New to the forum - already have a question

Hi all - I've been lurking around the forum for a while but finally took the plunge and registered.

Just for a little background, I am pretty fortunate to have grown up around agriculture all of my life. I grew up on a working rice farm and cattle ranch outside of Katy, Texas (which is about 40 miles west of Houston). In addition to farming rice, my family has always had vegetable gardens on the side. We're lucky enough to have a lot of room, so our vegetable garden is about 2500 sq. ft. and we usually have about a half acre pea patch.

We haven't changed things up alot over the years, but after doing some research on the internet, I've definitely realized there's alot of things we can improve and we've got LOTS to learn.

We've got about 50 tomato plants this year and, despite not having any rain and having constant 10-25 mph winds since we planted in mid-March, they are doing surprisingly well. However, in the past week or so, the leaves on some of the plants are developing some brown spots and turning yellow. Given the complete lack of rain (it has literally only rained once in the past two months) and the fact that we use drip irrigation, I didn't think we would have so much of an issue with fungus. However, based upon the symptoms of some of the plant, it looks like I was wrong.

Texas A&M University recommends copper fungicides (such as Kocide 3000) for use against other foliage and fruit-infecting bacterial pathogens. I purchased some CuPro 205 T/N/O (basically the equivalent of Kocide 3000) to try out. However, the directions aren't very specific when it comes to describing (i) how much product should be mixed per gallon or, (ii) how heavy or light the mixture should be sprayed on the plant.

I was hoping that someone on this forum might be able to help me out. Does anyone have any experience in using copper fungicides on tomatoes? If so, any recommendations on how/when I should apply the product?

Thanks in advance for your help (and sorry for the long-winded post),
Blake

I'm not going to be much help here, but... You might try calling or emailing the company that produced the chemical you are planning on using, or contact a local nursery or a commercial growers assoc. They might be able to help you. Our University here has a big "Extension Garden and Farm." They have Master Gardeners on staff to answer questions when people call with plant problems.

Greetings, Blake!

Sorry, but I have no advice to offer on your question.

Welcome! It sounds like those plants have been plenty stressed, and the circumstances are not ripe for fungus. I wouldn't rush to spray them...
If they are symptoms of early or late blight, the spray will not help. Are the leaves at the bottom more affected? Have you mulched around the plants? You might try removing the bottom leaves. At this point, I would take a wait and see attitude, on the spray. JMO
Happy Gardening!

The lower leaves will be the first to age and diseases, both minor and otherwise, will show up. Removal, as Lesa suggests, may be all that is needed to get the plants back to nearly a fully healthy state.

Some problems are always likely to be present but if you really think they are likely to suffer damage, the information from the pesticide manufacturer is probably best.

Perhaps, it is required that this information be posted on the internet these days. I have always been able to find things like this on the manufacturer's websites, anyway. SePRO makes CuPro and you can find their information here (click).

I don't see anything about applying it as a "drench" or until "run off," anyway.

Steve

Thanks for all of the responses. Just to address some of the questions and provide some additional detail:

We have planted between 5-10 of each of the following variaties this year:

-Celebrity
-Homestead
-Early Girl
-Better Boy
-Big Boy
-Big Beef
-Beefmaster
-Mortgage Lifter
-Brandywine
-Burbank Red Slicer

The Burbank Red Slicer, Beefmaster and Mortgage Lifters seem to be the hardest hit. I know that those are not hybrid varieties and lack the disease resistance of some of the other varieties (but the Brandywines are right next to the Mortgage Lifters and haven't been affected at all for some reason...).

For the plants that are "infected," there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to the pattern. The lower level leaves actually don't seem to be the ones taking the hit. Rather, it is generally concentrated on one or more of the upper branches. All of the plants affected still have new, healthy growth coming along so it doesn't seem to be killing the entire plant.

I think removing the affected branches first sounds like a good option. My main concern with that is that some of the affected branches are fairly large so I'm worried it could put the plant into shock and make it even more susceptible to disease (the yellowing actually started just a couple of weeks after we initially pruned the plants so I'm wondering if that may have started the problem to begin with).

We have not mulched around the plants so maybe mulching could help.

Also, that is a good idea to give the local university a call. Texas A&M is actually the university that recommended the treatment so I will definitely get in touch with them before I use the fungicide.

Thanks again for all of the advice!!

Hello and

I wish I had some advice for you, but I function organically and don't use those solutions. I use a good mix of Neem oil and water and get a good amount of protection from fungus, though I have suffered Blight in the past.

My suggestion is the same, contact the company for specifics for your situation.... or buy a 1 gallon sprayer and fill it up. It'll probably be way more then you need. Chances are you'll have to reapply a few times though to clear it up.

vfem said:

Hello and

I wish I had some advice for you, but I function organically and don't use those solutions. I use a good mix of Neem oil and water and get a good amount of protection from fungus, though I have suffered Blight in the past.

My suggestion is the same, contact the company for specifics for your situation.... or buy a 1 gallon sprayer and fill it up. It'll probably be way more then you need. Chances are you'll have to reapply a few times though to clear it up.

Click to expand...

Thanks - we've got some neem oil at the house that I will try.

Also, I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that copper hydroxide fungicides such as NuPro are actually certified organic (I think Texas A&M actually recommends it as an effective organic fungicide/bacteriacide). I'm no organic expert and I'm by no means trying to call anyone out, but I thought I would point it out in case someone wanted to consider it as an organic alternative (maybe they could try it out and let me know how it works)

I have used "Safer Soap" from Gardens Alive with success. It is a copper based product. Have you thought of putting some milk in water and using it as a folage spray. Its been a while on the safer soap, but I am thinking that it took very little,like a couple of TB per gallon? I dont think it needs to be too strong.

Hmmm . . .

Safer, Copper Soap Fungicide

digitS'