Daconil HELP!!!

[TheMad_Poet]

The second worst year ever in my tomato patch. First time ever using any kind of spray other than h2o and baking soda or milk. Daconil has seemed to arrest both early blight and septoria. Had to pick 2 days after application due to heavy rain forecast once again. The daconil left white spot residue on all the fruit. I rinsed with water really well, but on drying still had some white residue. Will wash again, but worried about all of this. Question is is this residue harmful 2 days after application. Help!!!

[FatBeeFarm]

Well, Google says it's safe but you can find anything you want to hear online. Did you read the label? I'd scrub them as much as possible regardless.

This is useless as far as your current quandary, but next year I'd hit them with the Daconil a few times as they're growing and then stop after they start fruiting. I do it this way and it helps a lot to extend the season. You'll always get blight in the end though. Or at least I will it seems.

[FatBeeFarm]

I also use copper fungicide. Mostly copper fungicide actually. I got the Daconil because my spruce trees got needle cast and I'm trying to fight that, but it works on tomatoes too even better than the copper based stuff frankly.

[Ken4230]

I am not a fan of fungicides or pesticides, especially on anything we intend to consume. I think I would rather have the foliar diseases. It has been a long time since I read the label but I seem to remember that you were supposed to use soap and water to remove the residue. Although I have had a decent year with tomatoes, my foliar damage has been extreme (for me anyway) this year.

Got a call from an old friend last night. He reminded me that August is usually hot and dry, and it looks like he was right, if you can believe the Weather Channel. No rain until the middle of the month. Normally I am a heavy pruner but I pruned so many damaged leaves in June that I started getting sun scald so I quit pruning. Still pruned the lower leaves but nothing on top. My plants do not look pristine at the moment, they look like hell.

I have had more than 40" of rain in the last month, one Sunday alone more than 21". I have quit counting, normally I can tell you to the quarter inch how much rain I have had. But I am still alive and that's a good thing.

[Ken4230]

Well, Google says it's safe but you can find anything you want to hear online. Did you read the label? I'd scrub them as much as possible regardless.
You'll always get blight in the end though. Or at least I will it seems.

I Do Not trust google at all, no way. Many years ago I dropped a friend off at a Chevy dealership to pick up his truck. I had an Android phone, battery dead, phone turned off. Back then I loved Tahoe's and spotted a new one, just made a casual comment about how much I liked the Tahoe. No ad-blocker then, My computer was inundated with ad's for wine colored Tahoe's for several weeks. The big kicker came when that same dealership called several days later and tried to sell me that Tahoe. Just think how much more efficient they are now at gathering information.

I still have Gmail but nothing else, almost impossible for me to change Email now. The government has products that are: Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) but sometimes that recognition has to be withdrawn. We are basically on our own and we are the product that google sells.

[Vanman]

My wife washes them with Dawn to remove the Daconil spots.

[Uncle_Feist]

Daconil (Chlorothalonil) is deadly to aquatic life.

[TheMad_Poet]

Thanx for the replies. But more welcome. I rarely use any toxic sprays, but this has been 100 year storm of septoria. 60 tomato plants. And I have continuously pruned all season for air flow. My bed of 8 amish paste is almost totally leafless. I have several other plants with no leaves at all. I thought the daconil was helping, but we had 2 inches of rain again a couple days ago, and have lost even more leaves. Had around 15" in a 2 week period. Going to spray w Daconil one more time today, trying to save some leaves. I have no water bodies near by so not worried about run off. Checked the old T'ville sight and Carolyn stated she used Daconil for decades and ate plenty of tomatoes with no ill effects. She also said NOTHING works as well as Daconil. Septoria so bad none of my upper blossoms developed fruit. So whats on plants, and there's a lot, is all I will get this season, if I can save a few leaves. Heart breaking after all the work I put in. Cukes have done well, have picked over a thousand in 3 11 foot rows. But for the 1st time ever I think I have bacterial wilt. But it has been slow to damage plants, been picking for 5 weeks, still producing, but slowing.

[TheMad_Poet]

Well, Google says it's safe but you can find anything you want to hear online. Did you read the label? I'd scrub them as much as possible regardless.

This is useless as far as your current quandary, but next year I'd hit them with the Daconil a few times as they're growing and then stop after they start fruiting. I do it this way and it helps a lot to extend the season. You'll always get blight in the end though. Or at least I will it seems.

Global warming is here to stay? Meaning more rain than normal. Earl season spray sounds like the ticket. I had thought if I kept up with pruning that would be the best. Need to do both. Heres a chart of 2024 rain, above normal since 1st week of July. This is take from an airport 25 miles north of me.

rainfall 2024.PNG

Supposed to stay dry for the next 10 days.

