I'm glad it has helped. Sometimes it can be very frustrating even for me and I have been using the bleach treatment for years but like anyone else I sometimes procrastinate doing what I know is necessary and then the plant pays the price. It took me several years and some bad experiences to finally realize the earlier you dive in and treat the plant correctly the better the chance for a good outcome. Just remember to never get in too much of a hurry and mix the stuff too strong or too weak as either will result in a poor outcome. I have had the best results with the least damage by spraying after sundown but sometimes I do spray early in the mornings and sometimes even in the middle of a cloudy rainy day; but only if I'm sure the sun won't be coming out.

Bill

I went out today and sprayed everything in my garden except my pepper plants with the diluted bleach spray. I have seen a little gray mold on a few things like beans and some squash and cucumber leaves and Early Blight is worse on my tomatoes this year than it usually is so I sprayed them from top to bottom. We have been having showers almost every day and sometimes three or four times a day and the humidity has been awful. With the constant rain it is hard to apply Daconil and expect it to stay on for any time at all and even copper is not very good when it rains this often. The forecast for the next ten days is over 50% chance of rain all but two days so I am expecting an onslaught of diseases, pests and split tomatoes.

Bill

Last night I went out to check on my garden and found what I think was powdery mildew (or possibly grey mold) on my cucumber leaves. Mainly down at the bottom of the plant. I pulled off the effected leaves and this morning very early, I sprayed the entire plants with a copper spray. I want to follow up with your bleach spray and will also be spraying my tomato plants which are near the cucumber plants.

How long do I wait after spraying with the copper spray to use the bleach spray? A few days? Don't wait? Should I spray my tomato plants with the copper spray also? Also, we are expected to have rain showers tomorrow and possibly for the next several days after. Of course the horrific humidity here is a daily thing.

[QUOTE=tarheelchick;647270]Last night I went out to check on my garden and found what I think was powdery mildew (or possibly grey mold) on my cucumber leaves. Mainly down at the bottom of the plant. I pulled off the effected leaves and this morning very early, I sprayed the entire plants with a copper spray. I want to follow up with your bleach spray and will also be spraying my tomato plants which are near the cucumber plants.

How long do I wait after spraying with the copper spray to use the bleach spray? A few days? Don't wait? Should I spray my tomato plants with the copper spray also? Also, we are expected to have rain showers tomorrow and possibly for the next several days after. Of course the horrific humidity here is a daily thing.[/QUOTE]


I have always sprayed the bleach spray first then followed up with the copper spray. The bleach spray is more of an existing disease killer and the copper is better for longer lasting prevention of diseases but it does also stop some mild diseases. I am not sure how effective copper is against powdery mildew because I have never used it to stop the disease once started however you might want to wait a day or so to see if the bleach spray is necessary because the copper just might be enough.

Bill

Bill.. Almost a week of rain, a couple of cloudy dry days and now back to days and days of rain. Sometimes it all day long and some times just a short rain, more a sprinkle, and then dry and rain again. I hate this on and off.

Looks like we have a whole week again of rain everyday. Looks like you may be getting it too. Do you go out and spray the bleach after every rain, even the light rains?

You may or may not know this. Last bottle of bleach I picked up, didn't notice til I got it home that it has Tropical scent added to it. Will it hurt the plants to use it or should I go get regular plain bleach?

[QUOTE=Starlight;651156]Bill.. Almost a week of rain, a couple of cloudy dry days and now back to days and days of rain. Sometimes it all day long and some times just a short rain, more a sprinkle, and then dry and rain again. I hate this on and off.

Looks like we have a whole week again of rain everyday. Looks like you may be getting it too. Do you go out and spray the bleach after every rain, even the light rains?

You may or may not know this. Last bottle of bleach I picked up, didn't notice til I got it home that it has Tropical scent added to it. Will it hurt the plants to use it or should I go get regular plain bleach?[/QUOTE]

I would not use a bleach with any scent added to it. I have no idea what it will or won't do.

No I don't spray the bleach spray after every rain. I will use it every couple of days during rainy weather. I have sprayed it every day for a three or four days when fighting Gray Mold or Late Blight. It might be a good idea but I don't have the stamina to spray that often. Of course there can always be too much of anything and that sounds like it might be pushing it as often as it has been raining. I would have had to spray 4 times yesterday if I was doing that.

Bill

Thanks Bill! Appreciate the advice. So far I don't have any problems, that I can see anyways, but with the high 90's, high humidity and more rain, I got a feeling that problems will arise and I want to be ready, especially if Gray Mold moves in. Which it will down here at some point.

It bi passed me last year. I had all cherries though. I did spray twice last year when I saw everybody else in neighborhood with major cases of Late Blight as a preventative.

Right now, I just been going out after every rain, even sprinkles and shaking excess water off the plant leaves and the tomatoes.

I'll get the right bleach when I go store.

