How To Get Rid Of Septoria & Bacterial Leaf Spot

You experience problems with septoria leaf spot on your garden plants and want to get relief for your plants quickly?

Great! Stick with me since I will show you several easy ways how to get rid of septoria leaf spot in a simple but yet effective manner.

Leaf Spot Overview

Short description	Leaf spot is either caused by a fungus or a bacterium and is quite common among various garden plants.
Scientific name	Septoria lycopersici.
Lifespan	Many months or even years if not treated properly.
What plants are vulnerable?	Tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants and peppers.
Symptoms	You will see dark brown irregular spots on the leaves of your plants.
Distribution	Worldwide.
Potential damage	Leaf spot can greatly negatively impact the growth of your plants and may also lower your yields if not treated properly.
Control options	Chemical & Biological.
Treatment difficulty	Intermediate.

How to prevent & control Leaf Spot

Check all of your garden plants for leaf spot

First of all, it is a good idea to check all of your plants in your garden or on your balcony for septoria leaf spot.

Only if you know what plants are infested, you will be able to take appropriate measures and can avoid the spread of this fungal disease to other plants.

Remove leaves infected by bacterial leaf spot

After you have detected leaf spot on your plants, it is crucial that you remove contaminated leaves from your plants and dispose of them as quickly as possible so that the fungus will not be able to also infest other plants and spread in your garden.

Also make sure not to use this plant material for composting purposes since the fungus would also likely infest compost as well and would make your compost low in quality and no longer suitable for gardening projects.

Use potassium bicarbonate to get rid of leaf spot

Potassium bicarbonate is well-known to help against several plant diseases and also to deter pests from your plants.

Therefore, you should always have some potassium bicarbonate at home to get relief for your plants in a quick and yet effective manner.

Baking soda as cheap alternative to treat septoria leaf spot

If you don’t have potassium bicarbonate at home, you can also try baking soda to get rid of septoria leaf spot.

Just put baking soda on infected plants and spray warm water onto those plants so that baking soda can start doing its magic.

After a few days, you should see the first results and you should repeat this process until you finally get rid of leaf spot entirely.

Try vinegar to mitigate the problem of leaf spot on your plants

While not many people know it, vinegar can also be a great substance to treat leaf spot.

Just mix vinegar with water and spray it onto the leaves of your plants.

You could also try pure vinegar.

However, this may do more harm than good to your plants since it is too acid and you should therefore mix it with water to get a nice suspension that you can spray onto infested plants.

Horticultural soap to control septoria leaf spot

Horticultural soap has been specifically designed to deter pests from your plants and also to cure plant diseases.

It can also be of great help when it comes to treating septoria leaf spot since the fungus that causes leaf spot will not like treatment with horticultural soap at all.

Neem oil may help as well

In my opinion, every serious gardener should have neem oil at home since it just helps to deter several pests and also help against various plants diseases, including septoria leaf spot.

In fact, you just need to spray some neem oil onto your plants and you will see results quickly.

If you are not fully satisfied with the results, repeat the process until leaf spot will no longer be an issue in your garden.

Use chemical fungicides to get rid of leaf spot

You should only rely on chemical fungicides if nothing else helps since those chemical substances can be pretty bad for your environment and may also hurt your plants.

Hence, make sure to try organic measures to get rid of leaf spot before you go for the more serious stuff.

Make sure that air can circulate well

To prevent septoria leaf spot, it is also crucial that you make sure that air can circulate well.

In fact, leaf spot is caused by a fungus and fungal diseases develop when there is plenty of humidity in the air and air cannot circulate.

Thus, make sure that you grow your plants outdoors where they can get enough fresh air and if you want to grow plants indoors, make sure that you install a fan and that you open your windows on a regular basis so that there are no issues with air circulation at all and fungal diseases will have a hard time spreading.

Provide enough space for your plants

It is also crucial that you provide enough space to your plants so that air can circulate well and that they also get enough nutrients and sunlight.

Only then will your plants grow strong enough to become resistant to leaf spot and other plant diseases.

Use high-quality soil

You should also use high-quality soil from the garden center to make sure that the soil you grow your plants in will not be infested with septoria leaf spot right from the beginning.

This will lower the risk that you experience serious issues with plant diseases later in the growing season.

Don’t water your plants too often to avoid leaf spot on your plants

Since leaf spot loves moist soil, you should also make sure not to water your plants too often so that septoria leaf spot will not find a hotbed to grow well and will not be able to become a serious problem for your garden plants.

Avoid waterlogging

Also make sure to avoid waterlogging so that the roots of your plants can stay healthy and your plants will be resistant enough to keep away leaf spot and other plant diseases or pests that may try to infest your plants sooner or later.

Use mulch to assure a constant water supply

Mulch can be a great substance to regulate the water supply in the soil.

Just add some mulch to your plants and it will help to assure constant water supply so that waterlogging will not become an issue and septoria leaf spot will have a hard time spreading.

What’s left to say?

Now that you know how to get rid of leaf spot, you may also want to check out my grower’s guides and my companion plant articles to get even more information on how to grow various plants at home in a proper manner.

About the Author

My name is Andreas and I’m really passionate about our environment and also about growing plants. In fact, I have grown several different plants over many years. I love to see my plants grow and also always try new things to improve my overall conditions at home.

In my blog posts, I want to share my experiences with you so that you can become successful in growing various different plants and improving your home as well, even though you might still be a beginner right now.