Lexie,
If you want to get possibly some sound advice from the experienced gardeners here, a few pictures ( both long shots and close ups ) can speak loudly.

I am having the same temperature situation, ( 60sH ,, 40s L) . I see some yellowing, browning, some sun burns ...too.

I did get my hands on DACONIL yesterday and did the first application of the season. I am keeping a log and plan to spray every 10 to 15 days, weather permitting.

Sey

These are pics taken today of all the plants, the disease, and the sunburn. Any advice welcome. Thank you!

Dawn

Dawn,

What I
would do I f I was you is: I would remove the bad leaves – keep only 2 or 3 healthy ones on the
top – carefully take out the plants (don't bother the roots) and - because they are pretty leggy - I would re-plant them horizontally. Leave outside only 3-4 in. Water thoroughly.

IMMEDIATELY
after re-planting, I would mulch well, and also fungicide RIGHT AWAY. I use Copper Fungicide.

Try it with a few plants. See how it works. There is little you can lose.

Good luck
!

Yeah, I would do as Daniel just said.
ANY and ALL the the sick looking leaves should be removed at the first chance. Not that they are not making ANY contribution, but they are burden on the plant and offer invitation for disease. Diseases( I think) can enter through a sick organ much easier and then progress from there. .

But over all, I see no serious problems with your plants. That is just my opinion. I would fungicide real well, when there is a couple of rain free days and right after the rain stops.

Sey

Jennie, it's not just NC. Here in PA we've also had a cold spring. And we're just turning the corner too. The 10-day here says 70s and even some 80 degree days and nights in the 50s. Finally.

caryltoo, do you find normal 80' F for early May ? How much in June... July... August ?

80s is our August temperatures here in PNW.
Right now it is about 64'F and it is beautiful.

Sey

Dawn has a question about fertilizing and I Think I got things off track with my post about weather and I apologize, Can anyone help her out with her question about fertilizing? Thanks.

Jennie

I wouldn't fertilize for the next few days. But I would water.

I would
also use some shade. Depending on the percentage, it can lower 10 or more degrees the temperature.

Daniel, it has rained non stop here in NC for all of Aprill and been colder than usual. The last thing we need is shade. We need sunshine and warmth.

Sometimes more good is done by doing less. Your soil looks pretty rich so I would not worry about fertilizing. Also, they look pretty yellow so if they have been wet, let them dry up.

I meant if she plan to take my advice and re-plant. For 3-4 days is recommended shade to the new re-planted tomatoes.

Jennie, no worries about talking about the weather :) our weather has been absolutely crazy! I think it has contributed a lot to the problem. You probably got way more rain than I did though. It was mostly hit and miss storms for me, not much for an overall total, but enough to cause problems. And the temps in the 40s? I don't know if I ever remember that... At least not for awhile. I'm just glad the warmer weather is coming!

Replanting isn't much of an option at this point due to an injury I have. It's going to be a task just to plant my melon seeds. I did plant the tomatoes deep though when I planted, like as deep as possible which probably ended up being anywhere from 6"-12" depending on which part of the beds the plant is in. Most of the plants had several inches of stem planted. I keep saying I'm going to try the trenching method, but then chicken out at planting time. If I have to replant a replacement plant (which I am pretty sure I will, two of the plants are looking pretty iffy in if I will let them have a chance) I promise I will try the trenching method.

When the time comes to fertilize how long do I need to wait between daconil and fertilizing? I am going to do an every 7-10 day (or as needed when it rains) daconil spray starting tomorrow. I don't want to overwhelm my plants and kill them as I don't have many backups.

Also, should I remove the sunburned leaves that are turning brown? They don't look diseased, just like they are dying like the tomato in the fourth pic. I'm afraid if I strip all those leaves the tomato won't have much to work with.

So much to learn every year and different challenges... Just 3 years ago I had to battle a destructive hail storm that took out all my tomatoes and now I'm fighting disease from cool, rainy weather *sigh*. Of course, what fun would gardening be if there were no challenges?? ;)

Dawn

When the time comes to fertilize how long do I need to wait between daconil and fertilizing?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Dawn,
Those two are not related and each can have its own schedule.

Spraying Daconil is a PREVENTIVE measure for me. I am going to do it every 10 to 15 days, depending on the weather. I would spray when there is at least 2 days of rain free weather to follow. AND will spray again after the rain stops because the effect is washed out.
Fertilizing is another matter and depends on the soil fertility...etc.

Sey

Sey, by "Spraying Daconil is a PREVENTIVE measure..." you mean spraying from DAY 1, BEFORE the disease hits, right ?

My understanding is that Daconil helps prevent problems, not cure existing problems. Many do apply on Day 1 (although I didn't get around to it until Day 2) :)

Yes, it is my understanding too that Daconil is a preventative and should go on before disease. However, for me this year it started raining literally the next day after planting and stayed humid and rainy for the past 7-10 days since I planted. Yesterday was the first good day I had. If I would have sprayed at planting it would have been washed off the next day. So that is why the disease beat me. I am planning to give miracle gro today and spray daconil this evening after the sun is off my plants. Hopefully I can keep the upper hand, but if not I'll take what I can get. :)

Dawn

Yes, Daniel. I meant that you spray on schedule , to prevent diseases rather than waiting and fighting the disease which sometimes can be a lost cause.
The old saying : An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.

Sey

FROM DAY 1 ?