[Seven Bends]

You might have better results if you alternate spraying Daconil and copper. Spray every 7-10 days until the problem is under control. Note that the maximum number of applications of Daconil per season on tomatoes is eight.

Also, give the plants a good, strong dose of fertilizer. If you can get the plants to put out a burst of new foliage, it will help carry them through the end of the season. Be sure the fertilizer has some potassium, not just nitrogen. I'd go with something like Miracle Gro for a quick hit, then a granular balanced fertilizer or something like Tomato Tone.

Focus your spraying on the new foliage; the old, badly infected stuff is a lost cause.

In regard to your original question about Daconil spots on the tomatoes themselves, I agree that washing the tomatoes with a little dish soap and then rinsing thoroughly should take care of that. The pre-harvest interval for Daconil on tomatoes is 0 days, so it's considered safe, but I assume they do expect you to rinse off the visible residue. To be even more safe in the future, pick the blushing tomatoes before you spray.

[CrazyAboutOrchids]

I am no expert - far from it. I always say I am going to do 'preventative spraying' but then don't cuz I don't really like to spray. I planted too many this year and we've had SO much rain and intermittently SO much heat; have run my A/C more than any year in the 25 years we've lived here. The remains of Debbie are here this evening, should be interesting to see how much more rain we get.

I got 'stuff' early this year. Actually thought I was losing many of my plants. I was desperate with 1 variety... I had 3 seeds left of it since I shared seed with someone thinking "no problem - I'll just save seed again this year!" but that variety was the saddest in my garden. I was pruning bad stuff, I always mulch, but I was losing the battle. I tried a few new to me things - will never do bleach again so I tried Hydrogen Peroxide; don't think I will do that again either. What helped? Prior to one rain, I gave a large feeding of Texas Tomato Fertilizer; just loosely measured out and dumped it around the roots. A week later, I mixed up a batch of aerated compost tea that I forgot I had ordered (KIS Organics kits) and sprayed real heavily, then split up the rest of the batch and fed the whole garden. For each tomato plant, I crushed up a 325mg uncoated aspirin (that I also forgot I ordered) mixed in with the tea and drizzled that over the roots. While disease is not completely gone from the plants, it is remaining under control. The plants burst with new growth and I'm getting fruit. I really thought the year was a bust about a month ago.

I had planned on using the aspirin at plant out and then the compost tea monthly; next year I will as I am truly impressed with the response I got. I'm not a fan of Daconil after fruiting; I prefer not to use at all, but I have experienced the struggle to remove spots as you post about.

[FatBeeFarm]

Moving on from Daconil for a moment (and I do use copper spray over Daconil for edibles) there is one spray I am a HUGE fam of and that's Captain Jack's Dead Bug Spray (spinosad). It's made from bacteria found in a rum distillery years ago and this bacteria is lethal to caterpillars. It's organic, not a man made compound, and is benign to humans, animals and pollinators, and is VERY effective against Gypsy Moth instars (I hate them oh sooooo much) and also against Tomato Horn Worms. I had a major breakout of Hornworms last week (where are my predatory wasps this year?) so I sprayed my tomatoes with Captain Jack's. 100% kill rate and all the hornworms were dead in 24 hours. I spray in the evening when the pollinators are sleeping, and the caterpillars have to eat it for it to work, but once they start munching on the sprayed leaves they are done for. Traditionally I hunt them and cut them in half, but I don't have a black light, nor do I have chickens to feed them too, nor do I feel like I find 100% of them, and this organic spray saves me so much time and is so much much more effective than searching them out individually. I am very happy with this product.

[TheMad_Poet]

Thanx for all the great answers here. Next year I will take more preventive steps. The year is over for me on tomatoes. Septoria the main culprit. Even tho I kept up with the tomato tone every 2 weeks, and heavy pruning, the septoria won. Daconil saved my remaining leaves on most plants, but the main stems got heavily infected. Fruit picked over the last several days is YUK on flavor. No sugars in anything, just sourness and off flavor. Really a bummer, when things tasted so superb just 10 days ago. So trashing the rest. I feel like crying , but putting on my big boy pants and thinking there's always next year to look forward to. I had 60 tomato plants, which is a lot for me. All caged in large home made concrete wire cages, with weed barrier skirts and mulched with triple ground wood chips. Bit off more than I could chew comfortably this year. Sooooo much work is why it's heartbreaking. Looking at the brite side I had a great year on cukes, squash, and onions.

[TheMad_Poet]

Gotta tell ya I sprayed only once with Daconil, and added more tomato tone, and the diseases on most plants stopped, especially the potato leafs. Lost a few plants but 3 weeks later srill picking good tasting maters. I wash all and dry with a towel, pain in the butt but one can't be too careful. A disaster season was avoided.