Tomato pesticides, anything better than Malathion?
 

Hi, I'm growing tomatoes on my apartment porch, got maybe a dozen
plants going not too bad. Got a severe problem with bugs and bacteria
pest because I recirculate excess water. Yup, the plant's saucer has
a little hole in it with a quarter inch barb and tube which leads to
an overflow collector. Half a day later I pour it back into the
plant's pot. Recirculate the excess water, bacteria, bugs, whatever.
Not the ideal situation to produce prize winning tomatoes, I fear, but
a step in the direction of water conservation, probably taken a
million times before.

This year is my first endeavor to raise tomatoes, and I'm pleased so
far. I'm in San Diego county California a bit east. My porch is
overhung on the north and west sides, so the tomatoes only get a few
hours of direct sunshine a day. No rain, so I water them twice daily,
and spray with tap water after dark. I also flood the pots with tap
water, so I get some overflow, which I use next watering.

Pests encountered so far include caterpillars, leaf eating bugs, and
something (bacteria?) which turns leaves and stems black in places.

Caterpillar/worms seem easily defeated by applications of Ortho Bug-Be-
Gone, but it must be replaced monthly.

The leaf eating bugs are not so easily defeated. A little Malathion
every other night slows them down a lot, but too heavy an application
seems to destroy the foliage. I reckon I'm using about a teaspoon of
Malathion per gallon of water now. First I heavily spray my victims
with straight tap water, then lightly spray them with the Malathion
solution. After a quarter hour, I again spray heavily with straight
tap water. Seems to reduce the damage, but my principal question at
the moment is what can be done to improve the results? Another
insecticide, or another proportion?

The black growth mostly on the stalks and a few leaves I attribute to
some bacterial infestation, but the Malathion don't seem to help. A
few hours spent examining labels of pesticides at the Home Depot and
Lowes seems to suggest I am SOL. The growth puts me out of
competition for the Better Homes and Gardens competition, but don't
seem to be hurting the plants a lot; it's just ugly. Any ideas?

Tomato pesticides, anything better than Malathion?
 

On Aug 20, 10:04 am, wrote:
Hi, I'm growing tomatoes on my apartment porch, got maybe a dozen
plants going not too bad. Got a severe problem with bugs and bacteria
pest because I recirculate excess water. Yup, the plant's saucer has
a little hole in it with a quarter inch barb and tube which leads to
an overflow collector. Half a day later I pour it back into the
plant's pot. Recirculate the excess water, bacteria, bugs, whatever.
Not the ideal situation to produce prize winning tomatoes, I fear, but
a step in the direction of water conservation, probably taken a
million times before.

This year is my first endeavor to raise tomatoes, and I'm pleased so
far. I'm in San Diego county California a bit east. My porch is
overhung on the north and west sides, so the tomatoes only get a few
hours of direct sunshine a day. No rain, so I water them twice daily,
and spray with tap water after dark. I also flood the pots with tap
water, so I get some overflow, which I use next watering.

Pests encountered so far include caterpillars, leaf eating bugs, and
something (bacteria?) which turns leaves and stems black in places.

Caterpillar/worms seem easily defeated by applications of Ortho Bug-Be-
Gone, but it must be replaced monthly.

The leaf eating bugs are not so easily defeated. A little Malathion
every other night slows them down a lot, but too heavy an application
seems to destroy the foliage. I reckon I'm using about a teaspoon of
Malathion per gallon of water now. First I heavily spray my victims
with straight tap water, then lightly spray them with the Malathion
solution. After a quarter hour, I again spray heavily with straight
tap water. Seems to reduce the damage, but my principal question at
the moment is what can be done to improve the results? Another
insecticide, or another proportion?

The black growth mostly on the stalks and a few leaves I attribute to
some bacterial infestation, but the Malathion don't seem to help. A
few hours spent examining labels of pesticides at the Home Depot and
Lowes seems to suggest I am SOL. The growth puts me out of
competition for the Better Homes and Gardens competition, but don't
seem to be hurting the plants a lot; it's just ugly. Any ideas?

Instead of applying so often and washing off you should leave the
poison on the plants so it can have a chance to kill.

Tomato pesticides, anything better than Malathion?
 

On Aug 20, 10:04 am, wrote:
Hi, I'm growing tomatoes on my apartment porch, got maybe a dozen
plants going not too bad. Got a severe problem with bugs and bacteria
pest because I recirculate excess water. Yup, the plant's saucer has
a little hole in it with a quarter inch barb and tube which leads to
an overflow collector. Half a day later I pour it back into the
plant's pot. Recirculate the excess water, bacteria, bugs, whatever.
Not the ideal situation to produce prize winning tomatoes, I fear, but
a step in the direction of water conservation, probably taken a
million times before.

