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Vegetable Gardening

ridding tomato cages of septoria leaf spot

7 years ago

It is my understanding that septoria lasts on tomato cages and will reinfect the next years plants.

I read that soaking the cages in a bleach solution would work (1:10 bleach to water) But since I don't have a tub big enough to soak them in, a friend said I could spray them down with that same bleach solution, which I did, and it didn't work (the next years plants got it.)

So, any other ideas? The only other thing I thought of was to get a few inches of the bleach solution in the bathtub and use a brush to scrub the cages. Or do I need to make the solution stronger?

Any advice appreciated.

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Comments (8)

bcomplx
7 years ago
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.
digdirt2
7 years ago
The fungus Septoria lycopersici requires living tissue to overwinter. It can't survive on cages. Plus the fungus spores are airborne and require high moisture/humidity to infect the leaves. Disinfect your cages if you wish but it won't prevent septoria, the most common world-wide disease of tomatoes.

You'll find much more discussion about this over on the Growing Tomatoes forum.

Dave
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Hi Carol. So far my 6 plants look good. I bought two organic tomato plants at Whole Foods where I purchased some last year and they did ok. I also bought one flat of 4 Sunsugar plants at Russell's and those look ok at this point too. We really do have to be careful with the tomato plants this year. There's been discussion on the Organic Forum about the late blight that hit the Northeast last year. Evidently if you have infected plants the disease spores can travel in the wind for miles. So careful atttention to leaf spots and pulling the plants if you think they have blight is very important this year. I think it's a great idea to report foliar problems on plants and figure out where they are being purchased.
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I honestly try very hard NOT to be overparanoid about things like this. I do not ever use anything in my garden except for homemade compost. I don't even add things to my soil as most gardeners do. I am also the person who uses steam to clean her house instead of chemicals when at all possible. I also figure though that for the times I do need to buy things in the stores, like right now when my garden is being moved and my canned goods are running out, I have little control over what they have done to the plants they grew my food on and they probably did WAY worse than a little copper fungicide. I don't have pets, but I do have a now 3 and 4 year old. Last year when they were 2 and 3 I didn't let them in the garden for the day I sprayed , but after that I let them back in. BUT, my kids also don't munch on leaves (well not of the tomato plants anyway) so I am not sure how I would feel about that. I am not sure what your plan for next year is, but I did my research before deciding to move my garden for other reasons. I was going to do solar sterilization. You will obviously need to do something otherwise you will have the same issue next year that you have this year. I will add a link below to solar sterilization. I haven't tried it, but with my tomatoes dying off early I figured I had enough time to cut my losses cover the garden up and bake the soil if I needed to get it ready for this year. I would be curious if anyone on GW has tried it. Here is a link that might be useful: Soil solarization
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The treatment of choice for most people is spraying with fungicides, usually copper based, but you won't get much backing for that idea in this forum. I don't know about septoria, but I understand that late blight needs host plant material all the time to survive (which is why crop rotation can work) and soil fungi are supposed to clobber late blight, so that seems to point to housekeeping and/or sanitation problems over the off season. I had this problem back when I lived in Exeter, but not here in Tucson, so I'm weather-lucky. In New Hampshire (damp and cool) we kept plants well separated and viciously nipped back. It seemed to work well.
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Septoria can survive on living tissue and plant debris but the odds of survival on metal is slim to none and it cannot create spores below 50 degrees so winter survival would be very limited if any. And since it is air borne any subsequent infections are likely from the air not the cages. But if you want to clean your cages then the standard cleaning solution recommended for disinfecting pots, trays, and other garden equipment is a 1:10bleach solution - 1 part bleach in 10 parts water. Dave
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elisa_z5
Original Author
7 years ago
Ha -- well I must have been reading the wrong info, or misunderstanding it. I would much rather not give my tomato cages a bath!

Thanks for the info, and I will find my way over to the tomato forum for more.
digdirt2
7 years ago
Link to several previous discussions about this.

http://www.gardenweb.com/gardenweb/query/disinfecting-cages/topic=tomato
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
7 years ago
Septoria propagules, the spores, can be found anywhere....including cages, stakes, pots, fuzzy little insects, birds, in the wind, etc. Good sanitation practices are important, but not a guarantee against infection.
gridgardener
7 years ago
heat sterilization of tomatoes cage works better then bleach
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
7 years ago
Grid, describe that procedure, please. With a steam machine or flame weeder?
gridgardener
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
bonfire according to Charles Wilber

like you could steam or flame cage with out missing parts

if cage is coated full bleach immersion might be only option

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