HELLLLLPPPPP. Somethings way wrong

[augiedog55]

Yesterday I went out and saw that two of my plants had bacterial speck or spot. I got on here and started reading about it and decided i would spray the two plants affected with a bleach spray. I used a cup and a half of bleach to a gallon and a half of water. Both plants were in the middle of the row.Both were purpledog creek plants that were loaded with big tomatoes.
I sprayed both plants with the solution and any plants with leaves that were touching them. I went out this morning and both purple dog creek plants look almost dead. The leaves are purple and brown top to bottom and the styems looked the same.. Is this what was suppose to happen?It looks like it killed anything it touched. The plants i sprayed that were touching them have leaves that look the same way. I don't think there is enough good leaves to save to keep the two plants going.
I don't know if the spot or speck had traveled farther than I thought or the solution was to strong or what but my patch looks bad this morning. Any thoughts on this subject. Bill if you read this I would like your thoughts since you use a bleach solution down where you are at.
Thanks
Bruce

[Zana]

Just a thought, but you may have used too much bleach. Suggest that you hose down all the plants.

[augiedog55]

Thanks Zana. I just went out an hose the plants off. I don't think I used to much bleach. What I read said 8 Oz.(1cup) per gallon. and I used three half cups to a gallon and a half.. Hopefully this helps... Maybe the purple dog creeks were to far gone when i sprayed.All the leaves are curled up and the leaves and stems are brown purple. No green foliage left...AUGHHHH

[Zana]

Wait a few days....they might come back.

[Labradors2]

Somewhere it is written that we need to check the concentration of the bleach. Maybe it was too strong?

I also think that Bill mentioned that the leaves that are sprayed (that already have the fungus) will look horrible afterwards.

Hopefully Bill will explain.

Linda

[Worth1]

My only caution would be that some bleach is concentrated.
From your post it looks like you had a 16 to 1 solution.
Everything I have read says 10 to 1 so unless the bleach was concentrated I dont think it was the problem.

What you will do is drive up the PH in your soil for a while but not long term.

Worth

[Dewayne mater]

Actually, I think the recommended solution for the modern and typically stronger Clorox that is 8.25% bleach solution is 5.25 ounces per gallon of water. That means that your concentration was too strong, as it translates to 8 ounces per gallon. I don't know that the stronger concentration caused the problem or not.

The bleach spray has to be used at the very first hint of a problem because disease is always much more advanced than when it first becomes visible. One other thought is did you spray in direct sunlight? It is definitely best to use this nuclear option only very early in the morning or very late at night so that there is a good amount of time for the bleach spray to dry before the sun gets on the leaves.

The plants are still quite resilient and may come back. I hope so. Good luck.

Dewayne Mater

[augiedog55]

I just checked the concentration on the bleach container. It was concentrate .It says 8.25%. So it might have been to strong. I just got up from my nap and it raining. Now it looks like every plant is effects to some efffect.Leaves on all them looks like the leaves have purple brown spotts on them. Either whatever moved through is fast or I burned all of them to some degree...13 total.

[augiedog55]

After further investigation i think I burned then. I used a cup and a half in 5 quarts of water. I hope others bounce back after me burning them... I feel sick, I glad I'm going to the lake for a couple days to take my mind off this fiasco...One question. ,my purple dog creek plants have about 30 tomatoes on them that are light green to white and from the the size of a baseball to a softball. Can I pick them if I have to and will they ripen on the counter? They were planted may 2rd

[b54red]

You used the strongest recommended rate with the old bleach solution which was 6% but with the newer 8.24% concentrated bleach. It is very important and I stressed this to always check the concentration of the bleach before mixing. When I first started experimenting with the bleach solution I burned a lot of plants before I found that happy medium where it kills most of the disease and not the healthy foliage. I also lost a lot of plants when the solution was too weak to do any good.

I sprayed all of my black tomatoes very early this morning with the bleach mix because I am having trouble with gray mold on all of them now. I guess the spider mites and aphids helped spread it from the first plant that had it. I also sprayed the plants with the worst Early Blight problems but so far no speck or spot diseases have shown up in any significant way this season. I'm sure I'll see them by August as they usually start showing up when we start getting those afternoon showers when it is really hot and the showers started a couple of days ago.

Bill

[Delerium]

If your plants are in full direct sun this can also cause bleach sprays to burn plants. You need to do it when the temps are cooler and keep the plants shaded when applying the bleach spray (and keep it shaded for the next few days). I won't even attempt the bleach spray in our temps (100+ F).

[clkeiper]

I wouldn't pick the tomatoes myself. Do you have a sheet or something you can cover the tomatoes with for a few days to see if the plant will bounce back? You can try letting the biggest ones ripen on the counter if you want or make green tomato relish, salsa or fried green tomatoes. I had a bushel of tomatoes last fall that were in my greenhouse and I was cleaning it out to shut it down for the Winter. I made green tomato salsa and it was excellent.

[Worth1]

Just a reminder.
Chlorine is a base, a base raises PH.
If the PH is now high like 8 or so, you wont see much if any new growth to speak of until more water washes out the chlorine.
Or it evaporates.

This is just a wild guess but the science is well founded from my observations here at home.

Worth

[b54red]

I have been using the bleach spray for years and have never noticed a problem with higher temps other than having to wait til nearly dark to spray or spraying before sunup in the morning. The small amount of bleach contained in the spray will oxidize very fast, usually in a few minutes leaving little if any residue to worry about. That is why it is not a preventative and neither is it a nuclear option unless done far too late or with a solution far too strong or in the bright sunlight.

I'll reprint some of the things that anyone using the bleach spray for the first time needs to know.

1. Using the new concentrated Clorox bleach (unscented) add 5.24 oz. of bleach to a full gallon of water with a few drops of dish washing soap then spray the plant tops and bottoms of leaves and stems with a fine mist either very early in the morning or preferably very late in the evening.

2. Use the spray as soon as you see disease symptoms. Don't wait til the disease has spread all over the plant or you will end up with a dead plant because the spray will tend to shrivel up diseased leaves but leave healthy growth unaffected.

3. Use a preventive fungicide shortly after to help prevent the return of the disease. Use a fungicide weekly to help reduce disease chances if possible. I have not seen any indication that the bleach spray has any residual preventive action on diseases it only stops them or slows them down which no fungicide I have found will do.

4. Don't be afraid to use it again and again with diseases that are very hard to control like Gray Mold. During periods with frequent rains I have applied it between showers several times in one week with no ill effects.

5. One caution about using it after extremely heavy rain and wind. Leaves that are damaged by very heavy rain that look beaten up can be damaged by the bleach spray. It is better to allow the plants to recover from a very bad storm so the leaves are dried out some unless something like Late Blight is on them. In that case you need to apply it early and often and pray.

Bill

[augiedog55]

UPDATE. I just got back from a few days at the lake. I needed it after this fiasco.I went out on the deck to look at my plants and I killed 3 maybe 4 plants. I decided to put some sheets of light camo netting over those plants to keep the tomatoes from getting sunscaled and still let the air circulate through them. Some of the tomatos on those plants are starting to blush so I'll just leave them on the vine out there instead of bringing in 30 tomatos to put on the counter. The other 8 plants got burned with the over spray but only on about a quarter of the plant thats was exposed to it. The other three sides the plants are still alive and I'm sure they will make it over ime.
I guess you live and learn.I didn't do my math well and didn't follow directions very well either,so I get what I get. I hate to see my plant this this condition but I've still got 8 plants that will give me plenty of tomatoes