Hi bon - first if there was an infestation of squash bugs that went untreated then the odds are 9:1 they where what did in your plant leaves, not any disease.

Second, if there was some 'disease', few if any of the common garden diseases (or pests for that matter) carry over from one family of vegetables to another. With a few exceptions they remain within the family. That is what allows us to effectively rotate crops when necessary. Tomatoes are members of a very different family from squash.

Third, since most common tomato diseases are also airborne even more so than soil-borne, IF yours get a disease this year the odds are it would be airborne, not from the squash soil area.

Mulch for any plants is always a good idea and while cardboard may not be the best it is better than none at all. Cardboard's primary benefit is keeping down weeds so topping it with hay works well for both.

Do you have everything covered? Wellll that all depends on if you are willing to use fungicides to prevent the common tomato diseases or not. When the weather doesn't cooperate with us, which it seldom does, regular use of fungicides is the only way improve your odds of preventing the most common tomato diseases. If you opt to use fungicides (many discussions here about them) then of course the plants couldn't be left to fend for themselves. But then they rarely can be. :)

Dave

PS: welcome to the forum too!

Ahh I see hoosier beat me to it on the fungicides.

Hoosier,
thank you. I'm in central Oklahoma just a tad to the north and right on the zoning line between 6b and 7a and the weather acts like it. Fortunately, it's not a tornado magnet (knock on wood). But we now have earthquakes to make up for the lack of tornadoes.

Dave
Thank you so much. I forgot about diseases being species quarantined and also that many pathogens are airborne.

The cardboard will help moisture needs as this slope dries quickly. I recall the rich clay loam being as far as 5" deep. Everything I plant there takes a bit to establish and then, boom, it grows like crazy. I was worried that placing cardboard might contribute to an unknown problem. I appreciate the replies and will look at the fungicides threads. We've had a wet year, so far.

Hi All, question; Is daconil considered a fungicide or a preventive? I've used it every year for the whole growing season with excellent results.

Jbann,
Daconil is both fungicide AND preventive.
It is much effective to spray to prevent the fungal/bacterial diseases, rather than after infestation trying to fight them, which often won't be a cure. .
So unlike pesticides ( used after identifying the pests) , fungicides are used even without the existence of disease, on some kind of regular schedule.

I will start spraying my tomatoes with Daconil right after plant our, once every 2 weeks.
AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN A POUND OF CURE !

Good analogy with the pesticides.

Daconil is a fungicide. It has a preventative role IF and only IF it is applied prior to the fungus spores contact the leaf surface as it prevents them from attaching. That's the reason why spraying it from the first day of plant-out and especially so when conditions are conducive to fungal growth.

Once the disease has set in it, like all fungicides, it becomes a control agent only. Not a preventative and not a cure.

Dave

Where do you guys buy your Daconil I'm having a hard time finding it in the big box stores. I'm using Ortho garden disease control now but would like to use Daconil.

Ortho Garden Disease Control and Daconil are the same chemical - Chlorothalonil - just different brand names. There are several brand names. Around here you can easily find the Daconil brand at Home Depot, Lowes, even Walmart in the red plastic bottle.

Dave

Yes. Mine is NOT daconile but Ortho.
Read the ingredients .
One more thing: It is economical to buy the concentrate , rather than ready to spray bottle.

Seysonn

When buying Ortho be sure to look at ingredients. You'll want 29% Chlorothalonil for it to be strong enough to compare to Daconil. Start spraying early and don't relent.

This forum is so helpful. I've never used the daconil from plantout before and have always had issues. This year I'll spray them when they go out.

I got a lot of really good advice here and would like to thank all of you. THANKS

BUMP.

Talking about avoiding disease .. rather than trying to fight it.
I like this old saying:

AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN A POUND OF CURE.

Having said that I have put in place a fungiciding schedule. Weather permitting I will spray every 10 to 15 days.
First spray : May 1st, 2015
Second spray May 15th, 2015.
The reason for delay was rainy weather..
I have a log and write down the dates that I spray. It is nailed on the wall of my tool room.

Do you have a prevention schedule ? How do you do it ? what do you Spray with?
I have 3 kinds of fungicide : (1) Daconil (2) Neem Oil (3) Copper fungicide. .
So far I have used Daconile. The next time I will use Copper Fungicide and then maybe Neem Oil.

Sey