In your experience are the bigger fruited and older heirlooms more suscepatble to Gray Mold and Late Blight down here?

[QUOTE=Starlight;651257]Thanks Bill! Appreciate the advice. So far I don't have any problems, that I can see anyways, but with the high 90's, high humidity and more rain, I got a feeling that problems will arise and I want to be ready, especially if Gray Mold moves in. Which it will down here at some point.

It bi passed me last year. I had all cherries though. I did spray twice last year when I saw everybody else in neighborhood with major cases of Late Blight as a preventative.

Right now, I just been going out after every rain, even sprinkles and shaking excess water off the plant leaves and the tomatoes.

I'll get the right bleach when I go store.

In your experience are the bigger fruited and older heirlooms more suscepatble to Gray Mold and Late Blight down here?[/QUOTE]

Gray mold wasn't much of a problem for me either last year but it was due mostly to the lower than normal humidity and the scarce rainfall.

Gray mold hits black and GWR varieties mainly. I rarely see it on other varieties.

Gray mold hits plants with bushy heavy foliage fastest and worst. The lack of air and sunlight increases the speed with which GM develops and spreads. Wet damp conditions also increase its spread and severity.

Almost every black variety in my garden has already lost some leaves to GM so you should be seeing it soon if you have any black tomato varieties.

Bill

After an early wet and cold start to the year we warmed up and dried out, and that was just what the doctor ordered for the tomatoes. Lately we have been wet and humid, I noticed EB starting on 1 plant and Septoria starting on 3 or 4 plants. I removed affected leaves and returned to the bleach spray--this time with Clorox--4 fl. oz per gallon of water. We may get rain tonight, but it is only a chance if the storms a couple hours to our north hold together. Rain or not, my plan is follow the bleach spray tomorrow night with either Copper or Chlorothalonil. The plants are lush, have lots of fruit and are loaded with flowers and I hope to keep them the most healthy bunch I've had in a number of years.

Also, Bill I've noticed a lot of dwarf tomatoes I grow are more prone to GM problems--do you grow dwarfs, if so have you noticed that? I don't have GM issues now, but it did hit pretty hard late last summer here on most of the dwarfs.

[QUOTE=jmsieglaff;652537]After an early wet and cold start to the year we warmed up and dried out, and that was just what the doctor ordered for the tomatoes. Lately we have been wet and humid, I noticed EB starting on 1 plant and Septoria starting on 3 or 4 plants. I removed affected leaves and returned to the bleach spray--this time with Clorox--4 fl. oz per gallon of water. We may get rain tonight, but it is only a chance if the storms a couple hours to our north hold together. Rain or not, my plan is follow the bleach spray tomorrow night with either Copper or Chlorothalonil. The plants are lush, have lots of fruit and are loaded with flowers and I hope to keep them the most healthy bunch I've had in a number of years.

Also, Bill I've noticed a lot of dwarf tomatoes I grow are more prone to GM problems--do you grow dwarfs, if so have you noticed that? I don't have GM issues now, but it did hit pretty hard late last summer here on most of the dwarfs.[/QUOTE]

I do not grow dwarfs. I like big plants because I use the lower and lean support method and small plants don't work for this method as well.

Through years of fighting GM I have noticed that copper works better for preventing GM than Daconil but Daconil works better at preventing Early Blight. Sometimes I will use both fungicides in a week if I am battling both problems but usually it is one or the other. Early in the season when no diseases are showing up I will alternate between the two every week.

I am still trying to figure out which works better with each disease problem but some I don't see but every few years. I see GM and EB every year so I had plenty of opportunities to see what worked best on them. When I don't know what disease I am dealing with when it first appears I will try the bleach first and then one of the others as a follow up and see how it does.

Bill

My dwarfs have suffered from gray mold in the past (before I learned what it was). Their foliage is thicker and they grow more densely than other types. Plus the recommended growing technique is not to prune suckers or limit stems.

Once I realized what was going on, I started pruning out leaf branches to make sure there was enough airflow and it has helped a lot.

Check your Chlorox brand bottles before you buy -- I was at Menards just this morning to get a new sprayer tank and luckily checked the % on the gallon bottle, and it was only 6% not 8.25% as before. Wonder if it was just that production batch or a revised formula they plan to sell now. So I bought the store brand which was still 8.25%.

6% is the 'old' standard concentration. 8.25% is the 'new' more concentrated version that is usually sold in less than gallon/half gallon sized bottles.

I haven't seen any 6% for several years - but never had reason to check it until I started using Bill's formula. I always get gallon jugs, but have not bought bleach at Menard's before. Maybe they got an old batch out of a storage facility. :dizzy:

The 'regular' (6%) concentration is still available...just not stocked in most places. And getting harder to find...

It's definitely easier to find in other brands than Clorox.

Also, there are several varieties/packaging schemes of Clorox now that may have different concentrations/extra ingredients.