Powdery Mildew? Mold? Something Else?

JamesL · August 9, 2012

I have been on cruise control all summer. Everything green. Cautiously optimistic that I was going to slide through August in the same manner.
Alas no....
Went out of town for a few days and came back to what appeared to have been a bad case of Mildew or Mold along with some heat stress.
Also have a touch of EB/Septoria on one plant. My neighbor has had it from the beginning of the summer but I have managed to remained clean.
Temps topping 90 as was the humidity. Sprayed Sunday morning with Actinovate and Exel. By the end of the day it had gotten worse. Powdery spots would rub right off. The full bottom 3 ft of a Goose creek had gone yellow.
I aggressively pruned off almost all of the yellow, etal.
Broke out the Greencure (unused until now) and sprayed Sunday night and Monday night.
Sprayed Actinovate and Exel again tonight.
It would appear that the Greencure did the trick and I believe any additional yellowing is just hangover from the mold/mildew being killed?
Any whitish spots showing today were dry before spraying tonight, no residue coming off.

Am I on the mark with this diagnosis? Thoughts anyone?

Pics -
1 and 2 are 7.4 vs 8.6 comparison
3,4 & 5 - Brandywine Suddath's
6 - Rowdy Red
7 & 8 - Additional yellowing/browning today
9 & 10 - Goose Creek comparison 8.6 vs. 8.8

rnewste · August 9, 2012

James,

Get some Serenade to take care of the mildew / mold.

Raybo

JamesL · August 9, 2012

Raybo,
I have been using Serenade in alternating weeks with Actinovate. Just so happened this was an Actinovate week. If it looks like the Greencure didn't knock it out I was considering Serenading them tomorrow night.

chancethegardener · August 9, 2012

For me, Greencure worked perfectly in cases for which the whole plant wasn't covered with mildew. In other words, if the problem was severe, then it didn't help. However, in your case I believe that Greencure will work it out.

JamesL · August 9, 2012

Chance,
I only have the product on hand based on our conversation earlier this year. It appears to have provided a solid 1st punch, if not a knockout after 2 sprays. Presuming nothing else pops up to complicate matters.

lakelady · August 9, 2012

James, I'm no expert, but the latter few pics look like early blight to me and I "think" it can strike any time of season. I have some plants that seem to be more prone to it than others. In fact, I have 2 Sicilian Rosso Togettas and both of them have been battling that all season but continue to produce. One plant however, in a different garden, now has major yellowing going on with a few branches.

My tomatoes are all ripening like crazy so now I've taken to pulling out the ones I don't really like and planning to use those greenies for something other than fresh eating (maybe pickles). It's so much work to take care of plants you don't care for.

I don't have Greencure so I'm not familiar with it, but generally, if I can rub it off, I usually think powdery mildew. Hope you can get it resolved.

JamesL · August 9, 2012

Antoinette,
Thanks. Not entirely convinced there isn't something other than powdery mildew or mold going on.
Cie la vie.
I did end up spraying with Serenade tonight as well.
Supposed to rain the next few days, so why not?
Greencure - nothing more than potassium bicarbonate with a surfactant or 2 added.
PB is supposed to be very effective against mildew and mold.
I think it was. Baking soda (sodium bicarb) is supposed to be effective as well, but at about 80% compared to potassium.

tjg911 · August 9, 2012

i was not aware that tomatoes get powdery mildew (i have never seen it on them), i thought that it effected curcurbits (i see it on them often). i suggest fish milk, search here i have posted about it many times.

tom

JamesL · August 9, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by tjg911

i was not aware that tomatoes get powdery mildew (i have never seen it on them), i thought that it effected curcurbits (i see it on them often). i suggest fish milk, search here i have posted about it many times.

tom

Tom,
Definitely a 'dew or mold of some type. I couldnt positively ID it as one type or another.
Read some of your posts. Interesting. So milk is protective, soap is the surfactant, what is the fish doing? Just a foliar feed?
So the word is this will kill the mildew and mold and provide protective properties?
Are you spraying this all summer?

tjg911 · August 9, 2012

yes the fish is just a fertilizer so you fertilize and add the milk in 1 spray. the milk has anti fungal properties. i have not used it this year because i have not had any reason to but i have been told the calcium is good for tomatoes too to help with BER. i have used it for powdery mildew and it worked. i used it in 2009 or was it 2010 when late blight decimated the east coast and my tomato plants lived, some for weeks and some for almost 2 months. you have nothing to lose, give it a try.

tom

JamesL · August 9, 2012

Thanks. I think I will. Sunday or Monday after the rain...

