I'm not giving up so easily on late blight. there is a lot of information on late blight on the internet. one post I read stated success in delaying death while getting tomatoes with frequent applications of fish fertilizer. Bayer serenade is omri certified for organic production and is primarily a biological and available at almost any garden center. a product from us ag llc out of Lutherville ga classified as an adjuvant called c4 has an effect on fungus and insect pests. its not 'organic but designed to reinforce friendly soil biology and help raise brix levels. there videos about baking soda as a garden fungicide. it works by ph regulation. last year i read a study on this and baking soda did not effect sodium levels in the soil. it's apparently stable and doesn't give up its sodium. even if it did you could neutralize that. I'm also hitting it hard with microbe teas made from fish both emulsion and hydrolyzed as well as tomato tone as it has a beneficial microbe package built in [and boy do the weeds love this stuff]. also check out the t and j enterprises website it's interesting. I'll try their product either later or next year it is intriguing. maintain a high brix readings in your plants that's the best way to avoid pests use nematodes for grubs. in this day and age there is no reason in my mind to wave the flag of surrender in short 'I've have not yet begun to fight'. even if I lose this battle the war is not yet over.

I haven't been reading all the threads on this forum or any for that matter this week with everything going on. Just read through this thread. I hate to start on a thread if I don't have time to read all of it. I could just say Ditto to what Dawn said and leave it at that. But then Dawn would be disappointed if I didn't ramble on aimlessly a little. I will address the issues in no particular order. Seranade. Last year I did like this year started off trying to go without spraying and then when I gave up already had some disease issues. I agree it is best to start if you plan to spray 7-14 days after transplant. I pruned leaves last year and then sprayed with Daconil heavy the first time and then at the regular rate and the first two on a five day rotation and after about 3 weeks things were going good. I then decided to try Seranade. No change in weather and no moisture. In five days I was in another mess. Early blight mainly and a few spot problems. I then went back to Daconil and stayed on a 7-10 schedule till Labor Day and then quit spraying and things were fine. So for me it hasn't worked well at all. I listened to the Rutgers/Cornell webex and they stated that they hadn't seen good results on a consistent basis with Seranade. Like Dawn said you need to balance that a little but have seen many say the same. Think it may work under certain conditions. This summer I have used Daocnil mainly along with two forms of copper and may try another. Copper seems to work better on the spot and speck. Daconil covers more diseases and works well especially on EB. I didn't spray during the last rainy spell due to rain every night. Not complaining. I did spray one night and got two inches a few hours later. When the rain quit and it warmed up I had some spot so sprayed with Copper. The EB took ahold again. So have been trimming leaves and spraying with Daconil and think I have it under control again. I have read some of the organic controls and have tried some from sources I respect. I haven't tried the skim milk yet but may sometime. Did try the peroxide this summer and may try it as a preventative next year. I saw some promise to it. But just thought I had better go with what I trusted as the insect borne diseases were getting so many didn't want to lose any I could possibly save. Think in a normal year that it might be enough. But will have to use it for a few years to make my final judgement. I usually try to go by the label on spraying schedules. Most will say 7-10 days or 5-7 days. I have seen several back east spraying every day or every other day and some have lost every plant and some have only lost a few after the Late Blight hit. Fortunately I have no real experience with late blight. With Early blight as a preventative I've had good results on a 10 day schedule if you have little or no rainfall and not many heavy dew mornings. If the dew is heavy or you have rainfall I would decrease that. With copper most of mine say from 5 days up. In a rotation I spray on the 5th day if weather allows. Now we get into some of my observations and opinions. Like I stated earlier in the year. I have less problems and better results in a normal year with plants planted late and even volunteers. There have been a few exceptions. This year is holding true. I put out several late for several reasons most covered in earlier posts. From me breaking off a few, early wilt on a few and then I had some plants that I wanted to grow that got stunted in a new seed starting mix also had a few nice plants left in the frames when I went to clean them out although most were rootbound and should of been out weeks earlier. This year is a typical year for them. Even the stunted plants have took off. No disease and setting fruit. Will they ever be as big of a plant. No. Will they produce more fruit per plant than the early ones when you figure all the ones I lost. Yes and I feel more. I know a market gardener not far from me and she is like me. She grows a few earlier ones because there is more demand and they sell higher earlier. But like she said the plants that really start producing around Sept 1st will do better and produce more with less care here in our climate. She is about 80 miles SW of me in the TX Panhandle. For me if I want to stay mainly organic later planting is the best in a typical year. I will continue to scatter my plantings from early to late so I can cover my bases. I'm also trying some direct winter sown and also starting some in the cold frames and then going into the garden a few days after they break the ground. The ones started outside seem to be healthier. And can withstand elements a little better. With all of this said I still haven't found a good plan for the insect borne diseases except rain. And they have been my big problem this year. And the other thing is stress caused by weather conditions. I was looking at some last night I had been threatening to pull for 7-10 days. They are looking better now and the purple is going out of most of the leaves. Shows it was stress and weather related. I've found no sure way to tell besides time or sending off a sample. Final summary is that Daconil works for me. The copper's work for a few specific problems. The Garlic Barrier spray I used this summer controlled most insects if applied on a five day or less schedule. It doesn't control hornworms or psyllids. BT and Spinosad worked on most of those that it didn't except the thrips. I didn't have near as many but a few. And that could of been because I wasn't spraying on a five day schedule. One thing I plan on trying next year is peroxide and Garlic Barrier on a 5 day rotation starting a week after transplant or emergence. Many say healthy plants will withstand a disease problem. I feel that it really helps but had some of my biggest and healthiest go down. And when it comes to the insect borne diseases I don't see much that help. Many say to kill all weeds around. But like I've told Dawn I've seen some of the best tomatoes this year growing is weeds and bermuda grass. i know one friend who let weeds grow in her plants and one marker grower who leaves all sunflowers. Saying they attract the insects that carry the diseases away from the tomatoes. i feel there is some truth to that. Hope your plants recover and do well. Jay

