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Old June 30, 2010   #18
tjg911
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: zone 5b northwest connecticut
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duckfan i am not picking on you but you stated a few things all in 1 post that i really want to comment on.

Quote:
I do not use systemic insecticides or fungicides on anything I intend to eat.
i understand what systemic means and how it works. your comment about "on anything i intend to eat" is exactly my problem - why would anyone use daconil on anything they intend to eat? this is not meant to be a smart a$$ crack but a serious question. i know NOTHING about daconil and the precautions i read for handling it sounds like it is toxic nuclear waste! can someone tell me why it is safe to eat tomatoes sprayed with daconil?

Quote:
Organic fungicides just don't work. Anyone who claims they do didn't have a Late Blight problem in the first place. Anyone who tells you they had Late Blight and they cured it with an organic fungicide cocktail is full of crap. Those people definitely didn't have Late Blight .
i can tell you that i DID have LB last year and i started to spray my plants with fish milk just before it appeared because it is supposed to have anti fungal properties. i had 8 or 10 plants last summer. all were infected within 8-10 days of first discovering LB. I had been spraying fish milk about 1 or 2 times prior to the observed 1st infection of LB. i pulled that plant immediately and wished i did not, it was huge, very healthy and loaded with reif's red heart tomatoes. now about 1/2 of my plants died within about 2 weeks of the infection but the other 1/2 did not. i continued to spray with fish milk. i was able to pick and eat tomatoes tho way below a normal level. many tomatoes did ripen on infected plants with no harm to the fruit while some had to have a portion of the fruit cut off but the rest of that tomato was ok. i 1st saw LB on or about 7/9 and my last plants were pulled on labor day weekend but not cuz they were dead but it was too late for any remaining tomatoes to ripen in the last 25 days of september and flowers wouldn't produce anything that late in the season. sun gold was the least effected by LB. prue and cherokee purple held up well for about 6-7 weeks after being infected with LB. i had plenty of pictures of leaves and stems that were infected by LB to id it on my plants and there was NO doubt my plants were infected with LB. so i think you are wrong, not all plants die immediately (with a few days) of LB infection as they typically say and maybe some fungicides can help keep a plant going while infected - how else can anyone explain how 5 plants that were infected with LB in mid july live and produce fruit to early september? while i never saw LB or had LB infect my plants prior to last summer, i have no doubt my plants were infected.

Quote:
If eschewing Chlorothalonil and watching your tomatoes rot on the vine in July makes you feel like a better person, good for you. I put too much work into my garden to watch that happen again.
it's not that i feel more noble than anyone that is not organic, it is that i prefer to not introduce any chemicals into my garden's soil and certainly not on anything i will eat. i doubt you work any less hard on your garden than i do on mine, not a criticism of you, but i do put in a lot of work. some folks just plant vegetables and hope for the best, that is not me. i have educated myself on what being organic is and why it is better imo. remember i grow food not hobby garden. i am not the least bit green, i have much disdain for many people that push environment green behavior to the point it has been done. while organic, i'd quickly disassociate myself from anyone that i perceive as being a holier than thou eco wing nut and my point is i am not organic to save the planet, far from it. now this brings me back to why i eschew daconil - i don't use chemicals even to the point of losing my tomatoes and hopefully you read what i posted earlier about the loss of tomatoes. i feel it's a sophie's choice issue - poison my food and garden soil or lose my tomatoes. neither is a good choice and both suck.

i'd really like to hear why daconil is safe to eat, once sprayed on tomatoes you are eating it unless somehow it breaks down and safely disappears like Bt.
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