This year is my first endeavor to raise tomatoes, and I'm pleased so
far. I'm in San Diego county California a bit east. My porch is
overhung on the north and west sides, so the tomatoes only get a few
hours of direct sunshine a day. No rain, so I water them twice daily,
and spray with tap water after dark. I also flood the pots with tap
water, so I get some overflow, which I use next watering.

Pests encountered so far include caterpillars, leaf eating bugs, and
something (bacteria?) which turns leaves and stems black in places.

Caterpillar/worms seem easily defeated by applications of Ortho Bug-Be-
Gone, but it must be replaced monthly.

The leaf eating bugs are not so easily defeated. A little Malathion
every other night slows them down a lot, but too heavy an application
seems to destroy the foliage. I reckon I'm using about a teaspoon of
Malathion per gallon of water now. First I heavily spray my victims
with straight tap water, then lightly spray them with the Malathion
solution. After a quarter hour, I again spray heavily with straight
tap water. Seems to reduce the damage, but my principal question at
the moment is what can be done to improve the results? Another
insecticide, or another proportion?

The black growth mostly on the stalks and a few leaves I attribute to
some bacterial infestation, but the Malathion don't seem to help. A
few hours spent examining labels of pesticides at the Home Depot and
Lowes seems to suggest I am SOL. The growth puts me out of
competition for the Better Homes and Gardens competition, but don't
seem to be hurting the plants a lot; it's just ugly. Any ideas?

Excess moisture on the leafs will cause a mold and fungus growth.
All that spraying, more so at night, is giving the molds a chance to
really grow. On occation spray the leaves otherwise just water the
soil. Also try using a spay made up with garlic oil, hotpepper juice
and a little dish soap mixed with water. What that will do is change
the tast of the leaf and the bugs won't eat it as much.

Tomato pesticides, anything better than Malathion?
 

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi, I'm growing tomatoes on my apartment porch, got maybe a dozen
plants going not too bad. Got a severe problem with bugs and bacteria
pest because I recirculate excess water. Yup, the plant's saucer has
a little hole in it with a quarter inch barb and tube which leads to
an overflow collector. Half a day later I pour it back into the
plant's pot. Recirculate the excess water, bacteria, bugs, whatever.
Not the ideal situation to produce prize winning tomatoes, I fear, but
a step in the direction of water conservation, probably taken a
million times before.

This year is my first endeavor to raise tomatoes, and I'm pleased so
far. I'm in San Diego county California a bit east. My porch is
overhung on the north and west sides, so the tomatoes only get a few
hours of direct sunshine a day. No rain, so I water them twice daily,
and spray with tap water after dark. I also flood the pots with tap
water, so I get some overflow, which I use next watering.

Pests encountered so far include caterpillars, leaf eating bugs, and
something (bacteria?) which turns leaves and stems black in places.

Caterpillar/worms seem easily defeated by applications of Ortho Bug-Be-
Gone, but it must be replaced monthly.

The leaf eating bugs are not so easily defeated. A little Malathion
every other night slows them down a lot, but too heavy an application
seems to destroy the foliage. I reckon I'm using about a teaspoon of
Malathion per gallon of water now. First I heavily spray my victims
with straight tap water, then lightly spray them with the Malathion
solution. After a quarter hour, I again spray heavily with straight
tap water. Seems to reduce the damage, but my principal question at
the moment is what can be done to improve the results? Another
insecticide, or another proportion?

The black growth mostly on the stalks and a few leaves I attribute to
some bacterial infestation, but the Malathion don't seem to help. A
few hours spent examining labels of pesticides at the Home Depot and
Lowes seems to suggest I am SOL. The growth puts me out of
competition for the Better Homes and Gardens competition, but don't
seem to be hurting the plants a lot; it's just ugly. Any ideas?

or another alternative to try is a neem oil spray.

rob

Tomato pesticides, anything better than Malathion?
 

In article ,
"George.com" wrote:

The black growth mostly on the stalks and a few leaves I attribute to
some bacterial infestation, but the Malathion don't seem to help. A
few hours spent examining labels of pesticides at the Home Depot and
Lowes seems to suggest I am SOL. The growth puts me out of
competition for the Better Homes and Gardens competition, but don't
seem to be hurting the plants a lot; it's just ugly. Any ideas?

or another alternative to try is a neem oil spray.

rob

Seconded.

