SC, GA, MS, AL, TX, NC.....

[chalstonsc]

I live in the heat and humidity of coastal SC where this year I have run into the widest variety of fungal, bacterial and whatever other diseases I have ever run into, including more insects. Until now I have used only neem oil spray, but now want to begin to use a broad spectrum, preferably but not necessarily systemic, preventative and ideally also curative answer(s) to these problems, as much as that is possible. I'd reallly appreciate it if you experts who have grown tomatoes more years and more successfully than I in similar conditions would participate in a poll of sorts and tell me what you use and works best for you. Thanks very much!

[feldon30]

I know of no cures for fungal or bacterial diseases of tomatoes.

How many inches of mulch are you using? Are you watering exclusively with soaker hoses/drip irrigation?

[chalstonsc]

I'm growing in a pine bark and peat moss mix in containers...no mulch. Water by hand at bottom or drip irrigation only. My plants are dripping wet every morning from the humidity because that is the way it is around here....

[creister]

Did you make the mix yourself? If so, was the pine bark composted? If it was not, that could be the source of your problems. Also, some kind of mulch would help any splash if your mix is contaminated.

If your plants are not healthy, then they would attract more insects whose role is to eat diseased and sick plants, much like wolves eat the old, sick, and weak elk.

What can be done? Are you an strict organic grower, or a whatever works best to get the result grower, as the aids and tricks vary to the method you use to grow.

[Blueaussi]

This year is one of the bad years for wilts and blights here in SC. We've had a lot of cool, wet weather, and when it's hot, it's very, very muggy.

There are a lot of tough choices. Daconil works well, but it's not organic, and I don't want to do anything that will hurt my tree frogs. There are some organic sprays on the market, but they don't work nearly as well as the Daconil, and some of them will also hurt my tree frogs. And the most disease resistant varieties aren't the best tasting.

So, at plant out I inoculated all my tomatoes and peppers with beneficial bacteria and fungi. I've sprayed with a seaweed solution and aspirin to try and boost the plants immune system, and I've cut off yellowing leaves, and I've crossed my fingers, and thought malignant thoughts at nasty tomato diseases.

And, I've still got problems. In the few minutes I had before a thunderstorm chased me inside last night, I noticed that one of the Giant Belgiums has yellowing leaves more than half way up the plant, and something is really wrong with one of the Sun Kings. I didn't have time to examine it carefully, but there is mottling on the leaves all over the plant, and it's drooping: not wilted, but drooping. I'm probably going to pull it tonight.

I always grow one or two hybrids with strong disease resistance packages in case it's a bad year, so it's discouraging to see a Sun King failing already. I'm thinking I'm going to spend a good part of this winter putting some earthtainers together to try next year.

So, yeah, well, nothing really good to say, but I feel your pain.

[creister]

If you want to use organics, I would spread horticultural corn meal on your soil. You can also spray with garlic tea, both plant and soil. It shouldn't harm the frogs. Work on your soil health. A good site to look on is dirtdoctor.com. It has a library where you can look up these topics.

Almost forgot to mention that you can make a spray of 4tsp of baking soda, and 1tsp of liquid soap (non anti-bacterial) per gallon and spray at least once a week. You can also buy potassium bicarbonate for the same purpose. The differance is that Potassium is better for the soil. I used both, and they both do the job. On the soap, Ivory is what I use.

[amideutch]

Do a search here at TVille on Actinovate and EXEL or Agri-fos. Ami

[Blueaussi]

Originally Posted by creister

If you want to use organics<...>

I *do* use organics. Been there, done that, watched the plants die. In a bad year in South Carolina, the only thing that has ever worked has been Daconil, and I'm struggling to hang tough with my decision to stay organic. It's just not easy to watch the tomato plants die.

I've been amending the soil in this part of the yard since 2002. I routinely till in various mulches and manures and amendments. And although this is an admittedly bad year for tomato uglies, my feeling is that what I need to do is give the soil a rest from Solanaceae for a few years. Only, with limited space, the best way to do that is go to containers for a few years.

[chalstonsc]

Thanks folks for jumping in here!

Creister: I made the mix myself and the pine bark was not composted. I have bought enough "aged pine bark fines" for trying some Fall plants and for next year. Is there a good way to compost pine bark for myself which will not expose it to all the junk that causes the diseases that I know is in my backyard? I have bleach sterilized my containers, cages and tools in the past, but obviously it finds its way in anyway. Something tells me keeping it all out will never happen unless I start growing in a sterile bubble of some sort! That's why it seems only a systemic preventative might be effective. Mulch I can do, but hard for me to see it will be the answer.

I prefer to grow organically, but I have to admit I bought a bottle of Daconil, which as yet I haven't been able to bring myself to open.

