Bacterial Spot Heirloom Tomatoes

Discussion in 'Gardening' started by Dro Smoe, Jul 11, 2014.

  1. So, I went on vacation and came home to bacterial spot working it's way up the majority of my heirlooms (1/4-1/3 of the way by now) .. I'm working with Copia, Blue beauty, Cassady's folly, San Genovese, San Marzano, Yellow Brandywine, Porkchop, Orange banana, black krim and a few others that I can't place at the moment.. Most of them are about 5-6' in height with a few lagging behind..

    I think it's a little too late for a lot of them but I'll still give it a valiant effort.. I've begun the tedious process of removing every infected leaf I could find .. It really sucks (for lack of a better term, sorry) having to chop up what you've put so much effort into nourishing.. Perhaps I'm venting just as much as I'm looking for suggestions, sorry lol...

    I've sprayed a copper fungicide and am waiting to hear back on where to purchase Agriphage; not too keen on destroying my soil biology/beneficial insects etc ... Anyone know of a distributor?

    I was planning on planting my hairy vetch cover crop in late august but I'm a little apprehensive as I don't want to provide a home for overwintering .. Suggestions? Any advice will be greatly appreciated .. Threw in a couple extra pics .. Thanks in advance
     

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  2. Update: I'm thinking that I misdiagnosed and am actually dealing with Septoria... Any assistance is greatly appreciated.. thanks 
     
  3. Tomato leaf issues can be difficult to diagnose. However, based on the detail in the first picture with the gray/tan center of some of the larger spots, I agree that it looks like it could be Septoria Leaf spot. 
     
    Any signs of issues on the stems / branches of the plants?
     
    Aside from using fungicide for control on healthy growth, and carefully removing infected plants and / or plant matter, here are a few things that you can do:
     
    -Mulch to keep soil from splashing up onto your plants when it rains.
     
    -Plant the hairy vetch as a cover crop (member of the pea family). Some gardeners use cover crops as a 'living mulch'.
    -Keep your garden clean, make sure that all of the plant matter that you have removed is disposed of.
    -Make sure there's good air circulation (plant spacing)
    -Crop rotation - don't plant members of the night shade family (tomato, peppers, etc...)in an area that they were previously grown for at least 2 years. 
    -When supplementing water, water at the root zone.
    -At the end of the season, remove all spent plant debris from the garden (including weeds), dispose of diseased plant matter.
     
    Hope the fungicide does well keeping the tom issue at bay, please keep us posted.
     
    I haven't heard of Agriphage until now. If you can't find a distributor, I'd contact them to find out if / where you can get it.
     
    Thanks for sharing your garden with us, looks like the other plants you've shared are doing well. 
     
    Good luck!
     
  4. Thanks for the detailed reply!

    Yea I've noticed some small "greasy" dark spotting working it's way up the main stem.. I removed and disposed of the rest of the infected leaves today.. Finished spraying the rest of'em as well so fingers crossed lol..
     

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  5. That's one problem with the heirloom tomato's, Most aren't as disease resistant as say the hybrids but you can't match the flavor of the heirlooms. The crop rotation is really key here!! Like Yoda stated clean up everything at the end of the season. Good luck
     

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