I would personally never use Malathion on anything I expected to eat.
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

Tomato pesticides, anything better than Malathion?
 

In message , Omelet
writes
In article ,
"George.com" wrote:

The black growth mostly on the stalks and a few leaves I attribute to
some bacterial infestation, but the Malathion don't seem to help. A
few hours spent examining labels of pesticides at the Home Depot and
Lowes seems to suggest I am SOL. The growth puts me out of
competition for the Better Homes and Gardens competition, but don't
seem to be hurting the plants a lot; it's just ugly. Any ideas?

or another alternative to try is a neem oil spray.

rob

Seconded.

I would personally never use Malathion on anything I expected to eat.

Me neither! But that black growth sounds suspiciously like blight -
which no amount of insecticide - or fungicide, for that matter - is
going to cure. If that's really what it is, there isn't much you can do
except remove affected leaves and fruit and hope it only spreads slowly.
However, since blight thrives in humid conditions you should probably
cut down on the spraying too.

--
Max Wright

Tomato pesticides, anything better than Malathion?
 

In article ,
Max Wright wrote:

In message , Omelet
writes
In article ,
"George.com" wrote:

The black growth mostly on the stalks and a few leaves I attribute to
some bacterial infestation, but the Malathion don't seem to help. A
few hours spent examining labels of pesticides at the Home Depot and
Lowes seems to suggest I am SOL. The growth puts me out of
competition for the Better Homes and Gardens competition, but don't
seem to be hurting the plants a lot; it's just ugly. Any ideas?

or another alternative to try is a neem oil spray.

rob

Seconded.

I would personally never use Malathion on anything I expected to eat.

Me neither! But that black growth sounds suspiciously like blight -
which no amount of insecticide - or fungicide, for that matter - is
going to cure. If that's really what it is, there isn't much you can do
except remove affected leaves and fruit and hope it only spreads slowly.
However, since blight thrives in humid conditions you should probably
cut down on the spraying too.

I wonder if a sulfur treatment would help?
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

Tomato pesticides, anything better than Malathion?
 

Omelet wrote:
In article ,
Max Wright wrote:

In message , Omelet
writes
In article ,
"George.com" wrote:

The black growth mostly on the stalks and a few leaves I attribute to
some bacterial infestation, but the Malathion don't seem to help. A
few hours spent examining labels of pesticides at the Home Depot and
Lowes seems to suggest I am SOL. The growth puts me out of
competition for the Better Homes and Gardens competition, but don't
seem to be hurting the plants a lot; it's just ugly. Any ideas?
or another alternative to try is a neem oil spray.

rob
Seconded.

I would personally never use Malathion on anything I expected to eat.
Me neither! But that black growth sounds suspiciously like blight -
which no amount of insecticide - or fungicide, for that matter - is
going to cure. If that's really what it is, there isn't much you can do
except remove affected leaves and fruit and hope it only spreads slowly.
However, since blight thrives in humid conditions you should probably
cut down on the spraying too.

I wonder if a sulfur treatment would help?


Bordeaux mixture should work, and it even sticks pretty well through rains.

Bob

Tomato pesticides, anything better than Malathion?
 

In article ,
zxcvbob wrote:

Me neither! But that black growth sounds suspiciously like blight -
which no amount of insecticide - or fungicide, for that matter - is
going to cure. If that's really what it is, there isn't much you can do
except remove affected leaves and fruit and hope it only spreads slowly.
However, since blight thrives in humid conditions you should probably
cut down on the spraying too.

I wonder if a sulfur treatment would help?


Bordeaux mixture should work, and it even sticks pretty well through rains.

Bob

I'm not familiar with that. I'll have to google it...
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

Tomato pesticides, anything better than Malathion?
 

Omelet wrote:
In article ,
zxcvbob wrote:

Me neither! But that black growth sounds suspiciously like blight -
which no amount of insecticide - or fungicide, for that matter - is
going to cure. If that's really what it is, there isn't much you can do
except remove affected leaves and fruit and hope it only spreads slowly.
However, since blight thrives in humid conditions you should probably
cut down on the spraying too.
I wonder if a sulfur treatment would help?

Bordeaux mixture should work, and it even sticks pretty well through rains.

Bob

I'm not familiar with that. I'll have to google it...


Copper sulfate and slaked lime. I think it's even "organic" approved.

Bob

Tomato pesticides, anything better than Malathion?
 

