Biofungals (Actinovate AG and Serenade ASO)

[Setec Astronomy]

Last year I had really bad blight problems on my tomatoes and peas, and a little bit on my ground cherries, so this year I am determined to be proactive. I'm planning on spraying weekly with a mixture of Actinovate AG and Serenade ASO, with Natural Wet as a spreader/sticker.

Or do you think I should just spray one of them a week and alternate? Comments on the Natural Wet or other comments welcome.

I see some people also use potassium bicarbonate. I'm trying to stick with OMRI listed stuff which is why I'm focused on these products.

[pepperhead212]

I also had a terrible year with fungal diseases last season, due to that huge amount of rain, until late July. Actinovate and Serenade did little - even with the spreader/sticker, it washed off with the next rain, which was often a day or two later, which I assume was the problem you had. Potassium bicarbonate worked somewhat, and mixing it with oil is best, but you can't do this when temps are over 90°, so that's another drawback. When the rain finally stopped (sort of) in later July, I sprayed with a copper spray - something organic, but I still try not to use constantly - after cutting back all that diseased foliage, which killed the fungus that was left, and I got a bunch of new growth, which I sprayed with Actinovate, and it was OK until the end of the season. But this was mainly because the second half of the season was a draught!

I tried aspirin last year, but that did nothing. I tried milk another year, when the rain was bad, and that did nothing. Potassium bicarbonate did a little better both times, next to the new trials. There's really nothing that helps when we get that non-stop rain.

[Setec Astronomy]

Well...I've only been doing this a few seasons, and I'm growing all in containers, so I thought the problems I had were more to do with how I covered some of the containers during the winter and that I drained the water out of those in the spring and later used that water in most or all of the other containers, thinking it was nutrient-laden and I should save it...realizing later it might have been fungus-laden.

But if you're saying we just had a bad season, maybe I'm overreacting. I was planning on removing some of the potting mix from each, and sterilzing all the containers with a peroxide drench, then adding some fresh mix and try and stay on top of things with the biofungals. I did spray some diluted peroxide, OMRI copper spray, and Monterey Complete Disease Control last year, which probably saved my plants from dying, but they certainly were not as robust as usual. Now that I think of it, I did a Mycotrol soil drench at one point also.

[heirl00m]

I've been trying to locate some Actinovate, and the only options for a sub $100 purchase was at Johnny's Seeds. Naturally, they cancelled my order for the 2 oz. packets.

Does anyone else know of a place that carries a reasonable size?

[Setec Astronomy]

The only place I saw it was at Johnny's...I wound up buying the giant bag from some place in West Virginia that my credit card company wouldn't allow to go through until I called them. I think the problem is it only has about a 6 month shelf life so people don't want to stock it if they aren't sure they are going to sell it. The stuff I got was very fresh, it had a September expiry.

[pepperhead212]

That is strange that nobody has the smaller packets - I looked on ebay, which is where I usually get some, and I got some back in January, and it's all the large ones! Maybe where it is produced was closed, like many places?

[Setec Astronomy]

Well, just getting started and I already have this:

IMG_2421.JPG

IMG_2422.JPG

[heirl00m]

Well, just getting started and I already have this:

Ouch. Early blight? Possibly Septoria?

[Setec Astronomy]

Those are the bottom leaves of some seedlings I bought, they looked ok when I got them but after a day or 2 the bottom leaves started turning yellow, before I planted them out. Should I cut those branches off?

[heirl00m]

Those are the bottom leaves of some seedlings I bought, they looked ok when I got them but after a day or 2 the bottom leaves started turning yellow, before I planted them out. Should I cut those branches off?

Can you post some pics of the plants or lower branches?

[pepperhead212]

Looks like the septoria that every one of my tomato plants got last season, due to non-stop rain through late July. I usually just spray bicarb to keep things like this in check, but I had to spray copper last season. This pretty much killed it, then I trimmed all those bad leaves off. Fortunately, we went into a drought after that, and most of the plants came back.

[Setec Astronomy]

Can you post some pics of the plants or lower branches?

The one plant has spots on almost all the leaves. I'll try and get some pictures tomorrow.

[Setec Astronomy]

Can you post some pics of the plants or lower branches?

I already cut off the lowest branch and some of the worst leaves.

IMG_2430.JPG

[JosephineRose]

Hello all,

We have had rain through this weekend in CA, which is UNHEARD of. My seedlings have been hardening off in anticipation of transplant and the damp has done a number on them. They don't look great, so many were pitched.

What I did transplant I sprayed with Serenade this morning. The weather has been so bizarre I went to restock and have found every online vendor shows the product cannot be shipped to California.

My understanding is it is Bacillus subtilis, which is often used as a probiotic here. Anyone in California know why Serenade might be banned? I've searched the web all weekend and haven't found any explanation or notice from the State addressing the product.

Suggestions for an alternative?

[Setec Astronomy]

My understanding is it is Bacillus subtilis, which is often used as a probiotic here. Anyone in California know why Serenade might be banned? I've searched the web all weekend and haven't found any explanation or notice from the State addressing the product.

Suggestions for an alternative?

Are you looking for the over-the-counter Serenade or the industrial-strength? IIRC there is a large difference in the concentration. I bought the industrial-strength (Serenade ASO) and the place in West Virginia I bought it from online has this to say if you look at the first line, which may explain why you can't get it in CA:

https://www.7springsfarm.com/content/Policies.pdf

Arbico Organics in Tuscon has Cease which is the same active ingredient, they don't say anything about not shipping to CA.

https://www.arbico-organics.com/product ... al-disease

[Mark_Thompson]

The weed grower in the family swears by Regalia. Not cheap, but none of these name brand products from big companies are.

I’ve only used it a few times, and it does seem to be helping on my six month old Brandy Boy that is getting a little long in the tooth and picking up leaf diseases.