Know It and Grow It

If you have rudbeckia goldstrum, the perennial black-eyed Susan, and you are noticing angular black spots on the leaves, your plants are being attacked by a fungus called septoria leaf spot. To prevent that disease from totally destroying the beauty of the plant, you need to spray both upper and under sides of the leaves with a fungicide. I use Daconil and it protects the uninfected foliage.  The fungus carries over from season to season in infected debris from the previous year, so the first step in prevention is to be careful to clean up all of the dead foliage in the spring.
This wonderful wet weather is good for our gardens, but it also produces ideal conditions for other problems … such as slugs.  These slimy critters eat holes in our hosta leaves and absolutely love the biggest, reddest strawberries. A pelleted slug bait will control them and most baits are safe to use around food crops … read the label to be sure.
This is also the time to be vigilant about fighting off tomato blights. Lower leaves that are turning yellow and developing black spots indicate that the plant is being attacked. Pick off those infected leaves and dispose of them … not near the plants and not in the compost pile. Spraying the plants with maneb or Daconil will prevent the blight or stop it from spreading. Left unchecked, it will totally kill the foliage of your plant.
I also diagnosed a problem of tomatoes that I have never seen before. Tomato mosaic virus causes the entire plant to turn yellow and the growth just stops. Top leaves show some deformities and if there is fruit on the plant, they will have brown marks on them.
This is a serious tomato problem and cannot be controlled once it has infected the plant, and it transmits from plant to plant easily. Few disease problems are carried in seed, but this is one of them. If you encounter this problem, dispose of the plant in its entirety. The disease will carry over in plant debris and can remain viable in the soil for 50 years … not an issue you want to deal with.  I am hoping this is an isolated case because I have never seen it before and I am writing about it so you know what to watch for. It can appear at any stage of growth for tomatoes and also can infect potatoes.
I went to Haiti for a week and the weeds sure took advantage of my absence. Cleaning them up gives me much pleasure … I can look back and see what I’ve accomplished!