Possibly.........
I would start at what the industry I have a career in refers to as a foundation.

Make sure your soil is the best you can achieve.

To me the soil is the #1 thing you need to get right before gardening anything with success. There are lots of good folks at the soil/compost forum.

Plant a cover crop this fall after turning the soil and letting it get rained on awhile.
Perhaps you might drench with a compost tea or Earthright.

This is the first year I used a spray on of compost tea and added the remains to the base of each plant.

After a bout with what I thought could be a disasterous virus, all of them are as robust as can be.

Yes I do have a few brown edged leaves and aphid ate up lower leaves but I have resisted pruning in any form until I absolutly have to. Some of the branches have wilted and leaves turn yellow.
I snip them off. Along with a brown caterpiller with stripe down his back.........?

Hope I don't speak too soon.....We are leaving behind (prolly for just a while ) freaky high extended humidity levels and entering HOT conditions.

This year my tomatoes have suffered from wilt. I don't know which wilt for sure -- it's the one with dark brown patches on the lower leaves surrounded by yellow, which eventually causes the leaves to die.

****

Peter, you/ve asked about wilt then said that the leaves have dark brown spots. What you're describing is a foliage infection and wilting is not a symptom of those kinds of infections.

Hybrids have no disease resistance/tolerance to foliage infections and nor do most OP varieties. Matt's Wild Cherry is what's called a cerasiforme and so I can see it might not come down with those kinds of infections.

If plants with foliage infections have shed the bacteria and/or fungi to the soil in a preceding year then splashback infection can occur and mulching can help but not prevent reinfection.

Sterilizing the stakes isn't going to help b/c if you've had infected plants in there before the soil already has those pathogens there.

And new infections can occur by windborne or rainborne means and you can't do anything about that other than to do what most others do and that's to protect the plants from when you first set them out.

Many folks use Ortho Garden Disease Control which is Daconil. Daconil is synthetic but can be applied up to the day of harvest and has a lower toxicity than does Rotenone, which is approved organic by every organic certifying agency that I know of.

Daconil is an anti-fungal so you need to know that the foliage infection you have is fungal in nature. If you go to the Tomato Pest and Disease Forum ,link at the top of this first page, look for Problem Solver #2 and then for links to disease sites.

The two most common fungal foliage pathogens are Early Blight ( A. solani) and Septoria Leaf Spot.

If the foliage infection is bacterial in nature, usually either Bacterial Speck or Bacterial Spot, then you need to consider using a copper containing product such as Kocide or similar.

You can also go to Google, select IMAGES and enter the disease to find pictures.

Copper containing products have some activity against fungal pathogens but they aren't as effective as Daconil.

But you really need to know if you're dealing with a bacterial or fungal foliage pathogen and sometimes both can be present at the same time.

Windclimber has suggested using compost tea but from all the feedback I've seen over the last decade or so they aren't known to be very effective.

The basis for their use is to compete with the foliage pathogens on the leaf surface, presumably blocking the specific attachment sites where the pathogens bind by competition. If applied to the soil they have no activity in blocking those leaf sites.

What Daconil does is to bind to those specific sites and is effective in preventing the fungal folaige pathogens from attaching.

Turning over the soil, not just rototilling it, where you grow your tomatoes also helps by burying the pathogens that are on the surface of the soil after bing shed.

Hope that helps.

Carolyn

Peter, will you please try an experiment for me next year on two or three tomato plants, leaving the rest as control plants? I have continued to 'play around' with the idea that baby aspirin encourages a plant to develop its immune system. The following formula shows promise. I have trialed it on tomatoes, green peppers and basil all of which are difficult to grow, disease free, through an entire season here in my southern garden. Further, I have noted some other differences in plant growth and crop set.

I am hoping that you and others will give this idea a fair trial rather than rushing in with all sorts of negative thoughts as posters on this Forum usually do. Perhaps the southeners growing fall/winter tomatoes will start trialing it right now. They may note some interesting results.

The formula: Place one chewable baby aspirin (81 milligrams) in one quart of very hot water. When the water cools, add one drop of lemon detergent (the type with no degreasers or antibiotics added). Buzz all with a hand blender for 30 seconds. Pour in hand sprayer and spray plants once a week or after a very heavy rain. Yes, weekly is best. Best to begin treatment while young plants are in the seedling stage. But, more mature plants also seem to respond well. Dispose of any left over spray. Formula may be doubled, tripled, etc.

I am hoping that you and others will give this idea a fair trial rather than rushing in with all sorts of negative thoughts as posters on this Forum usually do. Perhaps the southeners growing fall/winter tomatoes will start trialing it right now. They may note some interesting results.

*****

Nandina, good to see you posting again.

I don't think that most of the posters here are all that negative, I really don't.

I know I've remained skeptical of some of the experiments you've posted in the past but not everyone has. Well I remember your suggestions re corn gluten or was it corn meal, I can't remember, and I know several tried it with quite variable results.

I've heard of the aspirin treatment before, but haven't seen any data reported back from using it.

What have your results been with the aspirin and both fungal and bacterial foliage diseases?

I know there's also been a lot of interest in Messenger as well as Actinigard, I think the name is, and both are organic as well. I haven't been impressed with the feedback on Messenger re foliage diseases and I've not yet seen that much feedback on Actinigard

Carolyn

Carolyn,
Some random thoughts on your thoughts above.

