![]() ![]() Dig a 4-6″ deep trench around the whole bed and thoroughly soak the soil by slowly running a sprinkler over it for several hours. As soon as you can work the soil, turn the entire bed to a depth of 6″, then level and smooth it out. ![]() The key is solarizing the soil to kill the bacteria before they get to the plants. ![]() “Once infected, tomatoes can’t be helped. It’s a preventative tip (so bookmark it for next year!): The first is from one of Jerry Baker’s books that I mentioned checking out at the library when I first started gardening. I also came across a couple of sources to help solve the problem, although I admit I haven’t had to use any of them myself. You can just prepare the soil next year the way that I described in the post above to prevent blight from forming. Next year, you will want to plant your tomatoes in a different location since there will still be blight in your soil in that area. Blight is difficult to get rid of though. (Just leave your water out for at least 24 hours to remove the chlorine.) The compost will have good microbes in it to help fight the blight naturally. What this is is really good compost that is in non-chlorinated water. (I know that it rains, so this won’t be a real fix.) You can also try spraying your plant with compost water. Also when you water those plants, just water the soil not the plant if possible. You can try to place powdered milk into the soil around the plant, just make sure not to disturb the roots. Really the best way to prevent it is before you plant, with powdered milk or crushed eggshells. If it is on several plants, you will want to remove all of the leaves and branches that are affected making sure to not touch any other areas of the plant or drop the pieces that you remove. After touching the plant that is affected, make sure to wash your hands really well with soap and water so that it does not spread further. ![]() This could be your hands, or insects going from one plant to another. Blight spreads really easily through touch. Fungicides vary with respect to how frequently they can be applied, but most are allowed once every 7 days.īe sure to read and follow label instructions when using any fungicide or other pesticide.If it is only one plant that has blight I would pull it up. If you’re spraying plants to protect them from leaf spots, they should be sprayed regularly to maintain protection. When bacterial leaf spot is known to be the problem, a combination of copper and mancozeb is suggested. These help protect plants from most fungal leaf spots.Ĭopper-containing fungicides (active ingredients like copper octanoate, basic copper sulfate, or copper diammonium diacetate complex) have the benefit of protecting plants from leaf spots caused by bacteria as well as fungi. The fungicide mancozeb is another option but cannot be applied within 5 days of harvest. Home garden fungicides containing chlorothalonil are common. When leaf spot diseases are present, fungicides can be applied to minimize spread, or to protect not-yet-infected leaves. Other ways to minimize leaf spot problems include not working in the garden when leaves are wet from rain, dew, or irrigation rotating where in the garden you plant tomatoes removing old plants at the end of the season and doing a good job of managing weeds in the garden. Using a soaker hose or drip irrigation is preferable with respect to disease management, since it avoids wetting leaves altogether. If you use a sprinkler or spray water around plants with a hose, do this in the early morning so that the leaves dry quickly rather than staying wet for longer, as they typically will when watered late in the day. We can’t control when it rains, but we can avoid watering plants from overhead in the late afternoon or evening. Besides diseases that kill tomato plants outright, as discussed in last week’s article, there are leaf spot diseases that can reduce plants’ productivity and sometimes infect fruit.Īlmost all leaf spot diseases – on tomatoes and other plants – are favored by water on the leaves. ![]()
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