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Originally Posted by rick9748
Bill Up in South Carolina not @ 100* just 95+. July of 2017 had 17 days of +s 100* but that might be nothing where you are. Is your bleach application the best treatment to try to stop EBlight?
Any other info appreciated. Have heirloom "Big Yummy" potato leaf, trying to keep alive. I did copper, soap, canola oil now back 2 days later. ICU needed if any exist.
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Once EB gets bad it is really hard to stop if not impossible. I have found over the past ten years that Daconil seems to be the best preventative but once it gets going on the plant or if there is frequent rain it doesn't seem to work very well. I use the bleach spray to try to stop it as much as possible then remove as many infected leaves as possible without denuding the plant and exposing all the fruit to direct sunlight. I then use a copper spray with a spreader to help it stay on a bit better and to give it some protection from EB when it rains lightly. After a heavy rain I do the same pattern again and will increase the strength of the bleach concentration a little each time and only apply it late in the evening or at daylight. As a matter of fact I did just that yesterday after pruning off a lot of stems and leaves and will be applying a copper spray in a few minutes and if I see in the weather forecast that we will have at least five days to a week without rain I will go back to using Daconil to prevent new infections.
It doesn't always work as some varieties seem to be much more susceptible or maybe just some plants are more susceptible to Early Blight. It is not a perfect solution but one that has been fairly successful for me. If you are having spider mite or other insect problems it is also imperative that you stop them as much as possible as they seem to spread the problem faster.
I think I tried all the natural or organic products with little or no success down here in our humid hot weather. Carol frequently talked of using Daconil and I had to agree with her after using it every week from plant out. I tried using copper as a preventative for EB but found it was not as effective as the Daconil at least early on. Sometimes EB is just so bad and rainy weather makes it nearly impossible to prevent that the frequent use of the bleach spray is the only tool that is feasible as it can be applied frequently without negative affects if it is done right. It needs to be applied with a good sprayer that sprays a fine mist so there is not too much puddling on the leaves as that can cause some burning of healthy leaves but it isn't a big worry for me. I can live with some burned leaves as long as whatever disease I am trying to control is slowed down so the plant remains productive. Although the copper doesn't work great at preventing Early Blight it does seem to prevent and really slow most of the spot and speck diseases that if combined with EB can be disastrous. Unlike some diseases if you can slow the spread of EB it really doesn't affect the production too much and the fruit quality doesn't seem to suffer.
Bill