Hi, Are you sure it's late blight? If you can post some pics that would be more helpful. It sounds like it could be late blight but, after 2 weeks, you should be seeing lots of plant death. Also, when I had LB last year, I recall a fetid, rotting flesh type of smell coming from the plants and fruits. Your mileage may vary on that. :-) Anyhow, if it is late blight, the plants and any fruits are pretty much doomed. Oh, you can probably cut off any spots on the fruit and eat them (LB is not harmful to people), but I can't imagine anything more unappetizing. Otoh, I know how badly folks want those tomatoes, especially after all the time and effort you put into them. If you had planned to can the fruit or make sauce, forget about it. Late blight alters the pH of the fruit and, if processed and stored, can lead to spoilage of the product, perhaps encouraging the growth of other organisms that can make you sick. Late blight spores that produce asexually cannot overwinter in places that have freezes, UNLESS you have potato tubers in the ground. Asexually-produced LB spores can only survive in living tissue. If underground potato tubers are not removed, the spores may overwinter in the potatoes. Since most parts of the country have freezes, it kills tomato plants (above ground plants), thus killing the plant tissue and the spores cannot survive. Potatoes, on the other hand, being underground and not killed by freezes, can host the LB spores. This is why it's important to dig up and destroy infected potatoes. This type of LB (the asexual reproduction type) cannot be transmitted via seed. This is the most common type of LB found. To further complicate things, there is a so-far very small number of LB spores that reproduce sexually, and they can survive without living plant tissue. These are very rare and uncommon enough that there is no reason to suspect that currently. If you get a confirmation on the LB, the plants and fruits should be bagged in plastic and sealed. You can put the sealed garbage bags in the sunlight for a few days to heat them up, which might help destroy the spores, then put them in the garbage. As you probably know, do not compost any part of the plant. This is especially important in your part of the world, where it's warmer. If it is LB, you have my sympathies. I and many others lost every single tomato plant to LB last year, usually before we got any tomatoes at all. [It didn't infect the peppers, however.] We know how sad it is.

Affects taste and flavor. Your toms don't have late blight. One at lower left has an early rot of some kind. Eat it soon but trim out the soft areas first.