perennialfan, one of the most overlooked step in IPM is to identify which plants are inherently susceptible to specific disease and/or insect problems and to avoid bringing them into the garden. Unfortunately, your Rudbeckia is especially prone to septoria, and other leaf diseases, as well. This is your reality, no matter what the condition of the soil is. It's especially true now that this location has seen a bad outbreak. However, there are some things you can do that might make a difference. Doing all you can to foster a healthy soil system IS important, of course. And hopefully, you did a good housekeeping job in the rubbeckia bed last year by removing all of the old mulch and fallen debris from the plants. Avoid over crowding and over-head watering, too. You might want to research the possibility of 'disease resistant' hybrids, I don't if anything like that exists for Rudbeckia. Good luck! Maybe last year was a fluke and with some good management practices you can have a nice display this year. It's one plant that is missing from my gardens (by choice), however.

Sunshine...I feel your pain...hate is an OK word to use....it's emotional when you try so hard and your efforts are thwarted. I've never used a fungicide but will research it also. My problem is that it is very labor intensive to apply (especially with 76 plants) and every time I attempt to spray we get a downpour. Perhaps less plants and a concerted effort to find a good organic fungicide and apply it from the get-go will delay the inevitable...there's always next year. Hang in there, you're not alone. This post was edited by LKZZ on Wed, Aug 13, 14 at 21:49

From the LINK I provided You to read: Survival and Dispersal The fungus spends the winter in infected plant debris in or on the soil where it can survive at least one and perhaps several years. It can also be seed borne. New spores are produced the following season. The spores are transported by water, wind, insects, other animals including man, and machinery. Once the initial infections have occurred, they become the most important source of new spore production and are responsible for rapid disease spread.

I see episodes of tomato septoria often in summer, but don't see how disinfecting cages might help. No research has ever shown active contamination by equipment, and I've never noticed an association. Straw mulch has been found to suppress septoria, but since there is no resistance available, you d what you can. I cluster tomatoes in several spots in the garden -- 4 plants here and 6 there -- as a preventive measure. It's been my experience that when cool rain sets the stage, septoria will sweep through one bed but not another. The edges of the woods are full of horsenettle, and I think that's where the inoculum comes from.