lovely_star
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HELP 1st time gardener afraid of losing everything! Blight?

Hello all,

Please take a look at my photos of my tomato, pepper and basil plants from my raised bed garden. I don't know if its blight or something worse. I'm afraid and sad because I don't want to loose everything I've been working so hard for. What is it? Can it be treated? How is it prevented?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/79066169@N04/

Dillbert
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from the pix, looks mostly like bug damage.

the peppers look a little to the yellowing side - some dehydrated cow manure / blood meal could help them with a nitrogen boost.

are those fresh wood chips as mulch?
fresh wood chippings are not ideal - and even aged wood chips do tend to draw slugs / bugs more so that other options.

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rainbowgardener
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No, not looking like blight to me. You are referring to the dark spots on several of the leaves? Not sure what that is, could be damage from some kind of sucking insect. Inspect your plants thoroughly including under sides of leaves see if you see anything. If not, come back at night with a flashlight and look again.

Mostly they look pretty ok. You can worry too much about every little mark. The peppers don't look blighted, but they look a little puny, not really thriving. How old are they? Are they getting enough nutrients, sun, water .. ?

lovely_star
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Thanks for responding Dilbert and Rainbow. Do you know what kind of bugs can be causing this and what I can do to treat and prevent this issue? Are the plants salvageable? Would the use of an insecticidal soap, hot pepper wax, neem oil, horticultural or garlic spray work/help? The wood chips are cedar. Silly me thought the cedar would be a good insect repellent. The peppers were started inside from seed over two months ago. I water every day and they are in a spot that gets sun throughout the day when its sunny. Right now its raining and expected to continue to do so here on the east coast for the next few days.
Last edited by lovely_star on Mon May 21, 2012 5:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

cynthia_h
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The holes in the basil leaves look like slug damage. We've had a couple of discussions here about slug/snail damage to basil plants, so a Search of the Forum using key words "slugs basil" will find them for you. One of them has photos, too, so you can see the similarity for yourself.

Don't use any insect sprays, soap or otherwise, until you *know* that insects are causing the damage. If it's slugs/snails, for instance, the soap will just be a waste of your time and effort; it has no effect at all on gastropods/molluscs, which is what slugs/snails are. And the commercial molluscicides (yep, that's a word) are nasty. :(

No blight that I can see.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

lovely_star
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Should I throw pennies in the garden or lay down some type of copper to deter the slugs/snails? The only thing I saw underneath one of the plants was a funny looking tiny green bug almost blended in with the leaves. Also little tiny black bug. What do I do with the damaged plants toss them??? Cut the damaged leaves?

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rainbowgardener
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Don't be so quick to toss healthy plants. Seems like you are expecting perfection. They mostly look quite healthy, even though they have a hole or mark here and there. Pepper plants not entirely thriving, but you can work on that. Nothing in nature is ever perfect!

Leave them be, keep working on taking good care of them and dealing with problems as they come along.

mattie g
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I echo pretty much all the other comments. As for the basil, the darkening portions have me wondering. Have a look on the underside of the leaves. If there's a gray fuzziness there, then you likely have downy mildew. I had it last year, but it didn't hit until much later in the summer, though it did wipe out two huge, healthy plants in just a couple weeks.

I'm not saying that's what it is for sure, but just something to look out for. Otherwise, the holes just look like slug damage.



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