View Single Post
Old July 24, 2016   #37
b54red
Tomatovillian™
 
b54red's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Alabama
Posts: 7,068
Default

I have seen very little gray mold on red or pink varieties here except sometimes in late fall when it seems to pop up more often and is even more persistent.

I'll say it again you have to treat gray mold immediately with the bleach spray and it is a good idea to follow with a copper spray the next day. A plant that is too bushy will be almost impossible to control gray mold on because it gets too far along before it is spotted. The first incidence of gray mold for me occurred years ago on a JD's Special C Tex. This was back when I was growing much bushier plants with far more stems. Of course after spraying it numerous times always after letting the gray mold get bad again I eventually lost the plant. I learned from that and the next year started pruning more leaving the plant more open and also easier for me to spot the first symptoms which I treated promptly. I have only lost a few plants to gray mold since then and have fought it on hundreds of them over the years. Since I plant a lot of black tomatoes it is a cost I am willing to take since I really like some of those varieties. They are also some of my most productive tomatoes during the heat of late summer but without taking care of the gray mold early they wouldn't be.

This year almost all my plants are single stem and I have had far less problems with gray mold than usual. I know this is not practical for most growers because of the way they support their tomatoes but for me it has worked out really well using the drop line method with the plants clipped to it every foot or so. I also continuously remove lower foliage as fruit clusters ripen leaving nothing but the main stem below the ripening fruit. This means when I lower the plant and lay it on the mulch as I move it there is usually nothing hitting the ground but the stem.

Bill
b54red is offline   Reply With Quote