HelpfulGardener.com

I posted this in the organic pest and disease control section as well...I'll clean it up after the conversation gets started.


Ok, for the past 8 days I have been watching one of my early girl's develop yellowing bottom leaves. With our crazy weather (torrential rains in June, 100 plus heat index, overnight lows in the mid 80's, humidity over 80%), I was watching to see if I had a watering problem as this is in a raised bed with poor draining clay soil a foot deep under the "Mel's mix" (will fix this next year!). This is also our first garden so book knowledge is all I have at this pint, LOL!

Well, it (the yellow) has crawled halfway up the 4 foot plant and I have spent the past few hours identifying it as Septoria Leaf Spot. I see it may have spread to other plants in the vicinity as well.

I searched the forum for the disease and the first 4 pages did not lead me to a solution, so I started this thread for an easy search in the future.

I am looking at Garden's Alive product "Soap Shield" because I have the catalog and have not yet been to a nursery. It is apparently a "liquid copper fungicide"

My questions are:

1) Will this treat the plant and allow it to be salvageable? It has nice fruit and the top half is still green.

2) Can I compost the dead infected leaves?

3) Should I treat all plants in these beds?

4) Will it remain a problem in the future since it is in the raised beds soil? if so....

5) Is there a solution for the soil as I really don't want to replace the whole beds (peat, compost, vermiculite mix..$$$).

6) Is there another solution of ingredients I may have around the house or recommendations for any particular brand?

7) Most importantly, correct me if this is NOT septoria leaf spot.

Thanks in advance.

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This is a nasty problem Halfway.
The infection is often attributed to infected seed. So make sure that your seed is from a reliable source for future plantings. Don't use your own seed from infected plants.
Control is a lot to do with good hygine.
remove as much of the infected leaf as is possable and destroy. remove all leaf litter from around the infected plants.
Sprays are quite effective with Maneb and Mancozeb good controllers.
Captan is not effective and I don't know if Zineb is available over there in the States.
Spraying should occur at 10 day intervals from the first sign of the problem. Usually around the beginning of July.
Hope that helps.
Jona.

I'm not very good at ID'ing tomato diseases, but I'm not entirely sure if the yellowing and septoria are related. I get spots on the tomato leaves that are greener than that. and the browned edges are different from what I see either.

Agree with JONA that damaged leaves need to be removed. DO NOT compost any diseased leaves. They go in the trash.

With simple spotting, I don't always remove unless the leaf starts too unwell. I spray with Milk Solution if the weather has been humid.

I see your bed is mulched but I feel wood chips are not the best choice as they promote fungal growth. I have been using hay -- really, not straw-- this year and have seen less diseases, though it could also have been the month long drought. One of my toms have spots (no crispy edges) that have been slowly creeping up the plant, and I've only been removing the lower leaves as they got worse, but top growth has been phenomenal and loss of leaves have not affected the flowering or fruit setting as far as I can see. It DOES have a hornworm on it, so I have to monitor carefully.

Muggy season is here and I'll have to step up on the sprays. If I can get my act together, I'll be alternating Milk Sprays with Foliar strength AACT sprays (yes that was my feeble attempt at a pun ).

I am switching out the wood compost for grass clippings next year...lesson learned!!

The seeds came from Pinetree, so I hope that is not the case.

I am clipping the dead leaves, but yesterday there were so many more I had to get a photo.

Great info on trash versus compost.

With the 70 mph winds last night, I may have more than leaf spot problems, ugggh!!

I have Septoria rampant in my garden and to tell you the truth I have been less than diligent doing anything about it. I did spray with milk yesterday but it has been a while since I have done anything. Most of my plants are outproducing the disease so it's not so terrible.

That's good to hear gixxx (plant outpacing the disease). I think I may lose this early girl though. It is really moving up the vine quickly.

I thought at first it was just the heavy rains and then broiling sun, but is not getting better.

This is the first garden and we have had 3 types of worms, snails/slugs, and now this!! And all this while giving the garden much attention and prep!!

Good to speed up the experience learning curve!!!

I've been getting it this year as well. I've found that the best and easiest thing to do is cull the infected leaves and trash them, DO NOT compost them.

The reason for this is the septoria disease can live for up to 3 yrs., so if put that compost back into your garden, you could end up spreading the disease again. Also, it is transferable by touch, so I'd recommend taking a torch to your stakes at the end of the season if you plan on using them again next year.

Oh, and be sure to rotate you crops, as well.

I do know that it is spread by dirt, which is infected with the spores, splashing up onto leaves. This is why many say that a mulch will help prevent it as it helps to prevent this soil splashing. The "infected seed" cause is new to me, but it may be that, too.

Good luck and hope you get lots of tomatoes.

Halfway don't let me guide you to a idea that doing nothing will be good for you. We are in different climates and different situations. What works for me may not work for you.

I did cut off some of the bad stuff early on but not so much lately. I was actually thinking about going out and trimming off some bad stuff today but it's raining now. I have been lucky so far, the disease has spread to most of my plants. If I was to cut off every leaf of every plant that had spots I might not have any plants left. Though they are still doing fine, I wanted to do some cleanup now to help them make it through the rest of the season with out too many problems.


Good luck

Thanks G5, good info.

And gixxx, no worries, I understand what you meant.

Has anyone used the copper folaint and did it in fact save the plant??

Halfway wrote:Thanks G5, good info.

And gixxx, no worries, I understand what you meant.

Has anyone used the copper folaint and did it in fact save the plant??

Copper will work but it is a metal and can accumulate in your soil. So be careful there. If used in small doses you should be alright but if used all the time that could lead to problems down the road. Milk is still a good option as well as NEEM which is safe to humans but can be detrimental to the insects we so need. So most things have their good and bad points. Weighing out what is best for you in your specific situation is a hard one.

I've been using 5% Copper Sulfate in milk to great success against leaf spot and mildew, and without any problems of soil toxicity. Then again, when my soil gets depleted, the volcano and its rich ash are just 20 minutes away....

Bought a bottle of copper fungicide and will give it a go. I'll keep ya posted on the results. I see it has spread to 2 more plants, ughhhhh!