In article ,
zxcvbob wrote:

Omelet wrote:
In article ,
zxcvbob wrote:

Me neither! But that black growth sounds suspiciously like blight -
which no amount of insecticide - or fungicide, for that matter - is
going to cure. If that's really what it is, there isn't much you can do
except remove affected leaves and fruit and hope it only spreads slowly.
However, since blight thrives in humid conditions you should probably
cut down on the spraying too.
I wonder if a sulfur treatment would help?

Bordeaux mixture should work, and it even sticks pretty well through rains.

Bob

I'm not familiar with that. I'll have to google it...


Copper sulfate and slaked lime. I think it's even "organic" approved.

Bob

It makes sense.

I may have to try some of that for the ivy out front.
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

Tomato pesticides, anything better than Malathion?
 

Omelet wrote:
In article ,
zxcvbob wrote:

Omelet wrote:
In article ,
zxcvbob wrote:

Me neither! But that black growth sounds suspiciously like blight -
which no amount of insecticide - or fungicide, for that matter - is
going to cure. If that's really what it is, there isn't much you can do
except remove affected leaves and fruit and hope it only spreads slowly.
However, since blight thrives in humid conditions you should probably
cut down on the spraying too.
I wonder if a sulfur treatment would help?
Bordeaux mixture should work, and it even sticks pretty well through rains.

Bob
I'm not familiar with that. I'll have to google it...

Copper sulfate and slaked lime. I think it's even "organic" approved.

Bob

It makes sense.

I may have to try some of that for the ivy out front.


Your ivy has a fungus? Bordeaux mixture is a fungicide; it sounded like
OP's tomatoes have a blight. Fungicide will help.

BTW, my one tomato plant that's downhill from the compost pile (where
among other things I've been dumping the cat box) is big and robust and
3 times the size of the other tomato plants. It's also the only one
that doesn't have any blight at all. Coincidence?

Bob

Tomato pesticides, anything better than Malathion?
 

"zxcvbob" wrote in message
...
Omelet wrote:
In article ,
zxcvbob wrote:

Me neither! But that black growth sounds suspiciously like blight -
which no amount of insecticide - or fungicide, for that matter - is
going to cure. If that's really what it is, there isn't much you can
do
except remove affected leaves and fruit and hope it only spreads
slowly.
However, since blight thrives in humid conditions you should probably
cut down on the spraying too.
I wonder if a sulfur treatment would help?

Bordeaux mixture should work, and it even sticks pretty well through
rains.

Bob

I'm not familiar with that. I'll have to google it...


Copper sulfate and slaked lime. I think it's even "organic" approved.

Bob

what role does the lime play? We have copper sulfate spray which I use from
time to time, but not with lime.

rob

Tomato pesticides, anything better than Malathion?
 

In article ,
zxcvbob wrote:

I may have to try some of that for the ivy out front.


Your ivy has a fungus?

It was suffering from root rot.
Some of it still does from time to time.
It kills whole sections before I catch it. :-(

Bordeaux mixture is a fungicide; it sounded like
OP's tomatoes have a blight. Fungicide will help.

I can use topical fungicides for my Peruvian torches.
They came in with a blight and I've been fighting it ever since.


BTW, my one tomato plant that's downhill from the compost pile (where
among other things I've been dumping the cat box) is big and robust and
3 times the size of the other tomato plants. It's also the only one
that doesn't have any blight at all. Coincidence?

Bob

Good nitrogen in that cat litter. ;-) It used to be beneficial here too,
but I quit dumping used kitty litter in garden beds when I switched to
scoopable. That stuff is nasty.
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

Tomato pesticides, anything better than Malathion?
 

On Aug 20, 8:09 am, James wrote:
On Aug 20, 10:04 am, wrote:

Instead of applying so often and washing off you should leave the
poison on the plants so it can have a chance to kill.- Hide quoted text -


That's a good point, but Malathion does seem to damage the foliage,
and it tends to become concentrated at leaf tips, on account of the
curl. I'm trying to avoid that when I do the second tap water spray.
Maybe if I left the Malathion spray on longer, maybe a half or three
quarters of an hour before hitting them with straight tap water
again? I'm using Smart and Final spray bottles to spray with, at a
dollar apiece I thought would do the job well enough, but they seem to
deliver rather too much spray too hard.

Tomato pesticides, anything better than Malathion?
 

