Okay: I just read the info on my bottle of Daconil concentrate. Cover your skin, wear the appropriate kind of mask and goggles, and a shower afterward would be a good idea. Now I remember why I didn't use it last year. it even mentioned something about not eating the fruit off the plants Where did you see that? Why would they recommend it for use on tomatoes (not to mention other veggies) if you couldn't eat the fruit? What would be the point? It says wash your hands before eating, but I can't find anything about washing the tomato or waiting a certain number of days after spraying before eating. In fact, in the PHI column ("days required between last application and harvest") it says zero for tomatoes. I know Daconil binds to a certain site on tomato leaves (and stems?). Maybe it doesn't stick to the fruit? But I'd think they'd say something about washing the fruit (or, for other veggies, the leaves or whatever)....

No simple answer to that question. The organic choices are somewhat limited and results vary widely so it boils down to your choice of the options available. There are many discussions here about the various fungicides and their pros and cons. Something copper-based works best IME but when gardening organically Early Blight is also just something we live with. When it gets bad enough you just pitch the plant and plant new ones. The well-proven control is Daconil but it isn't organic. Fungicides are not specific to a disease, just to all fungus caused diseases, so don't think of them as "a fungicide for Early Blight". The same fungicide works for all fungus diseases. Nor are they cures. They can slow the spread but can only prevent if used from day 1 of plant-out. Dave

Cornell University and the University of Minn plant disease clinic are just a sample. Digdirt are you a little confused with diseases to even make such a broad based statement as you have ? Your statement that TMV has been virtually gone for the last 20 years is a very close minded assumption with nothing to back it up but ignorance of what your trying to talk about. You must not research anything because you can find it with a quick search. TMV can be either or both Tomato mosaic virus or Tobacco Mosaic virus or a combo of the two. Go to Cornell University plant disease website to verify some of this. You also have Tomato Mottle Mosaic virus which is a new one starting to show up more here. I have grown over 450 OP varieties here in the last 26 years and I can spot trouble on my plants very early on. Viruses are an every year occurrence we deal with here! In AG classes which I took at UF until last year, you never rule out anything. I was not there to see the spraying going on with Glyphosate, I can only assume the situation. I also have had almost the identical coloring as the tomato plant pics in this thread, and it turned out to be a virus more than a few times. It will go from that same coloration, to the later stages of the more fern like foliage. You do not know the exact virus it is, Cornell will explain that it is not possible without sample culture, just like I said previously with the original I.D remark in first post.

The label should tell you if you need to wait a certain number of days to harvest. IIRC, Daconil has no wait time to harvest when used on tomatoes. It would be almost impossible to avoid spraying your fruit if you're spraying correctly. Remember that you have to spray all stems, foliage (both top and underside), and preferably also all developing fruit as well. If you can do that and avoid getting anything on mature fruit, you are very talented.