I've looked at dirtdoctor. Put cornmeal around the plants, made cornmeal and baking soda and composted manure tea with aspirin spray. All that after admittedly problems had developed. Does it have to be "horticultural" cornmeal? None of it has helped, and in fact I'm not sure whether it has made things worse, or whether the heat and humidity getting worse and the advanced stage of the progressing diseases is just making my plants continue to their inevitable ends. Plants are looking quite bad and none have set fruit for going on two weeks.

Blueaussi: Thanks for the sympathy! I wish you luck with the earthtainers. I went to containers several years ago after nearly total losses to bacterial wilt in the ground, and have tried a couple homemade earthtainers the last couple of years, with not much, if any, better results than my other containers. I've tried a few plants in the ground each year and the bacterial wilt claimed two of four a couple weeks ago.

Ami- have gotten info as you suggested, nothing personal but looking for testimonials

[chalstonsc]

Ami- wanted to make sure you understand that I'm trying to find out what works best in climates very close to mine,i.e. I think I need something(s) very close to bulletproof that will work in heavy duty heat and humidity that is close to raining! Is your climate similar or do you know of success with any of those products in my kind of climate?

[gssgarden]

Chaltonsc, Alothough I'm only a few months into the season, I HAVE to think that Actinovate is doing the trick.
Last two years, I've been over run with disease and battled with Daconil. If it went away, it came back.
This year, with help from Ami, I started off with a soaking of Mycorrhizae, and followed it up with bi-weekly foliar sprays of Actinovate. (As best as I can. Maybe missed a week.) Fed a few times with fish emulsion w/kelp, and I have to say, my plants have not looked this good in a looooong time. Green, tall, filling up with fruit, barely a yellow leaf on them. Granted we've had more rain this year than the past two so that might have something to do with it too.
I really think the products have had something to do with it. In fact, they would have to fall apart for me to change this program next year.

I HOPE I DIDN'T JUST JINX MYSELF !!!!!!!!!


Just my half season testomonial.

Greg

[amideutch]

Charlstonsc, I've got the raining but not the heat that you have. The actinvate has worked great for me and I used it as a drench and for foliar applications as well. I recently received a report from Ray Newstead, who designed the "Earth Tainer", and he has reported good results with EXEL and he's up in central Calif. Exel is a systemic as well as a contact fungicide.
I just had a Phlox bush which is growing next to my SunSugar tomato plant become covered with powdery mildew. None formed on my SunSugar. I applied Actinovate to the rootball on plantout and have made one foliar application of Actinovate.
If these products do not appeal to you then you can go the the non organic route and use "Daconil" which several members here at TVille swear by. Ami

[chalstonsc]

gssgarden: sounds like just the kind of testimonial I was looking for...good luck the rest of your season! Where did you buy the Myco and Actinovate?

Ami: Did more research and am convinced the Actinovate and Myco are worth a try! Have decided my current plants are beyond saving with a systemic during the midst of our summer, but am going to try a few Fall
plants with your regimen. Do I understand your regimen right:

At plantout, drench with Actinovate(1/2tsp/gal)and dust with Myco. Foliar feed w/Actinovate(1/2tsp/gal) bi-weekly with
yucca extract. What is the Microbe Tea? Do you still favor T&J? What am I missing? Thanks!

[Blueaussi]

The thing is, Actinovate is supposedly a fungicidal bacteria, so why dust with Myco?

[amideutch]

When I got into this Mycorhizae thing did I ever think it would be like opening Pandora's box. The more I read and asked questions did I realize what a universe the rhizophere is and the number of fungi and bacteria that exist there. And they all have a role to play whether good or bad.
Blueaussi, the fungi that is used in Actinovate (Streptomyces Lydicus WYEC 108) is a different animal than the Myco we refer to (VAM) Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizaa which are made up of Endomycorrhizae. "Actinovate" protects the plant from the bad guys while the Endo form a bond with the plants roots facilitating nutrient uptake. Different fungi in the Endo makeup do different jobs if you will like one takes care of the nitogen while the othe does the phosphorous and so on. And this process makes for a healthier plant which is more able to fight off disease than a weak plant. So the Actinovate and Endomycorrhizae work together fighting disease and making a more productive, healthy plant.
charlstosc, T&J is one stop shopping for Myco products and information. Thomas G. will always be happy to answer your questions concerning VAM and the best way about using it. The microbe tea is brewed like compost tea and when applied with Yucca Extract feeds the plant via the foliar application and also gives the Mycorrhizae food to feed then plant. When I got into this I asked Thomas at T&J could I add Actinovate to the microbe tea prior to brewing and then brew the tea and apply as a foliar spray and soil drench as well. He liked the idea and said the two should compliment each other beautifully. So basically I can feed the plant and apply the fungicide at the same time which is how I do it.
T&J sells a complete kit which comes with the BioVam, Microbe tea and brewer, Organic ferts macro and micro, yucca extract and complete instructions for a very reasonable price. And several on line hydro companies carry Actinovate.
gssgarden (Greg) has a pretty good handle on the procedures and application schedule. Normally Mycorrhizae is applied once at plant out for vegetables and thats it. Hope's this helps, Ami