Quote:
Originally Posted by ginger2778
FLRedHeart- I had a tough time with that horrible every day September deluge last year, my seedlings were already transplanted to the 4" pots, and were outdoors, no where else to put the 800 of them. My garden club had a sale of them every year at a plant show, I generally sold about 450 so grew 500 to be sure. The rest were for me, and my annual plant swap.( different varieties)
Because of the rain, they got Septoria, but I found that it got managed really really well. I use the Southern Ag brand of liquid copper spray, at 1/2 Tablespoon per gallon, after it was mixed, I put in 1 teaspoon per gallon of BT, and a small squirt of organic dish soap as a spreader., then mixed those 2 additions into my already mixed copper solution, and sprayed the upper and undersides of every leaf, and the stem down to the soil line of the pot. This was done after every rain as much as I could, and my seedlings went to market with some lower leafs that had arrested Septoria, and very healthy upper leaves. It is very easy to spray a small 4-6 week old seedling.
Very important to mix the copper to it's dilution before adding the BT, then add at the end and spray, because copper is bactericidal, and BT is bacteria as you know. It will stay alive long enough to do the job this way.
Those same seedlings were my own transplants, and I had the strongest plants I have ever had. Prevention of fungus and caterpillars is key, and this used organic methods.
I mean this to be helpful.
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Hi Marsha, thanks for describing your current method, it is very helpful to know especially considering how many OPs you start which sounds like it can only be love
I saw that Southern Ag copper product locally but something about it made me put it down. I think is might have been just that it was just a weak solution of copper sulfate with ammonia, both of which I have in excess at home sitting around. But as usual other things took priority and I forgot about it. Since I don't have as many starts, I'm fine with hand picking cats daily, so the Bt pesticide isn't a must if I'm attentive. Here in my part of the First Coast, leaf miners, gnat larvae in my case, are the bad boys. Rain seems to help their reproduction and Sept is their favorite temperature and wetness and tender transplants their delicacy. Bt is not effective on them, and the havoc they make invites infection on humid leaves. I squish them in their mines but really they work too fast, at least compared to cats. If I spray Malathion, which I despise far more than copper, it just kills all the predators and they slip in the leaf and party it up anyways, with more brazen vigor and number.
I might spray some Bordeaux solution on this time. It's pretty good in rain and I've used it before. Normally, I haven't treated the seedlings, but you are probably right and 5 weeks would also be right here, though I'd worry it might interfere with the hardening off, it sounds like that was not a problem for how yours worked, though tetraamine copper gets washed off more easily so it's not the best comparison if the copper persists longer. I personally believe its important to raise, not lower the pH of the leaf, and first impression is Bordeaux beats the bulk commodity copper complex S Ag product.
Bt probably isn't so sensitive as you would think. Most of it is the chemical toxin which is unaffected by how you mix it, and just some tough spores (long range backup mostly) which likely survive mixing fine and end up diluted anyway. But during the rainy season in practice I'd guess that the caterpillar kill rate is mostly from the initial crystals. I only mean this in the sense of understanding the pesticide, every little bit helps so you have good technique and that is important and I like it.
Cheers