Not Necessarily from day one. .
I sprayed mine when/after I fished up planting and it took me couple of weeks. to do it. I am not that religious about it. I dont/didn't expect disease so early on when temps were in 38F 60F.. I could be wrong !

So I have a log keeping track of it : (1) - 5/1/15 >>>> sprayed daconil
This is just to remind me, in case my memory fails me. LOL

BTW: Daniel , What is the brand name of your copper fungicide ?

Sey

I read on
MANY places on the Internet, that spraying fungicide HAS TO start day one - and it makes a lot of sense to me. I always did
so, and… NO PROBLEMS.

In 2-3
weeks, WITHOUT spraying – especially if the weather doesn’t cooperate, and even
worse, if no mulching – plants CAN get diseases. After that is WAAAAAAAAY more
difficult to get rid of the diseases. JMO.

I used - with
EXCELLENT results - Copper Fungicide (Bonide). I highly recommend the product. I have NO connection with the company, just a VERY happy customer.

I RELIGIOUSLY spray from day one to last day.

Meantime, EPA still
says that Daconil is dangerous, so I have no plans on using it.

"Jungle" # 2. Plants are on BOTH sides of the frames.

I used here fabric mulch. VERY happy with the product.

Thanks Daniel

My raised bed have been covered with black plastic since early Feb. . I just make a cut ( + sign shape) , dig a hole , plant, cover with pine bark around the plant. So there is nothing to splash. The spray is mainly for air born fungus prevention.
I have no history of disease here other than mold, late September on., when it get cold and rainy. I have to find something to prevent mold. Probably will use Hydrogen Peroxide.

Sey

PS: I don't know about EPA. But I have read that Daconil as safe as some Organic fungicide. I will do a search on it.

Here is what Cornell Cooperative Center says about Late Blight:

PREVENTION:

If your plants have not

been infected apply fungicides containing

CCHLOROTHALONIL

follow the manufactures instructions.

I found also this thread in Vegetables Gardening forum, dated March 21, 2007.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1427376/daconil

> "Chlorothalonil
is a potential human carcinogen, known to affect the kidney, ureter, and
bladder in experimental animals."

E X T O X N E T (Cornell University,
Michigan State University, Oregon State University, and University of
California at Davis)

For me, the word POTENTIAL, is good enough NOT to use it.

And why should I try something else, when Copper worked for me?

I agree that Daconil is MORE EFFICIENT than Copper, but...

Sey, thank you for that old thread, and please provide link to that Cornell quote.

Of
interest: Using Organic Fungicides (Purdue University).

Sure thing, Daniel. Your heath and safety concerns are valid.
But there are ORGANIC stuff that can be as poison and potentially harmful . if handled improperly. JMO

Sey

Well, after fertilizing and spraying Daconil on half the plants, they are all looking better! :)

But now just when I start to get things going, I'm right in the path of Ana expected to get up to 50-60 mph winds. I have the metal cages up, but I am trying to decide if I should tie the plants to those cages or not. Just as a side note, I know the cages are pathetic but once the tomatoes get above the height of the cages, I usually stake with a wooden stake and tie the tomatoes to them for extra sturdiness. Would it be better to let them be or tie them to the metal cages? I don't have wooden stakes made yet, didn't think I would, so that's not an option. Help!

Dawn

Dawn,
Right now you dont need any stakes, as the plants are small.
You can just run some twine across ( criss cross) the holes, to keep the balance of the plants, when windy.

Sey

I am going to spray my seedlings with Immunox. It is taken up by the plant and not washed away by the rain. Only will use it long before they fruit. It is unlikely to be a carcinogen.

http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pdfImages/a3/a30ac883-2eaf-4486-af3c-9eb589b91e58.pdf

Well, just an update. The plants survived that storm just fine, only lost one growing tip...nothing bad at all. However, it is non stop humidity, rain, and disease.

I think we did go like 9-10 days without rain but that was an exception. Of course, I didn't spray fungicide during that time, I had second thoughts about continually using daconil. I think I'm losing the battle though and will have to use it this season for the first time in the 5 or so years I've been growing tomatoes. I know I should have used its as a preventative, but with as often as it is averaging rain I would have literally been spraying every 3-4 days or more often and I just would not have felt good doing it that often.

So now I have a whole bunch of tomato "trees" haha. I am being really good about trimming off diseased leaves. I know I currently have early blight, a little septoria, and possibly bacterial spot/speck. Either way, my plants are stripped of bad leaves and hoping it will buy a few days til the rain eases off again and I can spray. I also need to fertilize, which hasn't been done in a month... I had actually planned to fertilize Saturday but due to the rain my efforts would have been washed away and diluted out.

Heck, we had probably 2" of rain Saturday and then today we are already up to 1.5" with at least 2-3 more days of heavy rain to come. Ugh, this is one of the wettest years we have had in awhile.

On the bright side I think all of my tomatoes have flowers and probably 75% of them have fruit! I also have a lot of pepper flowers and fruit too. I am working on a blog loaded with pictures and once I get it fixed I will post a link so I can share pictures. Here's to hoping this weekend will be dry so I can do some spraying and fertilizing.

Dawn

Thanks for the update Dawn. I was wondering how your plants were doing. The daconil available to home gardeners is a very dilute version compared to that available to commercial growers. If you feel uncomfortable using Daconil all the time though, you could rotate it with some organic fungicides like copper and serenade. I think we must be in the same weather pattern. We had no rain last week and this week is forecast to rain everyday. Most of the heavy rains are going around us though. And right up to you ;-(

Jennie