The fungus that causes Early Blight is also airborne so while it helps to avoid soil splashing on the plants you can still get it no matter what you do. It is one of the 2 most common tomato diseases and only fungicides from day 1 of planting seem to be an effective prevention.

Your containers sitting on the ground are no problem unless the plant branches are also draping on the ground.

The problems with trying to grow plants in 5 gallon buckets aside, yes buckets/containers can be reused if disinfected first. Fresh potting mix too.

Dave

Thank you, Dave.

I will give them another try following your advice.

Be sure to mulch around the plants to limit the chance of spores splashing up from the soil in the rain or when you water.

that brings up a great question, what type of mulch?

that brings up a great question, what type of mulch?

Just search 'mulch' on this forum for many discussions. Even more over on the Soil & Mulch forum here.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Mulch discussions

Dave-

Is there a fungicide you particularly favor or can recommend? Appreciate any insight.

Michael

I can't answer for Dave but in my experience THE best antifungal for the two most common tomato foliage diseases worldwide, Early Blight ( A. solani) and Septoroia LEaf Spot, is Daconil, which the original poster said was used.

But the plants have to be sprayed as soon as they're put out and one has to spray on the regular schedule noted in the product label and one has to spray after rain has washed it off. Finally I've known folks who have used Daconil and say it doesn't work but when questioning them it turns out they were using the wrong concentrate. You have to use the concentrate which has, as I recall, about 29% active ingredient which is chlorothalonil/\\The person I was referring to was using a concentrate of 12.5 % which is useless.

Both Ortho and Bonide offer the right concentrate.

Carolyn

Ditto what Carolyn said above - Daconil.

Dave

As always, many thanks Carolyn and Dave.

Michael

FIGHTING BLIGHT...I HAVE BEEN READING ABOUT HOW TO CHANGE THE PH A LITTLE BIT TO KILL BLIGHT, ESP EARLY BLIGHT ON TOMATOES...IT WORKED FOR ME, KILLED THE BLIGHT AND TURNED LEAVES BROWN AND THEY FELL OFF...NOW READY FOR FALL CROP...MIXED COMPOST TEA, MOLASSES AND VINEGAR, VINEGAR WILL LOWER PH (USED ABOUT 2 Oz IN MY 5 GALS OF COMPOST TEA....NEXT I AM TRYING ON DIFFERENT PLANTS A TSP OF BAKING SODA TO A QT OF WATER (WHICH WILL RAISE PH)...HOPE THIS MAY HELP SOMEONE...ROY...DOESN'T COST MUCH

So what should I do with an infected plant? Should I rip out the whole plant or let it continue growing if it's still producing fruit? What about the plants that are intertwined with it or next to it?

I use - with excellent results - Copper (Bonide) fungicide. ItâÂÂs organic.

Daconil (Chlorothalonil) is a chemical.

Says Wikipedia:

> [Daconil] Chlorothalonil is a Group B2 "probable human carcinogen", based on observations of cancers and tumors of the kidneys and forestomachs in laboratory animals fed diets containing chlorothalonil.

Yes Daniel,Daconil is synthetic and copper containing sprays are organic.

Daconil is a category one product, and yes,lab animals have been shown to develop tumors.

Copper is not that effective for fungal foliage diseases.

Rotenone is organic and every certifying agency I know of accept it,but its toxicity to humans,pets, the environment in general is greater than Daconil, You can check that on EXTOXNET.

Daconil is the most widely used anti-fungal in the world and so more is known about it than almost any other fungicide. There have been no human cases of cancer due to it that I am aware of.

Increasingly there's also a concern about copper products with build up in soils where they are used.

I do think there's a Forum here at GW where all of this is discussed,perhaps an organic Forum?,I don 't know.

Speaking for myself, I have no intention of continuing any discussionof Daconil here b'c in the past I've found that there are those who use it and those who don't, and they have their own reasons for doing so.

Not all synthetic products are bad,and not all organic products are good.

Carolyn

Thank you for the advice. I was running into similar issues as the post above. I tried some of the suggestions and had success.

Thanks again, huge help

Well, I used Copper (Bonide) and IâÂÂm happy, no problems whatsoever â¦. I agree that Copper is not strong enough to fight LATE Blight, but for EARLY Blight, I think itâÂÂs ok. [btw, I'm NOT connected in any way with Bonide, just a VERY happy customer.]

Regarding the Daconil, I still prefer to listen to:

- EPA when it says: âÂÂOn September 4, 1987, the Agency classified chlorothalonil [Daconil] as a Group B2 or probable human carcinogenâ or,

- Pesticide Action Network who says: âÂÂ[Daconil (Chlorothalonil)]⦠Toxicity: Link to information on toxicity to humans, including carcinogenicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity, neurotoxicity, and acute toxicityâ or,

- Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP) when it says: âÂÂIn laboratory tests, chlorothalonil causes kidney damage, mild anemia, liver damage, embryo loss during pregnancy, oxidative DNA damage (damage to the cellâÂÂs genetic material), and cancers of the kidney and forestomach. Most of these effects have been observed in several test species.âÂÂ

The above statements are enough reasons for me NOT to use Daconil.

When I will read - on RELIABLE sources - that Copper is bad for health, I might rethink what fungicide I'll use. Actinovate is next on my organic fungicides list.

Obviously, people use whatever products they desire - organic or chemical fungicide - but it's always good to take INFORMED decisions.

Sherry_Bell, this year I used 2 types of mulch: Dewitt Weed Barrier Fabric and

Both are good. Straw might be difficult to find. Fabric mulch allows easier water control from rain.

Here is a link that might be useful: Best mulch for tomatoes?

This post was edited by Daniel_NY on Fri, Aug 15, 14 at 14:19