Quote:
Originally Posted by TigrikT
Bill,
With 100f and rain in forecast what would be the best strategy? Do daconil/copper before rain, or skip, do the bleach after rain and then preventative? I am worried about spraying copper in such heat. The temps will break after rain. Thx
Bbjm, idk about DE but I am using Surround (kaolin) for sunscald prevention. It also helps with insects and fungus. It can be mixed with copper, spinosad etc
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If you are dealing with Early Blight then I would remove any diseased leaves and spray with Daconil before the rain. After the rain look for any more diseased leaves and remove them and spray again with Daconil. If the rainy period lasts for more than a day or two then go out between rains and spray with the bleach spray to lessen the effects of the rain in spreading the disease. When spraying the bleach spray make sure to get all parts of the plant including undersides of leaves and stems along with the ground below.
If you are dealing with something else then I would go ahead and use the lowest amount of copper recommended before the rain and use it very early in the morning or very late in the evening due to the heat. I have had the 100 degree weather since early May and it does restrict the time at which it is safer to spray.
I mixed a very heavy dose of DE in a gallon of water with a healthy dose of Dawn to improve coverage and sticking and sprayed all my exposed fruit both tomatoes and bell peppers yesterday. Make sure to strain it before pouring into the sprayer and keep shaking it as you work. Even so I barely made it through before my sprayer and filter needed a thorough rinsing to stop it from clogging. I used about a cup and a half of DE in a single gallon of water. I have a good back pack sprayer with a filter before the wand which really helps. It also helps not to put to fine a setting on the tip or it could clog quickly. This really helps prevent scalding with all the exposed fruit I have from fighting EB and spider mites.
Bill