Tag Archives: Septoria fungus

2018 Organic Garden Update – June

Posted on June 10, 2018 | 4 comments
Fruit is set and ripening.

Blackberries & apple trees

It’s mid-June and we’ve had 4 decent days in a row, weather-wise.  The sun was out most of the time and on two days, the temperature actually rose into the 80’s.

The sun and the heat encouraged the plants to get on with their jobs! And I am happy to report that is just what is happening in my 2018 garden!

The blackberries are loaded with flowers and going about the business of creating their fruits.

 

Elderberries flourishing in the meadow.

Elderberry bushes

Burssel sprouts growing with blackberries

Brussel sprouts & blackberries

So are the elderberries that I planted in the back meadow.  They moved from bushes to trees, this spring!

It helps that Comfrey is inter-planted with the elderberry bushes as this herb pulls up nutrients from the soil but doesn’t use them so the elderberries get fed.

 

Most of my readers know that I trial a seed or two every year; Brussel sprouts are my trial this year. They seem to be growing pretty well, tucked in under the blackberries.   There was a bit of bunny damage but the plants got past  the nibbles and kept growing. I gave Brussel sprouts a try after listening to Margaret Roach’s podcast on the best ways to grow these and other cruciferous vegetables.

Tomatoes setting on my vines

Tomatoes despite the weather!

Considering the Septoria outbreak from all the rain and the cool days and nights, I am surprised to find that I actually have tomatoes on the vine, not a lot but there are baby tomatoes peeking out of the plants.

Cutting off all the infected leaves on every tomato plant appears to have thwarted the Septoria spores from taking over my tomato plants but we are under a flood watch again, today. So hyper- vigilance will be needed, again.

The onions and garlic are growing like mad and I took advantage of the clear weather to fertilize both.

Onions and garlic get fed

Onions and garlic

I normally just use fish emulsion and only from Neptune’s Harvest but this year,  because of all the rain, I supplemented with some organic worm castings.

Why supplement? Both onions and garlic are being grown in raised beds and both looked like they could use a bit of food this year. I usually only put crushed eggshells around my tomato and pepper plants but this year, because we have had so much rain, I also used fish emulsion and worm castings to feed these plants.

The eggplant and the cucumbers are growing well this year but I topped them up with some worm castings and poured a bit of fish emulsion on them as well, just to add a bit of food to their roots and leaves.

Cucumbers enjoying the sun

Cucumbers in the sun

Eggplant enjoying a warm day

Eggplant enjoying a warm day.

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Posted in Gardening Tips, Gourmet Food, Organic Gardening, Tools for the Organic Gardener

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2018 Garden Underwater, Again

Posted on May 29, 2018 | 8 comments

Normally, mid-May into mid-June are the weeks where you grab a tall, cool glass of Kombucha and sit down in your comfy deck chair and watch things grow…normally.

2018 garden underwater

My garden in the mist

This year, 2018, what I am frequently doing is sighing, drying off my dogs and hoping that the cold (low 50’s right now), wet weather doesn’t finish off all the plants I raised from seed.

This is my garden, in the mist. It looks pretty good, from a distance.

But my tomato plants are really starting to show the wear of 4 weeks of wet weather. The yellowing and spotting on the leaves is spreading and, because of the persistent wet growing conditions, I don’t think I will be able to stop the destruction.

What my tomatoes have is called Septoria Leaf Spot.   

Septoria fungus

Septoria on my tomato babies.

Septoria is a fungal disease. In normal weather conditions, you can usually prevent or at least slow it down by following good gardening practices like:

  • removing diseased leaves quickly
  • watering with soaker hoses,
  • never watering at night,
  • spacing your plants so each one catches the breezes and dries out,
  • rotating where you put tomato plants from year to year.

But I’m not experiencing normal weather conditions. And this fungal disease loves it when it’s wet out.

According to Michigan State University Extension (MSUE), my back yard is the perfect storm for Septoria, “When conditions are wet, spores are exuded from the Septoria fruiting bodies present on the infected tomato leaves. Once the spores land on a healthy leaf, spotting can appear in five days if weather conditions are ideal.”

Septoria will affect my 2019 garden

Septoria will affect 2019 garden, too

Worse than experiencing Septoria, this year, is the fact that the spores shed by the fungus live on in the ground cover and even in the soil. So, even if I remove the infected foliage, even if I rotate my plants, the chances of recurrence in 2019 are high.

I certainly have ideal conditions for this fungal invader!

I will fight back this year by using an organic fungicide called Serenade. I don’t like resorting to this solution but it is non-toxic to birds, bees, beneficial insects, fish, and wildlife.

As an organic gardener, I hate introducing this into my eco-system but I know the long-term damage Septoria can cause and I have to take necessary measures to reduce or eliminate this “perennial” from my garden.

And I will soldier on with the rest of my plants because that’s what gardeners do and because there are other plants growing quietly, albeit slowly, in my garden that need tending to. Here are some photos of these brave, green soldiers.

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Posted in Farming, Gardening Tips, Gourmet Food, Organic Gardening, Seeds & Seed Starting, Tools for the Organic Gardener

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