1. Yup, there is negative feedback on this Forum. Happened to me again the other day. I didn't bother to answer.

2. Over the years I have introduced ideas into GardenWeb that are now standard practice. You mentioned cornmeal which I have experimented with on a grand scale. Thanks to those willing to experiment further we now know that cornmeal is the only effective control for lawn Brown Patch. It has numerous other applications and from the mail I have received does aid in discouraging fungus problems on tomatoes when sprinkled around plants and/or used as a cornmeal tea spray every two weeks. If nothing else it adds a gentle supply of nitrogen to the 'maters. Corn meal gluten has no effect on tomatoes but does provide about a 70% effective organic weed control when applied in the early spring to lawns.

3. I have been on the lookout for reports on Messenger and Actiniguard. No positive results reported for either that I can find to date. So, the search continues for a possible 'something' that might encourage a plant's immune system to strengthen, allowing it to resist various fungal and bacterial diseases. Tomatoes certainly are good test plants as they are vulnerable to many diseases. I suspect that in a lab somewhere genes are being manipulated in an attempt to find the illusive answer.

4. When the idea of using aspirin as an immune strengthener hit the popular press there were no guidlines given. After experimenting with weaker formulas for two years with about a 25% success rate I decided to try the formula and preparation method given above. It may have merit based on my observations so far. All I can do is toss the idea out to those interested in testing and wait for reports back.

carolyn: thanks; I looked at the pictures, and I'm fairly sure it's Early Blight. Problem is I'm organic and don't want to use any chemical solution to the problem. I have thought to turn the soil well and plant a cereal rye - hairy vetch cover ctrop. I would then mow it in May, leave the foliage lie, and plant tomato transplants into the stubble. And I believe tha Gardens Alive has a fungal solution, but I'm waiting to confirm this. What do you think? Regards, Peter B.

Hello Peter 6

For all diseases and etc....go to w.gardensalive.com. They have something called Soapsheild....that you use in water right from get go when starting with planting the seeds. And use it again when sprouting. They have any and everything you may need. All organic.....can be alittle costly I think worth it in the long run. Great fertilizers too! call or email for a pamphlet....and at late winter when they mail you out a the pamphlet it will usualy have a 25.00 off coupon. Also when the first tomato blossoms appear....use a tomato blossom spray (at usual hardware stores) you spray on the blossoms and you will get more tomatoes than a person can handle....over 48 tomatoes just from 1 tomato plant....x that by 20 varieties it was too much....was busy a cannin'good luck....happy harvesting next year!!! carrie

Peter, if I were you you and knew I had a problem with Early Blight and I wished to remain organic I'd consider using Actiguard or a copper containing product.

The method you suggest of planting in the stubble of a cover vrop was first suggested by the Federal Gov't and hasn't worked out well for most of the folks who have given feedback/

Please also check Peaceful Valley Farms for many organic products; they're online and excellent.

Carrie, I'm afraid I can't agree with you as regards Gardens Alive. Many folks think they are way overpriced and they don't reveal the contents of many of their products.

The Blossom Set you refer to was devised to be used ONLY in cold spring conditions when temps for normal self pollenization are too low; more specifically the PNW for example. It's a plant hormone and works by bypassing normal pollenization and fertilization so there are little to no seeds and other problems can include mushy and malformed fruits due to the abnormal development of fruits which occurs with this process which is called parthenocarpy/

If you go to the FAQ link at the top if this first page there's an article about Blossom Set.

The product does nothing when temps are OK for pollenization and the pollen is viable.

Carolyn

I plant winter wheat as a cover...Turning the soil only about 10-12 " at most, then sowing very thick. It is a great green contrast to the cold winter landscape. I let it grow till a good day in Feb. then just turn it over. It is decomposed completly by prep time in spring.

I am convinced that growing plants as robust and healthy from the start thru the summer gives them advantage over many obstacles.

I had a terrible bout with wilt last year because I believe I tilled to deep and brought up pathogens buried deep in the soil. I know for fact this can occur as I found in experiences with the front lawn.

I prepared the garden as above and the only thing I have done is added fresh compost, sprayed with compost tea, adding the remains to the root zone, and fertilized just the other day with seaweed extract.

I have almost all of the common diseases, only so far in very limited amounts. the plants are seeming to not succomb to them......except one side of my Giant Belgian yellowed and wilted. I pulled it ever so slowly tonight and then at the very last it popped out of the ground spreading soil around..... Dang it.......I will be trying the corn meal and aspirin next season to see if it will help with the foliars.

I know I could be dealing with Fusarium Wilt and find the only answer to keep amending and keeping the plant as robust as possible.

carolyn: Thanks for your advice. As an organic grower I need to ask: do you know whether Actiguard or products containing copper also kill benficial fungi? If they do, mightn't they kill fungi that supress the Early Blight microbes (if such beneficials in fact exist), and leave one worse off in the long run? Regards, Peter.

serenade works but you need to buy the concentrate as you will need a lot. you must spray before it gets bad. it prevents problems but nothing solves the problem once it grows down into the leaves. you need to get it early on the surface.

you should also do a garden web search of serenade.

Here is a link that might be useful: serenade