Had we ever had late blight prior to 2009? Yes, but it was, as the name suggests, late, occurring in September, when we had already harvested tons of tomatoes, not in July when they were just beginning to ripen. We lost every single one of our tomato plants that year, and if you hang around here very much, you know how devastating that was to us. ![]() It began showing up in our area in about the middle of June and by the middle of July, it was everywhere. Every gardener along the eastern seaboard shudders when they remember the summer of 2009, which was a legendary year for late blight. Late blight is a fungal infection that affects plants in the nightshade family, most often tomatoes, followed by potatoes, and to a lesser degree things like peppers and egglant. I’ll be back with something delicious to eat in a day or two, I promise! If you aren’t a gardener, or never plan on being one, you can just click on the recipe index up above, and I’m sure that you will find something to tickle your fancy for now. Use clean pruning shears sterilized with alcohol after each cut to avoid contaminating health plants.Īfter that, treat with Bordeaux mixture and repeat this surveillance on a regular basis until about 2 weeks before harvesting the tomatoes.Īnother solution is to treat with baking soda soap spray: 1 table spoon baking soda and 1 table spoon liquid beldi soap for 1 quart (1 liter) water.I’m going to talk about the gardening side of things today and focus on the idea of preventing late blight on tomatoes. Observing your plants very regularly is the best manner to keep downy mildew from spreading.Īs soon as black or brown spots appear on the leaves, remove and destroy them to eliminate any trace of the fungus. Treating tomato blight and downy mildewĪs of today, there is no curative treatment against downy mildew. Plants touching the ground will potentially be infected with mildew. Soil propagates diseases and fungus such as downy mildew very well. ![]() Lastly, do all you can to avoid having leaves or fruits touching the soil. When watering, never wet the leaves: only bring water to the foot of the plant. Downy mildew spreads along wet leaves, so the longer they stay wet, the higher the risk of becoming contaminated by the tomato blight. Tightly packed tomato plants lead to a closed, stuffy environment that is exactly what downy mildew needs to grow. If air circulates well, you will guarantee quicker drying of leaves. Most important to avoid tomato blight is to space tomato plants well apart. If not treated, the disease can spread to an entire crop in just days and destroy the harvest. Once contaminated, tomato plant leaves start to blacken. ![]() Tomato blight is a fungus with latin name Phytophthora infestans that results in a devastating fungal disease related to downy mildew.Īs for all mushrooms, two factors meet to provide the most favorable conditions to its growth: heat and moisture. Another tomato pathogen – tomato leaf spot.Here is how to avoid this blight and treat this disease with organic techniques. Tomato late blight is one of the most devastating diseases because downy mildew spreads extremely quickly.Īs soon as black spots appear on leaves, you should prepare for this worst of tomato blight, the late tomato blight
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