I would start by scattering compost around under the plants at a rate of one heaping handful per plant. Then scatter corn meal at the same rate. Finally spray the foliage with milk diluted at 3 ounces per gallon. Repeat the milk every 2 weeks.

thanks dchall...Once they are planted in the garden, I do use compost and have in the last years also scattered corn meal. Never tried milk? Is that to add calcium? Has anyone else here done this? I really would like to know what properties milk has to prevent fungal disease? Just being curious and wanting to hear from others before I would go ahead and do this. It might just start attracting a new problem of milk thirsty animals?? M/zucchini

Milk has been found to be a very effective anti fungal and anti viral. Research by the USDA found milk to be effective for a very wide variety of diseases on plants.

thank you both...good to learn this..m/zucchini

Have you tried some food grade cornmeal??

dcall...and Byron...and kimmsr too....will do the corn meal even though the plants are still indoors..(organic corn meal) maybe wet it. I did put some of the milk solution on a few plants..you can tell I am a skeptic. Need to question advice even when I ask for it. When first on garden web I listened to everyones advice, no no..now I know not everyone who gives advice knows what they are saying...me too sometimes..I try to be carefull giving advice..and clear..so I appreciate the advice I have received on this topic..thanks Martha/zucchini

For the past four years, I have used cornmeal tea sprayed one or two times weekly. It was very effective with early blight, which is the most common tomato disease in this area. This year, I am using aspirin water as an experiment. You only have to spray it about every three weeks, so that is appealing to me. Maybe not considered "organic", but I figure if I don't mind swallowing aspirin for a headache or joint pains, I don't mind using it in my food crops.
Mrs H

I like the way you view 'if I it is good enough for me, it is okay for my garden too". Why not? I too, was thinking of making a tea out of the cornmeal to spray..always keeping in mind that tomato plants don't like getting their leaves wet..considering the natural environment ie;rain..I wonder about that as a big problem or not?
Martha/zucchini

Well, it's so dry down here that I don't worry about getting the leaves wet, but your situation may be different. To make the cornmeal tea, I put about a cup of cornmeal in a gallon of water and let it sit for a couple of days. I strain it into a pressure sprayer and coat the plants either early in the morning or late in the evening. It's not 100% effective, but I have gone from about a 50% loss rate to less than 10%. I didn't lose any plants to disease last year.
Mrs H

Thanks Mrs H
I will try it.

I too am a Mrs H!
Martha/zucchini

Mrs H/tx, Did you really need to do it 2x weekly??

Most folks I know do it about every 3 weeks ????

I found that with less frequent treatment, the early blight started progressing again. Maybe it is just more severe in this local area. ???
Mrs H

Suggest you go to the Tomato Forum and do a search for my postings using "aspirin techique". Hopefully my directions plus pro's and con's will appear. I began experimenting with this process three years ago with great success. If the formula I use does not appear let me know and I will post it. Don't have time now. Using it I am growing disease free tomatoes (and other plants) all summer.

Nandina, I have been using the aspirin water on all my garden plants this year, and though it's still too early to see if it will prevent or treat early blight, my squash and zuke plants that had what appeared to be a fungal disease early in the season, are now putting out healthy green leaves, and we have had more rain in the past two weeks than usual. No sign of continuing fungus in the squash. Also, my cukes look really heatlthy for this stage of growth. Not sure if it's the aspirin, but I certainly plan to continue it for now. When June arrives, I will know more about its effectiveness on the early blight, because that is always a persistent problem in this area. Thanks for the tip a couple of years ago.
Mrs H

nandina, went to the tomato forum to look up Asperin...found it but the link to the article is not working...anyone know the quantity of asperin to water?
I would like to try this. thanks, Martha/zucchini

Aspirin Water Discussion

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tomato/msg0504341029439.html

Hope this helps.

I need to print this for my wife. She wants to use chemicals, I would rather not.

mn_v.

Will powdered milk work?

messenger

How do we know that Aspirin works? Have any studies been done?
We get blight here every year. I usually ignore it and find that we get a good amount of tomatoes anyway and by the time the blight works its way up to the top of the tomato plant, it's time for the first frost... I'd rather if the blight didn't attack and weaken the plants.. How much aspirin to how much water? Boiling water? Every three weeks? Starting when?
Thanks for your information...

stagger, everything I have seen to date indicates powdered milk is ineffective as a fungicide. Raw milk would be best and that it what the USDA researchers used, but since raw milk is not very readily available to most people in the USA research has shown fat free milk is the next most effective.

more bull from the mouth of kimsr

I see that this is a very old post, but if aspirin works, can I please hear more about the aspirin formula?

Kevin