**carolyn137** · August 10, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by tjg911

i was not aware that tomatoes get powdery mildew (i have never seen it on them), i thought that it effected curcurbits (i see it on them often). i suggest fish milk, search here i have posted about it many times.

tom

Tom, there are two kinds of powdery mildew that can affect tomatoes and neither one is the same that affects cucurbits.

The two are:

Leveilulla tauerica , which is usually more common on the West Coast as a result of what's called the June Glooms along the coast due to fog and the more common one which is Oidium lycopersicum.

For those who are comfortable with it, as I am, Daconil is an excellent anti-fungal which works for both primarily as a preventive. There are no anti-fungals that I know of that can cure tomato fungal foliage infections or even plants that have mild to heavy infections.

JamesL · August 10, 2012

There is some something to milk's properties as a fungicide.

Turned up the following 2 articles from 2011 and the original Brazilian research from 2009:

University of Adelaide researchers have shown a 10 per cent solution of waste from a Murray Goulburn Co-operative milk-processing plant was effective in controlling powdery mildew on South Australian vines.
http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/art...y_article.html

For the past 2 years, Crisp has been spraying ordinary milk�diluted with water to a 10-percent solution�on grape vines at two commercial vineyards. He finds that in most cases, milk performs as well as the leading nonorganic powdery-mildew fighters�sulfur and a synthetic chemical known as Topas. He also has achieved about the same success with diluted sprays of liquid whey, a waste byproduct of cheese production.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/gene...to_Mildew_Woes

Milk's fungicidal powers were discovered by Wagner Bettiol of the environmental laboratory of Embrapa, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, in Jaguariuna, north of São Paulo. Bettiol, who was looking for cheap ways to control plant pests, observed that byproducts from milk-processing factories killed powdery mildew on courgettes. So he decided to simply spray fresh milk on the plants to see if it had the same effect. To his surprise, he found that it did. In fact, spraying heavily infected plants twice a week with a mixture of one part cow's milk to nine parts water was at least as good at stopping mildew as the chemical fungicides fenarimol and benomyl, Bettiol discovered.
http://scienceblog.com/community/old...199902523.html

EDIT - I also found a fair amount of commentary about it on several of the Big M boards, 1% milk seems to be the product of choice in that case as without all of the milkfat, less of a post spraying odor. Which would be important in a grow room.....

b54red · August 10, 2012

Carolyn, I had it once 4 years ago on some tomatoes during a really rainy humid month in late summer. I sprayed with the bleach solution and it got rid of it but it did kill the affected leaves. I then used a fungicide to prevent reinfection. I don't know if that is a cure or not but it did get rid of it. I use the same treatment on cucurbits when they get a powdery mildew. The trouble with the Daconil is that it is ineffective during those times when you are getting rain every day like I have been getting for the last 8 or 9 days. I went out and sprayed all my tomatoes and peppers with the diluted bleach solution yesterday afternoon and it has rained 4 times since then totaling about 2 inches. This is the only treatment I have found that is any help during these rare rainy times. I tried putting Daconil on a few days ago but it was washed off within hours and so I will have to wait til the rain forecasts let up a bit. This is the first time we have had this kind of rain in the summer in many years and since we have been in a severe drought for years it is a welcome occurrence down here. Of course the disease problems multiply and damping off in the greenhouse is terrible but at least I shouldn't lose any more trees to the drought for a while.

**carolyn137** · August 10, 2012

James, the problem that I see is that there are many different genera and species that can cause Powdery Mildew and most are specific to a particular crop.

For instance, in the links you provided milk had some effect on grapevines and courgettes ( summer squash), but the powdery mildew on grapes and summer squash are not the same as those that affect tomatoes.

And not all anti-fungals are effective against the different genera and species of Powdery Mildew.

It's a rough world out there, I tell you.

Hope that helps.

August 9, 2012	#2
rnewste Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Campbell, CA Posts: 4,064	James, Get some Serenade to take care of the mildew / mold. Raybo Last edited by rnewste; August 9, 2012 at 01:11 AM.

August 9, 2012	#6
lakelady Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: northern NJ zone 6b Posts: 1,862	James, I'm no expert, but the latter few pics look like early blight to me and I "think" it can strike any time of season. I have some plants that seem to be more prone to it than others. In fact, I have 2 Sicilian Rosso Togettas and both of them have been battling that all season but continue to produce. One plant however, in a different garden, now has major yellowing going on with a few branches. My tomatoes are all ripening like crazy so now I've taken to pulling out the ones I don't really like and planning to use those greenies for something other than fresh eating (maybe pickles). It's so much work to take care of plants you don't care for. I don't have Greencure so I'm not familiar with it, but generally, if I can rub it off, I usually think powdery mildew. Hope you can get it resolved. __________________ Antoniette

