Leaf Diseases
 

Lets see if I can make some pics show up.

<img src=http://www.mastercontrollinelinksite.info/T1.jpg>
[IMG]http://www.mastercontrollinelinksite.info/T1.jpg[/IMG]

[img]http://www.tomatoville.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=14867&d=1282268911[/img]
Another attempt to post pic.

More Leaf Diseases
 

Here are more of the diseases that I have had to deal with.

My best advice for multiple foliage diseases is to use the diluted Clorox spray late in the afternoon. The details are described in some earlier posts in this section.

[quote=b54red;181354]My best advice for multiple foliage diseases is to use the diluted Clorox spray late in the afternoon. The details are described in some earlier posts in this section.[/quote]


how much percentage of concentrated of clorox per gallon/ liter of water?

Garf, what you show are bothe bacterial and fungal foliage diseases , I won't go into the specifics, and your first photo indicates a virus disease.

There's nada you can do about the virus disease b'c those are insect transmitted. And for the other foliage diseases while I know that B4 is suggesting clorox, I would also suggest that you consider some anti-fungal and anti-bacterial sprays that have been tested and known to work.

B4, if Clorox was the wonder treatment, and it could be, I would expect to see more written about it eleewhere, I really would, but I don't see that. Foliage diseases are THE main diseases of tomatoes and when I think of the huge tomato indistry in this country and workwide in some other countries and I recognize the incredible amount of research that supports the tomato industry, I would have expected much more attention payed to Clorox as a cheap cure-all.

But I don't see that and please correct me if I'm wrong. Long ago I got lost in that other thread discussion about Clorox so maybe I'm forgetting something.

Same for peroxide treatments and ions which are about the same as Clorox in terms specifically of the hypochlorite ion.

I think each "cure" works best on a specific strain or type of disease, so you will see highly variable results. That's why something will work for one person and not another. There is no "cure-all". Now I need to target bacterial speck. I think Clorox may work for that.

I have never said that the Clorox spray is a cure all but I have found it more successful in suppressing existing diseases than any of the highly marketed fungicides. I still use the fungicides for prevention but once diseases are established they seem to be of limited value. Until I found the Clorox spray I was limited to growing from March til mid July. The diseases I was dealing with would just overwhelm the plants and no amount of fungicide spraying would keep them alive. It was with a sense of "what's the harm" that I started experimenting with the Clorox spray.
Most of the research into tomato production is dealing with the reality of the commercial producer who is looking for disease prevention just long enough to gather the main crop. The commercial operations pick most of their tomatoes in a very short time frame and then either plow them under or leave them standing in the fields to be decimated by bugs and diseases.
The very nature of a tomato's fruit production is the reason I stagger my plantings. I don't care for having the feast or famine type of production which is most common with tomato growers. The Clorox spray has been invaluable to me in keeping my plants alive for extended production so I have a great variety of tomatoes to chose from for an extended season. I start with preventative sprays of Daconil but resort to the Clorox when I notice diseases starting to take a toll on the plants. Usually it is a big help. Yesterday I picked some tomatoes off of a plant that was set out in mid March.

Seeing is believing. Below the first photo is of an Inidan Stripe set out in early April. The dead leaves are the result of my last spraying with the Clorox solution. The next photo is my Big Beef which was set out on July 10 and was decimated by foliage diseases. It has very little foliage left but is still producing thanks to the Clorox spray. The last photo shows the stem lesions which came along with the foliage diseases that hit the Big Beef along with about half my fall plants.
The Clorox spray is easy to use, cheap, and probably far safer to use than most fungicides so I'll keep using the Clorox solution until I find something better.

After reading all the information on the Clorox treatment I have decided to give it a go. I have been fighting a fungal disease for the past 3 weeks now with a copper spray and mancozeb. I have found this treatment slows the spread of the disease but just when you think you are getting the upper hand another spot appears somewhere on the plant. I have a daily regime of inspecting each of my plants and removing infected leaves and to tell the truth I think that I am fighting a losing battle. The leaves are disappearing faster than the plants can grow then. Plus I lost 2 Purple Calabash plants this morning with the disease hitting the main stem, causing the plants to fall to the ground, withered with a jelly like stem. (These plants appeared fine yesterday) With nothing to lose, I sprayed about 10 or so of my plants with bleach just to give it a test run! Here in Australia we don't have Clorox so I used a product called White King which is a little weaker than Clorox. Dosage rate was 80 mls per litre. Its now mid afternoon and the plants are still alive! I will now go ahead with treating the rest of my plants tomorrow. I'll keep you informed of the outcome. Thanks for the info B54!

My main problem right now seems to be bacterial speck or spot. Clorox might help with that.

Garf,

I am having the same problem on some of my Fall tomatoes. I've been applying Mancozeb, on the recommendation of another TV member. It will be interesting to compare your results using Red's Clorox treatment.

Raybo

The White King bleach I am using is lemon scented and I must say that scent of lemon freshness throughout the garden is quite pleasing!

Whatever you do don't spray straight bleach on your plants. It needs to be diluted. The regular strength Clorox we have here is generally between 5 & 6% sodium hypochlorite. I use approximately 7 to 8 ounces added to one full gallon of water with a few drops of soap. Make sure to rinse your sprayer well because the bleach is highly reactive.
I had to spray mine yesterday afternoon again. My fall Cherokee Purple and the Black Krim started getting that black crud that Bubbacain was talking about earlier this summer. The black tomatoes seem especially vulnerable to that stuff; but rarely do I see it on the others. If you hit it early enough the Clorox seems to stop it or slow it to the point it isn't a major problem; but if you wait too long that crud can kill the plant.
FilthyRich, spraying with the bleach solution will actually increase the lose of leaves temporarily. The bleach solution seems to destroy the diseased leaves rather quickly and they usually wither up and turn brown within a couple of days.

In regard to the dilution you mention; All under control here! The bleach I am using is 4% where yours is 5% I believe. Because mine is only 80% as strong as yours I have to multiply the dose by 1.25. So your 7 to 8 fluid ounces per gallon is equal to my 8.75 to 10 fluid ounces per gallon. Which, metric speaking equates to 68 to 78 millilitres per litre.
We have been having quite a bit of rain here. Hardly a day has gone past in the past three weeks where it hasn't rained; Which hasn't helped my situation timing the copper and mancozeb sprays. Do you find that there is a minimum time that the bleach spray needs to be applied prior to being washed off by rain or do you think that the fungus is killed almost immediately on contact with the bleach? Also do you think it would be beneficial to try spraying the garden soil in the bed to kill any spores that may be lurking?
No doubt others have tried your bleach spray method. Have you had any positive feedback concerning results from others?

As I have mentioned in past posts, when using the bleach spray during times of heavy rain and the plants never seem to dry, I use the stronger concentration because of the further dilution caused by the damp leaves. As to how fast it works, the bleach oxidizes very quickly so most if not all of it's action takes place within 30 minutes or so. The effect it has on the diseased leaves takes longer for you to see.
If you are getting rain every day you may have to spray up to several times in a week. If you are having cloudy mild days you can spray anytime. I have even sprayed as rain was starting to fall and had fairly good results from it because whatever action the bleach has will happens very fast.
I have gotten only positive feedback so far from others who have tried it. I'm sure some have tried it on things it won't help like fusarium wilt or systemic diseases. If the solution is too weak it doesn't work and if it too strong the damage to healthy growth can be fairly severe. Let me know what kind of results you get from the spraying.