Without making a diagnosis as to whether the foliage infection is bacterial or fungal it's really impossible to know what to spray with.

Milk and baking soda have not worked well for almost anyone who has used it.

I understand that you want to use something organic, but there comes a time when the decision comes down to whether you want to have tomatoes or not, as I see it.

yes, I do suggest Daconil for the two most common fungal foliage infections of Early Blight and Septotria Leaf Spot, as a preventive, nothing can CURE such infections. And yes, I know Daconil is synthetic.

But it has less toxicity than does Rotenone which is organic and approved by almost all organic certifying agencies. Organic or synthetic my concern is toxicity to humans and pets, bees and the environment in general.

Copper can help for bacterial foliage infections, but not very well. as can Mancozeb.

Why do you think you have no problem with foliage diseases near your house and I ask b'c the foliage pathogens are spread via air and embedded in rain droplets.

Carolyn

Carolyn, thank you!
I only mention plants near my house because I have planted same seeds same plants, so it is location and not the plants or seeds and I live about a mile away from community veggie gardens. So far every picture I found points out to Septoria but as you mention in another post tomato can have more than one problem going at same time so I do not exclude early blight issue. Are there any other bacteria or fungi that can be introduced to benefit decrease of Septoria? I went to box store and read labels on Daconil, precautions to use sound scary. But as you say, is it better not to have tomatoes at all and then go buy someone else and not know what they applied?

you can even bring it into your garden with infected pots, debris, pots, etc.

I forgot to disinfect 2 pots for tomatoes this year i bought last minute from my local green house garden center. God knows how long those pots were sitting in there.
Well, my 2 sweet pea tomato plants are not well. blight or black spot. Everything else in the planted beds seems to look ok for now.

That's why you need to clean sheer's etc.
good luck. I removed mine from the main garden and will treat with neem and protekt from Dyna gro.

Are there any other bacteria or fungi that can be introduced to benefit decrease of Septoria?

There are claims of such but no documentation to support the claim. Some organic gardeners will claim that foliar spraying with compost tea will retard (some so go far as to claim "cure") the common foliage diseases. They say something to the effect of high quality compost, brewed into an aerated tea, well diluted and sprayed weekly on the plants will provide beneficial bacteria that can control the development of pathogenic bacteria and fungi.

My issue with those claims IME is that while I foliar feed with compost tea I still have issues, given the ideal conditions, with the common diseases. Does it slow it down? Possibly. But not nearly to the degree that Daconil does.

So despite being a predominately organic gardener I use Daconil when necessary simply because I would rather have tomatoes than not have them and would rather have tomatoes that I can wash the Daconil coating off of than ones that have had systemic or unknown chemicals applied to them.

It boils down to personal choice.

Dave

you can even bring it into your garden with infected pots, debris, pots, etc.

&&&&&

It depends on which specific diseases you're talking about.

The fungal foliage pathogens can only attach to specific receptors on the leaf surface, for example. Which is why aconil is as effective as it is since the molecules cover those sites and prevent infection.

Maybe you're talking about some systemic diseases as in cauaing wounds with sheers, but I don't think contaminated pots, debris, etc, are the main way in which foliage diseases are spread, which is via wind and embedded in raindrops, and if plants in the garden have been infected with foliage diseases in aprevious year and spores and bacteria fall to the ground then it's possible to get what's called splashback reinfection when rain splashes them back onto the lower leaves initially, and then it can spread upwards on theplants.

In the disease Forum here there used to be what's called a Problem Solver with many links, I assume it's still there, and the two sites I think are best are the Cornell one and the TAMU one.

Carolyn

I've had my share of diease problems and i recommend Daconil. My tomatoes have grown a lot this picture was taken. Some tomatoes are the size of oranges.

This is very helpful information. I am pretty sure I have brown speck as well.( well my leaves not me, LOL)
Have removed the infected leaves and used Garden Safe 3 in one fungicide on Saturday night ( it was too windy just before dusk) and it rained the next morning. and the next day. and last night. no more spotted leaves but I can assume it is a matter of time.
I am going to get Daconil today and try that.
What type of sprayer do I need for this treatment? one that attaches to the end of a hose?
Thanks, yet another newbie!

You say:
I am going to get Daconil today and try that.
What type of sprayer do I need for this treatment? one that attaches to the end of a hose? -----
NO
You use a tank sprayer. Maybe holds 1 and 1/2 gal. of liquid. Be sure and follow directions.

Daconil also comes ready to spray, already diluted from the concentrate, which is about 26% active molecules, in a spray bottle with a nozzle.

Carolyn

Daconil also comes ready to spray, already diluted from the concentrate, which is about 26% active molecules, in a spray bottle with a nozzle.

Exactly. Otherwise if you can only find the concentrate use a standard 1-2 gallon pressurized (pump-up) garden sprayer as suggested on the product label.

You want a mist preferably, not the pounding spray one gets from most hose-end sprayers.

Dave

Thanks so much. I will go to a garden center, not a big box, and look for the daconil.

Update so far. One bed was treated with daconil once and rest of them with Serenade. Did not see difference as treatment choice. Still have some septoria. Kept Serenade and copper spray as method of choice. Added microbial inoculants and foliar spray with actinovate and potassium bicarb. Also added fertilizers Happy frog veggie formula or Jobs organic with biozome. Gave good drinks of compost tea with fish fertilizer and some bat guano 10-1-1. Finally seeing nice green foliage on my midget indet plants. They are loaded with fruit though and I ate my first Sungold so timeframe is still the same from previous years.

I'm still using Daconil but disease as started. Way to much rain. For the most part everything will probably be ok. Last year started tomato canning July 16, expect to be later this year with so much rain. Very dry in the year 2012. Zone 7, Tennessee

http://www.syngentacropprotection.com/assets/assetlibrary/daconil_techsheet.pdf

was not able to open the link above, would you mind just letting me know what was in it?

Lindalana, drakula may respond. I will respond as a picture