On Aug 21, 11:05 am, Max Wright wrote:
In message , Omelet
writes

Me neither! But that black growth sounds suspiciously like blight -
which no amount of insecticide - or fungicide, for that matter - is
going to cure. If that's really what it is, there isn't much you can do
except remove affected leaves and fruit and hope it only spreads slowly.
However, since blight thrives in humid conditions you should probably
cut down on the spraying too.



I use Malathion rather stingily, it seems like what I'm applying is
very unlikely to exceed the maximum daily intake. I live in a rather
dry part of the county, but the ocean proximity does provide a lot of
humidity at night. I would reckon it varies from about 10% to 70%
over most day/nights.

I'm figuring on mixing soluble fertilizer with the Malathion
application. If you can't destroy a parasite, out grow it.

Like I said, this is my first attempt in 50 years to grow tomatos. In
May I put some Ace hybrids down, they seem to do OK, no blight, 6 oz
fruits, the bugs get maybe 25% of them. In June I put some
Beefmasters down, they're the ones with the blighted stems. 6 oz
fruits, mostly cracked. Tasty enough. Most of the web sites say
March is the time to put the seedlings out around here, and I expect
that's about right. Live and learn, hey! Cracked fruit seems to be
mostly blamed on uneven watering, which seems right enough to me.
It's hard to avoid. I got to work 12 hours a day three consecutive
days of the week, so the plants get little attention when I get home.
On my days off, it seems like a good idea to try to make up for the
previous inattention, and I give them more water over a longer
period.

For next year, I'm thinking about some kind of automatic watering
system that will flood the soil every hour or two. I got a fountain
pump that seems up to the job of raising 10 gallons per hour a foot or
two. Got a cheapo Home Depot timer that turns on and off every half
hour or whatever you set it for. Quite a bit more work to do, but
conceivable.

Interestingly, my best producer Ace this year I put on top of a
Strawberry pot. I had never seen or heard of a Strawberry pot before,
and the web site which caught my interest suggested putting a half
inch thick pipe through to the bottom. I did that in spades, put a
half dozen pipes down! These were perforated with 1/8" holes every
other inch or two, supposedly as I gathered so water might be added to
deep irrigate the plants. The other 10 or so apertures on the outside
of the Pot I filled with Strawberry plants from the Loew's. The
Strawberry seedlings produced a few berries and died. But the Ace
tomato on top thrived. After a couple weeks, I saw the unwisdom of
pouring water down the tubes; to irrigate the pot, one must soak the
entirety. I removed a few, leaving only three, I guess. The Ace
thrived, and continues to. I got several other Aces in other medium
which thrive, but not as productively. I reckon that the remaining
three tubes provide aeration to the soil and this accounts for the
greater prductivitey. I've sown some of the other apertures with
basil, others with peppers, it's kind of late in the year for that,
but it's California!

Tomato pesticides, anything better than Malathion?
 

In article .com,
wrote:

On Aug 20, 8:09 am, James wrote:
On Aug 20, 10:04 am, wrote:

Instead of applying so often and washing off you should leave the
poison on the plants so it can have a chance to kill.- Hide quoted text -


That's a good point, but Malathion does seem to damage the foliage,
and it tends to become concentrated at leaf tips, on account of the
curl. I'm trying to avoid that when I do the second tap water spray.
Maybe if I left the Malathion spray on longer, maybe a half or three
quarters of an hour before hitting them with straight tap water
again? I'm using Smart and Final spray bottles to spray with, at a
dollar apiece I thought would do the job well enough, but they seem to
deliver rather too much spray too hard.

You have been warned. Use malathion on your food at your peril.
--
FB - FFF

Billy

Get up, stand up, stand up for yor rights.
Get up, stand up, Don't give up the fight.
- Bob Marley

Tomato pesticides, anything better than Malathion?
 

In article
,
Billy wrote:

In article .com,
wrote:

On Aug 20, 8:09 am, James wrote:
On Aug 20, 10:04 am, wrote:

Instead of applying so often and washing off you should leave the
poison on the plants so it can have a chance to kill.- Hide quoted text -


That's a good point, but Malathion does seem to damage the foliage,
and it tends to become concentrated at leaf tips, on account of the
curl. I'm trying to avoid that when I do the second tap water spray.
Maybe if I left the Malathion spray on longer, maybe a half or three
quarters of an hour before hitting them with straight tap water
again? I'm using Smart and Final spray bottles to spray with, at a
dollar apiece I thought would do the job well enough, but they seem to
deliver rather too much spray too hard.

You have been warned. Use malathion on your food at your peril.

Agreed.
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson