HelpfulGardener.com

Hello,

I have tomato plants on my balcony and I have been having issues with blights.

I am planning to apply copper spray and neem oil to prevent these blights.

Would like to know that are copper (Bonide 811 Copper 4E Fungicide) organic?

Appreciate any insight.

Thanks

If a product is certified organic it will have OMRI somewhere on the label.
Copper fungicide is considered organic but is not non-toxic.
https://extension.umd.edu/learn/two-org ... -gardeners

If you are having issues with blight
Sanitize the area, spores will persist long after the plants are gone
Sanitize your pots with bleach
Do not reuse the soil
Make sure you have good air circulation and you only have to use preventive sprays while humid and favorable conditions persis;t not all of the time. You can use a fan or if this is in a room a dehumidifyer if the air is too humid. Just make sure there is enough humidity to keep the plants from drying out.
Water at the base, use a SIP pot so there is less splashing. Mulch the pot as well
Trellis up the tomato and prune out branches and lower leaves you don't need. Trash diseased leaves and wash your hands before you touch anything else.
Select varieties with resistance to early and late blight.

Welcome to the forum!

Two even safer fungicides that I use frequently are Actinovate - a bacteria that helps prevent many types of fungal diseases - and baking soda. That's right, baking soda! Actually, what I use is KHCO3 - the potassium version of sodium bicarbonate, which is better, since it is adding potassium - a fertilizer - though this is a minimal amount. And another thing that helps, in combination with this, is oil - 4 tb oil+ 1 tb soda/gal of water. The one drawback to this, however, is that, as with all oil sprays, it should not be used at temps over 90°. Many years ago - 80s or early 90s - OG magazine did an article comparing this and copper spray on several common diseases, and this did as well or better on almost all of them! However, none of these work on viral diseases, unfortunately.

Neem oil is something else I've seen touted as a fungicide, though on its own it hasn't done much for me.

Neem or any oil is a preventive and works best when it is raining to get the water droplets to slide off. As a cure neem does not work very well.

I do use baking soda as a dessicant for mites and it should work to keep the leaves dry for fungal disease. Baking soda and sulfur work in similar fashion changing the pH of the leaf so it is less hospitable to the growth of fungi. Sometimes even with the best of care all you can do is get your plants to be as healthy as you can. Environmental conditions like wet, hot, humid weather is hard to remedy with topical products.

Actinovate and Serenade contain beneficial bacteria which consume the fungi.

I never heard of the soda and sulfur combo - I'll have to check that out. Sulfur is another fungicide I forgot about, since I haven't used it for quite a while.

BTW, there are brands of KHCO3 sold as fungicides, but you can buy it much cheaper from Amazon or ebay by the pound (or larger). It is used in brewing, and the chemical from those sources is food safe.

Thanks to all for the valuable suggestions and insights.

Regards

imafan26 wrote:If a product is certified organic it will have OMRI somewhere on the label.

Well, here is the link to the product
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BS ... dp_summary

When I see the product label while zooming, I did not find OMRI anywhere.

Does that actually an organic product?

Regards

Here's another possible remedy for tomato disease: Aspirin. I had forgotten about it, since I haven't used it for a while.
https://www.therustedgarden.com/blogs/v ... beefsteaks

Alright, thanks again for the insight.

Topical fungicides are best for prevention and don't work well for cure. The best you can do is start a preventive spray program when the weather is wet and humid and to keep sanitizing the plants removing fallen and infested leaves. You may have to pull heavily infested plants to prevent spread of the disease. Provide good air circulation and if you have problems try changing the location, spores will persist in the soil for a while. Solarize at the height of summer July-August.

Systemic fungicides do a better job on ornamentals like roses.

Copper sulfate is on the NOP list for allowed substances. Unless the product contains other things which are not allowed, it should be organic.

The bonide brand of copper sulfate should be organic

https://extension.umd.edu/learn/two-org ... -gardeners

§ 205.601 Synthetic substances allowed for use in organic crop production.
(I) As plant disease control.

(1) Aqueous potassium silicate (CAS #-1312-76-1) - the silica, used in the manufacture of potassium silicate, must be sourced from naturally occurring sand.

(2) Coppers, fixed - copper hydroxide, copper oxide, copper oxychloride, includes products exempted from EPA tolerance, Provided, That, copper-based materials must be used in a manner that minimizes accumulation in the soil and shall not be used as herbicides.

(3) Copper sulfate - Substance must be used in a manner that minimizes accumulation of copper in the soil.

(4) Hydrated lime.

(5) Hydrogen peroxide.

(6) Lime sulfur.

(7) Oils, horticultural, narrow range oils as dormant, suffocating, and summer oils.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/7/205.601