We use daconil but even with spraying frequently the plants get EB and it's a frustrating experience

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That surprises me b'c Daconil is exccellent at preventing EB. 100% of the time? NO, nothing biological is 100% of the time.

Are you using the right concentration of Daconil as diluted from a 29.6% concentrate?

Do you start spraying when the plants are put out b'c Daconil is not a cure.

All NEW infections with EB are via the air and embedded in rain drops. But infected plants can shed the spores to the soil and then the next year splashback infection can occur and starts by infecting the lower leaves.

Since the spores can stay in the ground for several years it's a constant problem. Turning over the soil in the fall to bury the spores works for some.

Several years ago I know at SSE the buildup of EB and Septoria in the soil had become so bad that they had to make all new plots for growouts.

I grew my tomatoes in a field where a local farmer plowed under deeply in the Fall and then sowed his winter rye.So I didn't have problems with splashback but did with new infections every year. And I grew tomatoes in that field from 1983 until 1998 when I had to retire and moved to a new location and had few fungal foliage problems and yes, that same farmer did spray Daconil for me.

Since moving here in 1999 I switched to tgrowing organically but faced with a possible serious Late Blight problem here in the NE I had to make a decision and that was to have tomatoes or possibly no tomatoes, so Daconil was used last year.

Molecules of Daconil ( chlorothalonil) cover the specific attachment sites for EB on the leaf surface as well as for Septoria as well as Late Blight ( P.infestans) so no spores can attach and initiate infection until those molecules wash off. Spraying every 5-7 days is recommended.

Daconil has been around for about 30 years and is the main antifungal used for many things worldwide but for tomato fungal foliage dieases the large scale commercial farmers rely on it as do many homegrowers and that's b'c it is effective.

So I remain a bit puzzled why Daconil sprayed as a preventive doesn't work for you. Sigh.

Carolyn

Carolyn - first off thank you very much for your response - I will say that we spray as often as we practically can - we have about 25 plants and they get big and it's been a rainy humid year but it's such a battle and they still don't look very good. I am not religious about measuring the daconil when I mix it - maybe I need to be more specific.

I am going to snap some new pictures and post them and see if you agree it's EB.

I cannot for the life of me find the cable to upload the pics from my digital camera so I ordered a new one. When it arrives I will post.

We were just discussing how discouraging it has become and I thought I'd post again and see if there was anything like a soil drench or something that we could try to see if we could improve the situation.

Thanks again very much.

Cindy, the way you dilute the concentrate, and do be sure it's the 29.6% one b'c there are formulations that are less than that, is VERY important in terms having enough molecules to block the attachment sites on the leaf surface.

it was quite a few years ago that someone using Daconil said it wasn't working, and then I thought it might be either Bacterial Speck or Bacterial Spot but with more questioning it turned out that the person was using some brand that had only about 12% Daconil which explained why it wasn't effective.

IN your first post here you said that what you had was EB and then said that sometimes you also had Bacterial Speck and.or Spot, so I thought you were saying that you were sure that it was EB that was causing you the most trouble.

have you looked at any good disease diagnosis places on line to help make the diagnosis if you still aren't sure?

if not I can give you a couple I think are good. The problem with trying to Dx diseases from a picture is that while pictures are static, diseases are progressive.

Carolyn

Carolyn, first off yes indeed I would appreciate what you consider to be the best disease identification sites.

I pulled the bottle we are using and it is indeed 29.6% and we mix it about a T to a gallon, sometimes a little more.

Also - does it lose effectiveness if it sits too long? I am not sure how old this is but it might be a year or two - maybe that's the problem? I had worked out of town for several years and the garden maintenance really got lost and I'm sorting things out now.

I have always fought with it but it seems the treatment is less effective now.

And in the past I would notice some of the speck/spot stuff early in the season sometimes. Honestly I need to go out and really study them, but it sure looks like EB to me based on what I diagnosed years ago.

Do you also mulch the plants heavily to avoid splash back? And do you overhead water? Lack of mulch and overhead watering are both contributing factors to EB.

With weekly spraying of Daconil, 5-6" layer of straw mulch, and only ground level watering I have been able to severely limit the EB this year to just a few plants and they are the ones with the least sun exposure.

