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Any suggestions for controlling... eh... bacterial leaf spot?

U

UltraZelda64

I noticed little "dry" reddish-orange/copper colored spots on the leaves of a plant or two, which later developed yellow rings around them. Long story short, it's spread like wildfire throughout the entire garden earlier in the spring/summer. A couple days ago I just found out that even the peppers themselves can be infected, because that's just what I saw under a couple infected leaves on one of my plants (WTF?! Seriously... this sucks!). The last month or so has been annoying, having to rape the plants of their leaves quite often, dreading the next heavy rain because more spots will surely form... and there have been plenty of downpours (including another one today, yay! Can't wait to see what tomorrow's leaf inspection holds...).

Does anyone have any suggestions on what can be done to control this damn disease? Should I just keep removing leaves (some plants are looking quite naked already)? My understanding is that the only thing to do is isolate plants and avoid letting any water get on the leaves, but it's kinda hard to isolate and/or cover an entire garden.

Next year I'm going purely pots for my peppers... the ones on my porch are growing extremely well and virtually no disease problems (or almost any other problem for that matter) whatsoever. My garden, on the other hand, is quite a PITA. At first I thought the "self-watering" and extra water-retaining capabilities of level ground soil would be nice, but now... I'll take container plants on the porch any day.
 
If it's bacterial, hydrogen peroxide should do the trick. Mix 1/4 cup of 3% per gallon of water and spray the leaves over and under. You may need to do this more than once. Cheers.
 
Wow. I thought I was screwed. I didn't know hydrogen peroxide would work... all the articles I've read about it say that there are no effective control methods. I have a misting can that I'll try to use. Just a couple application questions though... should I try to avoid misting the peppers themselves at all costs (I'll try to avoid them anyway, but some are close to leaves)? And should I mist *all* leaves or only the visibly infected ones? I'll try it tomorrow... thanks a ton!

Oh, and one more thing: after spraying... what should I look for? Will the leaves pretty much look the same (with the spots and everything) but no new spots should appear? They won't "heal" right?
 
Thanks, I'll check those out (halfway through the PDF). Interesting stuff. I think it's safe to say that this is one of those rare times that a Google search does not help... some good info so far.
 
Well, it doesn't sound like peroxide will do much if any good.
JSKaiser ; thanks for those links. Very informative.
 
I have not looked at the link but I think Omri lost his whole crop 2 years ago to this malady.

The one thing I know about Bacterial Leaf Spot is it is the most common and one of two most destructive diseases...the below reference is from Cornell University...(I always try to read scholarly articles for pepper problems)

http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/NewsArticles/PepperLeafSpot.htm
 
I bet I've read most everything public about BLS on peppers. I pretty much lost my whole garden to it last year. Here's what I've read:

Spray Copper (copper sulfate or copper ammonium) early in the season, before signs appear. I used liquicop, but be careful, it burned even at the labeled concentration.
A stronger treatment is agricultural streptomycin. I found some locally, but it was expensive and sold in gallons. Luckily I'm doing fine this year.
Treat your seed w/ bleach and or heat. Instructions should be in one of those links.
Keep your leaves dry. Be very careful of water splashing up from the soil.
Clean your tools and hands, especially when tending to many plants. Don't transfer disease among plants.
Dispose of infected plants immediately.

I think I was hit hard last year because it was a hot summer and I was running misters in the afternoon to cool off my patio. The humidity caused it to spread quickly. I also found that nutrient and pH problems make the plants much more susceptible. Yellowing leaves, slow growing plants, bad tap water all seemed to be factors.

This year I sprayed copper only once. I think the biggest change I made was keeping the humidity down, cleaning my tools and aggressively removing plants that started to look unhealthy. I'm sure I've tossed a few salvageable plants, but BLS is a killer and must be caught early. I'm also trying to be extra careful about seeds. If it comes from a trade I keep an extra close eye out for problems.
 
Myabe its an ohio thing cause i have been in an endless fight with leaf spot for a good portion of the season.........Tried the copper stuff, nothing..less than nothing......tried some other "organic" products...nothing.....so i posted here and got some advice to try milk....and i gotta say milk did a better job of preventing the spot from spreading than any of the other products. i think it was wayright who suggested it....anyway give it a shot.
 
Geosojda said:
Myabe its an ohio thing cause i have been in an endless fight with leaf spot for a good portion of the season.........Tried the copper stuff, nothing..less than nothing......tried some other "organic" products...nothing.....so i posted here and got some advice to try milk....and i gotta say milk did a better job of preventing the spot from spreading than any of the other products. i think it was wayright who suggested it....anyway give it a shot.
Click to expand...
Geo, Im glad the milk worked for you.It also helps prevent the spread of TMV, This tip was given to me by an old farmer/neighbor. I love the future of fungicides and growth regulators, but you cant replace some of the old fashioned remedies!
Kevin
 
Thanks for the organic home remedies. I'm moving more and more in that direction. After last season's outbreak I wanted to be be prepared with the strong stuff. I had a much better time this year, so maybe next year I'll do some preventative milk and compost tea sprays and see how it goes.
 
Daconil. It works for me. It's cheaper at the feed store, where it's just called Hi-Yield Fungicide. Mix 2 oz. per gallon, wet every exposed surface of every plant until it's dripping. Repeat about every 3 days, more often if it's rainy. BLS is extremely virulent--You can't let it get started or it will decimate your garden. Like the others said, get rid of infected leaves, and if the plants have it very bad, then they have to go, too. But most importantly, when you are watering, don't wet the leaves, and water in the morning so that any inadvertent splashing will dry quickly.
 
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