Bacterial/fungal management for 1 acre farm

ac21686 · April 22, 2019

My family maintains a small (at least, I consider it small?) farm next to our garden center and the last few years we've been growing produce and selling it at our nursery. It's proven to be pretty popular and while it's not a significant source of revenue for us, it's fun and kills quite a bit of time in late July and August, when store foot traffic really slows down.

The last few years we've been hit hard by bacterial and fungal problems, mostly confined to tomatoes. Everything else seems to get the usual (squash eventually going down to mildew, for example). I'm not sure about using last year as an example because it rained 3-4x as much as it typically does during the prime growing season and the tomato crop was an absolute disaster. This year we will be far more diligent about bottom pruning to mitigate some of that (hopefully we don't have a repeat), at the very least. From the pinned PDF, this is what I believe we've identified and observed:

Bacterial:

Bacterial spot (seems like the near constant downpours and humidity exacerbated this greatly)

Fungal:

EB
LB
Unsure about target spot vs anthracnose...they seem quite similar visually. Something I'm missing in the visual cues?
Fusarium wilt

We prefer trying to go the organic route, but the priority is making sure we have an effective disease management program in place (and we are fully transparent with customers about whatever we may use). We are starting to transplant the seedlings to 3 and 6 packs in trays, where they will remain until close to memorial day. What should be the plan going forward? Copper fungicide and mancozeb (we carry the former but not the latter...I'd say 75-80% of customers now are only buying certified organic products) are mentioned in the PDF, but when should we start? I'm afraid of spraying them too early (if that's possible) and harming the plants. Would a type of soil amendment of any kind help as well? Any help is greatly appreciated!

April 22, 2019	#1
ac21686 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: CT Posts: 68	Bacterial/fungal management for 1 acre farm My family maintains a small (at least, I consider it small?) farm next to our garden center and the last few years we've been growing produce and selling it at our nursery. It's proven to be pretty popular and while it's not a significant source of revenue for us, it's fun and kills quite a bit of time in late July and August, when store foot traffic really slows down. The last few years we've been hit hard by bacterial and fungal problems, mostly confined to tomatoes. Everything else seems to get the usual (squash eventually going down to mildew, for example). I'm not sure about using last year as an example because it rained 3-4x as much as it typically does during the prime growing season and the tomato crop was an absolute disaster. This year we will be far more diligent about bottom pruning to mitigate some of that (hopefully we don't have a repeat), at the very least. From the pinned PDF, this is what I believe we've identified and observed: Bacterial: Bacterial spot (seems like the near constant downpours and humidity exacerbated this greatly) Fungal: EB LB Unsure about target spot vs anthracnose...they seem quite similar visually. Something I'm missing in the visual cues? Fusarium wilt We prefer trying to go the organic route, but the priority is making sure we have an effective disease management program in place (and we are fully transparent with customers about whatever we may use). We are starting to transplant the seedlings to 3 and 6 packs in trays, where they will remain until close to memorial day. What should be the plan going forward? Copper fungicide and mancozeb (we carry the former but not the latter...I'd say 75-80% of customers now are only buying certified organic products) are mentioned in the PDF, but when should we start? I'm afraid of spraying them too early (if that's possible) and harming the plants. Would a type of soil amendment of any kind help as well? Any help is greatly appreciated!