Foliage regimen, when and what
 

When do you start with daconil, excel lg, actinovate, etc.
Is it weather, calendar, first signs of damage?
Usual suspects here are septoria (moderate damage) and late blight(nuclear devastation). Early blight can come through, but can't say it has been a problem here.
Seems like first septoria should be showing soon.

Nematode

The battle against Septoria is already waging here since last week. Started with Actinovate, applied copper soap a couple days ago to 80% of the tomato plants before the rains came. Got to do some pruning of infected branches today again when it's not raining.
Daconil would be useless here, it's been raining regularly.
Excel LG doesn't work on Septoria.
Need to brew some compost tea,
Going to try Potassium Bicarbonate in the spray rotation this year.

Early Blight hasn't been a problem, saw one infected leaf a few weeks ago.
If you inoculate your seedlings with mycorrhizal fungi, Early Blight won't be a big problem.

I start a preventative spray rotation the week the plants go in the ground and try to respray weekly and after a heavy rain.

Potassium bicarb - I do like it in the rotation.

Ha, nice to know about EB. I was wondering why I was not seeing much, usually it hits about now. Only Septoria so far but we are having a breeding ground here- rare day without rain all June.
I do have potassium bicarb, why would I want it in a rotation?
So far I had 2 copper applications and weekly compost teas with compost extract, one Excel LG/ actinovate/molasses and 3 aspirin water. Not counting my foliars with some EM added.

About mycorrhizal fungi and induced systemic resistance to Early Blight:

[URL="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22126042"]Mechanism of tomato plants enhanced disease resistance against early blight primed by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus versiforme[/URL]

[URL="http://nature.berkeley.edu/brunslab/mycorrhizal/papers/song2010.pdf"]Interplant Communication of Tomato Plants through
Underground Common Mycorrhizal Networks[/URL]

[URL="http://geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2005/2439/pdf/FritzMaendy-2005-09-30.pdf"]Resistance induction in the
pathosystem tomato – Alternaria solani [/URL]

[QUOTE]
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are an effective bioprotectant against Alternaria in
tomato. It has been demonstrated in this work that mycorrhizal tomatoes have
a significantly lower level of disease severity than non-mycorrhizal plants. The
mechanism seems to be similar to ISR, which is also induced by associated
organisms in the roots and effective against necrotrophic pathogens.
It is well-known that P surplus hinders an optimal colonisation of host roots by
AMF. Therefore, a restricted P supply is advantageous if the mycorrhizal
protection method is exploited against Alternaria infection. Since mycorrhiza
itself ensures a sufficient P availability for the host plant, no P deficiency will
occur.
[/QUOTE]

The relative humidity here today was 7% and it was 107F. So no sprays for me. Not for bugs, rots, virus, fungus, slimes, fertilizing, nor anything else.

I live in a climate where I can get away with that... I also grow my own seeds, and cull every plant that has the slightest bit of trouble growing here. If it attracts bugs or blights then it's chop, Chop, CHOP. Weak plants and all of their descendents are never invited back into my garden.

[QUOTE]When do you start with daconil, excel lg, actinovate, etc.[/QUOTE]

While I don't use any of those particular products in the home gardens, what I do use starts from day 1 of plant out and regularly thereafter. If you wait for symptoms to appear it is already too late.

We do use Daconil in the commercial fields and that too begins with day one. Over my 50+ years of growing tomatoes I quickly learned that hoping and wishing that all the common fungal diseases will pass me by this year is a foolish dream. ;)

Dave

Ray, thanks for the links!
I think I only use potassium bicarb for PM zukes/cukes ... are there any other reasons to use it on tomatoes?

[QUOTE=Lindalana;485186]Ray, thanks for the links!
I think I only use potassium bicarb for PM zukes/cukes ... are there any other reasons to use it on tomatoes?[/QUOTE]

I also have only been using potassium bicarb on zukes/cukes. [URL="http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/pub/php/research/2005/tomato/"]According to these trials[/URL] it does have some benefits on controlling EB and Seportia. Neem Oil and Seaweed Extract too. Worth a try, I have all.

[QUOTE=digsdirt;485142]While I don't use any of those particular products in the home gardens, what I do use starts from day 1 of plant out and regularly thereafter. If you wait for symptoms to appear it is already too late.

We do use Daconil in the commercial fields and that too begins with day one. Over my 50+ years of growing tomatoes I quickly learned that hoping and wishing that all the common fungal diseases will pass me by this year is a foolish dream. ;)

Dave[/QUOTE]

Hey Dave,
If you wouldn't mind, would you be so kind as to disclose what it is you do use in the home garden? Thanks!

[QUOTE]Hey Dave,
If you wouldn't mind, would you be so kind as to disclose what it is you do use in the home garden? Thanks![/QUOTE]

No problem. I just didn't want to start an organic vs. non-organic debate. ;) Soap Shield Liquid Copper alternated with Bonide Sulfur Fungicide and Serenade Fungicide.

Dave

[QUOTE=digsdirt;485310]No problem. I just didn't want to start an organic vs. non-organic debate. ;) Soap Shield Liquid Copper alternated with Bonide Sulfur Fungicide and Serenade Fungicide.

Dave[/QUOTE]

It's my thread and we are all going to get along, 'cause I said so;)
I prefer the softer options, but if I need something stronger I'll use it.

It sounds like you have a great deal of experience. Do your tomatoes produce until frost with those treatments or do the foliage diseases take them down eventually?

[QUOTE=digsdirt;485310]No problem. I just didn't want to start an organic vs. non-organic debate. ;) Soap Shield Liquid Copper alternated with Bonide Sulfur Fungicide and Serenade Fungicide.

Dave[/QUOTE]

Excellent, thanks Dave.. I'm assuming you treat weekly, and alternate between the three?

We're limited in Montreal to what we can use. I've been using Serenade from plant out on a regular basis with a copper spray only once. So far the Serenade has been keeping the tomatoes healthy. We've also had a lot of rain with cool nights.

[QUOTE]I'm assuming you treat weekly, and alternate between the three?[/QUOTE]

Weekly and with the sulfur weeks, after any heavy rains.

[QUOTE]Do your tomatoes produce until frost with those treatments or do the foliage diseases take them down eventually?[/QUOTE]

Produce, no but the plants will remain healthy enough to begin production again once the severe heat spell here passes. Not much I can do to prevent the blossom drop, the tacky, non-viable pollen period of late July and early August we get here. Shading some plants helps some.

But usually by mid-August we start to get enough below 75 degree nights that I can so some early morning cage-rattling and they kick back into production. I get good production until about the end of Oct. and then I cover some of the better plants and force them on into mid-November.

Dave