Dave

Dave yes. We do have thick straw mulch and we put down soaker hoses and never overhead water. We have sprayed very religiously with each rain. And a week to 10 days without rain. And the garden is in full sun.

I am going to go out and buy a new bottle of Daconil tomorrow - we had another pouring rain last night. I'll work to remove the bad foliage one more time and spray well.

Despite it all we are getting lovely tomatoes - but I want to extend the season another month anyway.

Thanks again to all.

5b - You may be somewhat close to me. If you are (illinois) than the rain has been just brutal and no amount of spraying will keep your plants pristine. I had Eb on my cherry toms but was able to knock it out early with 2 sprays. Roma's are another battle. Lots of early blight around this year.

Next year you may want to consider a sticker agent to your sprays. nufilm 17 (30 day phi) and Nufilm p you can use it within 7 days of harvest. It may help knock out fungus early so you dont have to spray as much.

http://www.groworganic.com/item_PSA710_NuFilm_P_Gallon.html

First off my sincere apologies - after the last nasty storm on Sunday my internet connections have been down and they are just now repaired thank goodness!

I went out yesterday and looked hard at the situation - while in the past I do think we had EB, I see very little of the telltale concentric circles - the leaves are yellowing in patches from the bottom up and it seems from reading the sites this may well be verticillium wilt.

Would it make sense tthat once I got that somehow in my soil that now I have it and I believe it is a combination with other things that makes it confusing.

If this is indeed the diagnosis - is there anything to do (besides planting those resistant varieties that aren't the ones I want to grow) other than move the garden?

I saw just a very few leaves of EB on close current inspection and it would explain why the daconil isn't helping.

Doesn't make it less frustrating.

can you post pics? that would help.

From the sounds of it they just may be water logged. Yellowing bottom leaves are the sign of too much water.

They are not waterlogged - our property sits on a hill and we simply are never too wet.

The plants are seeing the yellowing foliage starting at the bottom but proceeding up - and they really are starting to look awful wilted despite all the rain.

I went out and snapped a few quick pics - yesterday I had stripped off nearly all of the bad leaves to stuff a little plastic bag full and carried to the burn barrel.

Here's the garden earlier in the season before the disease set in much just to give you an idea of spacing and culture.

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I was driving around our small little town yesterday and noting all the gorgeous disease free thriving tomato plants - I suppose they could all be a bunch of hybrids. The plants in the pics are Pruden's Purple and Kellogg's Breakfast. We are really getting rather phenominal tomatoes right now - but the plants just are not thriving.

I know we need to move them to a completely new section of the garden and we are going to do some really good soil improvement this fall. I should find pictures of when I first was really growing tomatoes - they were just HUGE and so healthy! I used to use a lot of compost tea in those days.

Anyway I appreciate any and all thoughts. :)

It really is terribly difficult to look at those disease pictures and nail it down. Thanks again to everyone.

Cindy, I have fewer plants than you I suspect, and am picking off these leaves faithfully and before it gets to the stage of your second and third picture. Mine are just the lower leaves, an occasional inside set of leaves. Otherwise the plants are fabulous. I understand the confusion, is it EB or not? I am spraying alternately with Actinivate and Serenade but have Daconil in case things worsen.
Karen

I think if you have Daconil but haven't used it yet, if the time comes you think you need it, it would probably be too late.

Many people buy something and wait until they think they need it, however, it's best used as a preventative, from the day the plants leave their trays and go in the ground.

I had about 15 inches of rain in 30 days earlier in the season and even though there is good surface drainage, I had one plant wilt a bit because it was so wet and soggy. And 2 or 3 plants in there lost some lower leaves. I wouldn't dare mulch here until late June.

I have been spraying religiously since early June - well before there was any sign whatsoever of any problems.

I just don't think this is early blight anymore - now that I relook at the disease pics.

It has been a really strange year - warm and wet May very warm and wet June - downright hot and terribly humid - then it got hot and dry for 3 weeks in July and recently we had a deluge of 4" of rain in a week and now it's hot and humid again.

But we struggle with this every year.