CA Posts: 1,313	Lindsey, I've been fighting fungi myself on many of my tomato vines. It can be difficult to fight once it's taken hold, and even regular preventative spraying may not help keep it away. I think something that I really need to start trying (and perhaps could help you as well) is to limit the vines to 1 or 2 leaders and train English garden style . The idea is to have a vine that is very exposed to air and sunlight and not a compacted mess of leaves (like what I have) left to bush out and block out sunlight and air circulation. If I can get 2x the vines in the same space, and they produce .5x the output but remain healthy, that would be a good trade-off. As an example of this, take a look at what Anne's doing with here vines in this post: http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=27840 I wish you all the luck with ID'ing your issue(s). If you can post some pics, you might get more specific advice. The cure sometimes differs depending on the problem. -naysen

June 3, 2013	#18
linzelu100 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Virginia Posts: 447	I don't mind doing the work necessary for my plants if it will help- my concern is I keep pruning the sick leaves off and it seems like every 2 days I am doing it again and then again. Some plants are dead and just stems now! I don't know how many can be removed, a plant needs photosynthesis. I'm down to about 80 tomato plants. Sopping wet spring, poor drainage in clay soil. They were sitting in puddles for three days. I am not an organic garden by commercial standards or anything, but I won't use toxins that are bad for my family/land. Bleach seems safe, I use it in my house. I never heard of it being used in the garden. Why is that not organic? Because it kills off good bugs, or something else I don't know about? I don't do any pruning (except for sick leaves) because I don't understand the system and avoid doing more damage than good. My father came over today and told me how good my garden looked (but he's not a gardener). I showed him the diseased leaves and he pointed to all the flowers/tomatoes. Then I showed him what happens to the flowers once the disease reaches it. They turn brown/black and die and a tomato never forms. Some of these tomatoes I am growing are hard to come by- I am doing a grow out for a gardening friend who's mother died and left tons of seeds. She wanted them to go on. It seems they may not get that chance. If I could get just a few tomatoes from each, I could get fresh seed and I would feel much better about the whole thing. Next year we plan on learning from this and doing foot high raised beds; we will probably do 6 each year due to cost. 4 foot by 25 foot. My spring in general has been daunting...not just the gardening. Just thankful and happy for what we have, I would just like to learn from this so I don't repeat it. Thanks for the help Lindsey

June 4, 2013	#19
z_willus_d Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Eastern Suburb of Sacramento, CA Posts: 1,313	Lindsey, I've been right were you are many times. You have a bunch of beautiful plants and they hold your pride as well as your hopes.. Then a few leaves start to look off, but they're hardly worth noticing. Next thing you know, the weather changes, or the temperature, or the plants reach a certain maturity, and you realize a couple of your plants are seriously impacted by something. Before you know what you're dealing with the others are catching on to the same. So you decide to go out and do what they say you should - remove all those "bad" branches leaves. It takes a lot of time and effort, and hell, it's always rough cutting into one "babies;" but you do it. You feel like you're ready to see the plants move on from all the mess, even if they're minus 15% of their previous foliage. Sleep on it, feel good about it. Then in 2 days, you're brought to disgust when you see that the next 15% (or maybe 20% this time) of the foliage looks just like the stuff you just removed. Yep, I've been there. All I can say is there is a learning experience to be had. The key is you need to identify all the maladies at work (pests, nematodes, fungi, bacteria, viruses, etc.), and then adopt some plan of attack. It's, of course, always better to deter the invasion than fight it once the bad guys are behind walls. But that parts always easier said than done. If I were you, I'd spend some time taking pictures of your plants and post them here. Provide as many details as you can on the incursion. Also, try and contact one of the local experts (maybe a university extension program or master gardener, etc.) Still wishing you the best. -naysen

June 12, 2013	#24
linzelu100 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Virginia Posts: 447	Well a new update. I haven't been able to spray bleach or antifungal in weeks because it has been blazing hot OR pouring rain, non-stop. Half of my tomato plants a full and growing in lush, but now have black spotting on the stem. I don't know how bad that is..probably bad The other half are crippled and stunted. I will probably rip them up. Next year I am spraying as a preventive measure either bleach or anti-fungal spray. It was never necessary before, but living in the low grounds, now it is. I can't wait to start over next year with high raised beds...and I am definetly spacing more than 2 1/2 feet. Some of my plants were bought, and interplanted and have now gotten infected as well from plant leaves touching. Any idea about the stem becoming black now? Linze

June 24, 2013	#26
ScottinAtlanta Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Atlanta, Georgia Posts: 2,593	Linday, Sounds like you are fighting the good fight. I saw a real difference here in Georgia with a heavy mulch of wheat straw - about 2-3 inches - around every tomato. It seems to protect the plants from the soil splashes. Of course I get the yellowing, but ruthless removal of a frond that shows any yellowing, careful cleaning of equipment and hands in bleach, and weekly spraying of Actinovate/Exel alternating with Daconil, and of course the mulch, seems to slow down the march of yellow.