Hi - can someone please recommend a spray that might save my tomato plants? TIA
lythande1,
Nov 19, 12:59pm
Natures Way Copper and Sulpher spray. Save them from what? If they already have advanced blight for instance, it won't. Prevention is the key. Spray regularly before there is a problem. If it's just a wee bit. cut it off, spray regularly and you might be lucky.
This is also a spray I use for powdery mildew too. before it comes. I've kept it at bay for most of the lifespan of the plants (courgettes for instance). got a bit slack at the end and sure enough, mildew. but by then the plant was nearly done.
Likewise toamtoes, never had an early blight problem. Have had late blight. but again, at the end of the plants life anyway. and due to slacking off on the spray.
Copper and sulpher are on the organic permitted list BTW for those that worry about that.
cantabman1,
Nov 19, 2:18pm
I have sprayed my 13 Toms twice already to prevent fungus and disease, as last year they were hit hard mid season with bugs and fungus attacks.
nonumbers,
Nov 19, 3:49pm
Thanks lythyande - only 2 affected are the recently purchased ones as per my other thread, but guess I need to be proactive for the other tom plants.
lythande1,
Nov 19, 5:51pm
Chuck the blighty ones, get a couple more. Spray as soon as they are in. Every week or so is fine, use the combo spray, copper is good for blight, sulpher for other fungal issues.
maclad,
Nov 19, 9:27pm
I always remove the lower leaves from my plants when I put them in and continue till the flowers bloom. Blight is soil borne and contacts your plant when water splashes on the lower leaves. Also keeping the leaves dry when watering helps with other fungus diseases. Copper is a preventative spray rather than a cure so needs to be applied from the start.
wasgonna,
Nov 19, 9:40pm
Very hard to keep leaves dry when it's raining, but yes I know what you mean.
bluefrog2,
Nov 20, 12:36am
I don't like to use copper spray on my tomatoes as they're planted in the glasshouse, and I'm not sure if copper will accumulate in the glasshouse soil. Milk and bicarb spray is strictly preventive only, once the plant is obviously affected, it's too late. Any malingering tomato plants get pulled up and tossed. This can get expensive if you're buying larger tomato seedlings to begin with, so I tend to sow some tomato seeds and have a combination of seed grown and bought seedlings. Some years, the weather is simply no good for tomatoes - hope this isn't one of them.
m16d,
Nov 20, 1:53am
Copper is a "heavy metal" accumulates in your system. poison. use something else. Commercial growers don't use it. Home grown veggies are supposed to be healthy, not full of poison.
tourer100,
Nov 20, 1:57am
What do commercial growers use? And as for strawberries, bought 5 days ago and they still look like they were just picked, yeah right, must be sprayed with all sorts.
m16d,
Nov 20, 2:05am
Dunno what the commercial fella use but have a look at something like this.
Funny how copper has been used for generations and the humans still survive.
family007,
Nov 20, 3:00am
m16d wrote: Copper is a "heavy metal" accumulates in your system. poison. use something else. Commercial growers don't use it. Home grown veggies are supposed to be healthy, not full of poison.[/quote I work for a commercial grower and up until recently we used Copper spray for fungi. We only stopped using it as we did find something better. So to say commercial growers don't use it, is incorrect.
Actually commercial growers do use copper hydroxychloride along with several other chemical sprays to prevent blight and other fungal diseases. A combination of sprays is required for effective disease control
lythande1,
Nov 20, 1:04pm
Yates Fungus Gun contains myclobutanil. Workers exposed to myclobutanil have reported symptoms such as skin rash, allergic dermatitis, itchiness, nausea, heachache, diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting, nosebleed, and eye irritation (CDPR).
The compounds permitted for organic farming are copper sulfate, copper hydroxide, cuprous oxide, copper oxychloride, copper ammonium carbonate (at a maximum concentration of 25 g/l), and copper octanoate.
According to the Soil Association the total copper that can be applied to organic land is 6kg/ha/year. This limit is designed so that the amount of copper in the soil does not exceed the limits specified in the Soil Association standards for heavy metals.
socram,
Nov 20, 2:15pm
Last year, (as this) I planted three tomato plants straight into the bag of tomato compost. No spray, no feed other than plenty of water and two of the three plants produced nearly 300 tomatoes between them (one was a Sweet 100 plant) and the 3rd plant just - 3 fruit. (Dr Walters).
Would you still recommend spraying this year as I have done the same again - but two bags this time? I'm great believer in prevention being better than cure, but not keen on spraying anything with any chemicals. Plants looking extremely healthy again so far.
bluefrog2,
Nov 20, 3:07pm
I don't usually spray tomatoes at all. The milk and bicarb spray is for the apple and pear trees, and for cucumbers and courgettes if I've planted any (none this year). For tomatoes, I try to water at the roots in the mornings so the leaves don't remain wet overnight. Every few weeks, I give the plants a bath with very dilute soapy water - this helps control aphids. Planted in the glasshouse, so rain is not such an issue. And any plant that looks sick gets pulled up and tossed. More important is to fertilise lightly but regularly, preferably with a liquid fertiliser.
EDIT: I guess the "bath" would be considered spraying. Spray on soapy water, rinse off with the hose. Make sure there's enough time for the leaves to dry before nightfall.
doree36,
Nov 20, 3:39pm
last year I was told to push a piece of copper wire 8cm long,10cms above the ground through the main stem of the plants - not a sign of blight. Had over 300 sweet 100s and a big yield from my moneymakers too have done it again this year. happy gardening to all
eljayv,
Nov 20, 4:13pm
James Wong U K Unbelievably, spraying a dilute solution of aspirin onto your tomato plants d(we are talking half a soluble tablet per litre of water) is capable of causing their sugar content to soar one and a half times and boost their Vitamin C content 50%.
This treatment can even make your plants more resistant to cold, drought and (not that we'll ever need it in the UK) heat stress too. According to one trial this can even result in a 47% less incidence of late blight, the scourge of tomato growers,
This works as aspirin is a close chemical copy of the plant stress hormone, salicylic acid, which turns on the genes that regulate their defence systems.
The more stress a plant 'thinks' it is under, the more sugars are redirected to the developing fruit in a bid to make them irresistable to passing animals. Plants do this to ensure their seeds have the maximum chance of being dispersed to save the next generation, but it conveniently makes for tastier salad too!
wasgonna,
Nov 20, 4:45pm
Yep, this has been done for years by many people. Seems to work.
lythande1,
Nov 21, 12:46pm
Everything is a chemical. tomatoes contain Solanine remember. You can take the risk. but copper prevents blight. Up to you.
trade4us2,
Nov 21, 3:11pm
I had 11 months of Sweet 100 tomatoes last year. I never use sprays. For two years I dug out all the old soil and filled the hole with compost.
nzoomed,
Nov 21, 4:14pm
What about the copper pipes that your drinking water goes through in the house? No one has died from it!
Quite safe, can be toxic in VERY HIGH quantities. I dont think it qualifies as a heavy metal though, not like lead, mercury or cadmium etc.
gwimweeper,
Nov 22, 12:07am
You are right in that copper is one of the elements classified as heavy metals.
But like everything whether or not it is poisonous depends on how much of it there is and where it is.
Like some other heavy metals copper is required by the body for metabolism.
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