August 9, 2012	#8
tjg911 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: zone 5b northwest connecticut Posts: 2,570	i was not aware that tomatoes get powdery mildew (i have never seen it on them), i thought that it effected curcurbits (i see it on them often). i suggest fish milk, search here i have posted about it many times. tom __________________ I need a hero I’m holding out for a hero ‘til the end of the night He’s gotta be strong And he’s gotta be fast And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight I need a hero I’m holding out for a hero ‘til the morning light He’s gotta be sure And it’s gotta be soon And he’s gotta be larger than life

August 9, 2012	#10
tjg911 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: zone 5b northwest connecticut Posts: 2,570	yes the fish is just a fertilizer so you fertilize and add the milk in 1 spray. the milk has anti fungal properties. i have not used it this year because i have not had any reason to but i have been told the calcium is good for tomatoes too to help with BER. i have used it for powdery mildew and it worked. i used it in 2009 or was it 2010 when late blight decimated the east coast and my tomato plants lived, some for weeks and some for almost 2 months. you have nothing to lose, give it a try. tom __________________ I need a hero I’m holding out for a hero ‘til the end of the night He’s gotta be strong And he’s gotta be fast And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight I need a hero I’m holding out for a hero ‘til the morning light He’s gotta be sure And it’s gotta be soon And he’s gotta be larger than life

August 10, 2012	#13
JamesL Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 1,992	There is some something to milk's properties as a fungicide. Turned up the following 2 articles from 2011 and the original Brazilian research from 2009: University of Adelaide researchers have shown a 10 per cent solution of waste from a Murray Goulburn Co-operative milk-processing plant was effective in controlling powdery mildew on South Australian vines. http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/art...y_article.html For the past 2 years, Crisp has been spraying ordinary milk�diluted with water to a 10-percent solution�on grape vines at two commercial vineyards. He finds that in most cases, milk performs as well as the leading nonorganic powdery-mildew fighters�sulfur and a synthetic chemical known as Topas. He also has achieved about the same success with diluted sprays of liquid whey, a waste byproduct of cheese production. http://www.sciencenews.org/view/gene...to_Mildew_Woes Milk's fungicidal powers were discovered by Wagner Bettiol of the environmental laboratory of Embrapa, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, in Jaguariuna, north of São Paulo. Bettiol, who was looking for cheap ways to control plant pests, observed that byproducts from milk-processing factories killed powdery mildew on courgettes. So he decided to simply spray fresh milk on the plants to see if it had the same effect. To his surprise, he found that it did. In fact, spraying heavily infected plants twice a week with a mixture of one part cow's milk to nine parts water was at least as good at stopping mildew as the chemical fungicides fenarimol and benomyl, Bettiol discovered. http://scienceblog.com/community/old...199902523.html EDIT - I also found a fair amount of commentary about it on several of the Big M boards, 1% milk seems to be the product of choice in that case as without all of the milkfat, less of a post spraying odor. Which would be important in a grow room..... Last edited by JamesL; August 10, 2012 at 02:44 PM. Reason: More info

August 9, 2012	#4
chancethegardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: WV Posts: 604	For me, Greencure worked perfectly in cases for which the whole plant wasn't covered with mildew. In other words, if the problem was severe, then it didn't help. However, in your case I believe that Greencure will work it out.

August 10, 2012	#14
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	Carolyn, I had it once 4 years ago on some tomatoes during a really rainy humid month in late summer. I sprayed with the bleach solution and it got rid of it but it did kill the affected leaves. I then used a fungicide to prevent reinfection. I don't know if that is a cure or not but it did get rid of it. I use the same treatment on cucurbits when they get a powdery mildew. The trouble with the Daconil is that it is ineffective during those times when you are getting rain every day like I have been getting for the last 8 or 9 days. I went out and sprayed all my tomatoes and peppers with the diluted bleach solution yesterday afternoon and it has rained 4 times since then totaling about 2 inches. This is the only treatment I have found that is any help during these rare rainy times. I tried putting Daconil on a few days ago but it was washed off within hours and so I will have to wait til the rain forecasts let up a bit. This is the first time we have had this kind of rain in the summer in many years and since we have been in a severe drought for years it is a welcome occurrence down here. Of course the disease problems multiply and damping off in the greenhouse is terrible but at least I shouldn't lose any more trees to the drought for a while.

August 10, 2012	#15
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	James, the problem that I see is that there are many different genera and species that can cause Powdery Mildew and most are specific to a particular crop. For instance, in the links you provided milk had some effect on grapevines and courgettes ( summer squash), but the powdery mildew on grapes and summer squash are not the same as those that affect tomatoes. And not all anti-fungals are effective against the different genera and species of Powdery Mildew. It's a rough world out there, I tell you. Hope that helps. __________________ Carolyn