Downy Mildew On Tomato Plant

Question

I had a healthy garden up until about two years ago when a tropical rain storm came through and rained for 3 days. A few days after the rain stopped, I noticed a whitish, moldy look on some leaves. Soon after that, the leaves developed dead, brown spots, withered and then eventually died. This issue spread throughout my entire garden. I have tried Copper, Neem Oil and Daconil with no luck. Someone advised me that a Systematic Fungicide may be applied to the soil as well as to the newly emerging plants but I’m not sure if that is what I should do as I am not sure what the problem in the garden was in the first place? I plan to regrow cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelons, strawberries, peppers and onions, can you please provide me with advice on which product or products I need?

Tomato Blight

Answer

This sounds like downy mildew and/or tomato blight.

What I would suggest is to first amend the soil with compost.  I would also add some 10-10-10 or Garden food to the soil as well.  Then, roto-till the soil so that it’s nice and fresh.  Adding these materials will give some of the nutrients back into the garden.

After amending and roto-tilling the soil, plant all of your plants like you normally would.  Once everything is planted, use Agri-Fos as a Foliar spray.

For the Tomatoes and Peppers the rate should be 2tsp to 2oz per gallon of water every 2 weeks.

For onions it should be 4 tsp. per gallon of water every 2 weeks.

For the Strawberries use 2 to 3oz per gallon of water.  This should be done at time of planting than 14 to 21 days after and then repeat at 1-2 month intervals when disease is evident.  

For the watermelons and cucumbers apply 1 oz per gallon of water. Apply within 7 to 10 days of infection and repeat every 2 weeks as necessary.  

We recommend the use of Agri-Fos immediately after planting due to the fact that the disease was previously present in the soil. Agri-Fos can be sprayed on the plants up to 7 to 10 days before harvest. 

We appreciate you trusting us with your gardening questions and would love to hear back about your results! Have another question for our experts? Please do not hesitate to contact us at info@greatgardensupply.com.