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Tomato blight!
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Posted by lotsa_rocks 4b (My Page) on Fri, Aug 7, 09 at 18:58
| I am so bummed right now, the tomatoes I nurtured from March all have the early blight. This happened so fast - only 4 days ago they all looked great. Noticed some yellowing of the lower leaves a couple of days ago and now they all have it :(
Is it possible to save them with a copper solution? My garden is all organic so I'm not willing to use anything stronger, even to save the Brandywines. But I will miss them. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Tomato blight!
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| Sorry to hear about your tomatoes. I just notice my today and promptly removed all the infected leave, put it in a plastic bag. I went on line to find the solution for the problem and here what I got from http://www.newenglandgardener.com/ Gardeners,
Here are some preventative treatment options for Late Blight suggested by Tom Eickenberg at Johnny’s. I’m posting his email to me in response to my question, "Is there anything to be done to treat plants that are already infected…" From Tom:
I am sorry, once a plant has late blight it should be removed from the garden, as it will die shortly and can infect the remaining plants. The Maine Cooperative Extension is recommending you put a plastic bag (to prevent the spreading of the spores) over plants with late blight, then remove them from the garden. Throw the plants away do not compost them.
To protect plants that are not infected with late blight a copper fungicide can be used. Liquid Copper and Kocide are not certified organic, copper fungicides have been traditionally considered safe to use in an organic garden. The only certified organic produce we have for late blight is Oxidate, it only comes in a 2 1/2 gallon size and sells for $147.00. Serenade can also be used to prevent Late Blight, I am sorry we do not carry Serenade. Gardeners Supply in Vermont carries it. Added note from Amy: Serenade has been recommended to me by several knowledgeable gardeners. We’re going to spray with it this weekend in a section of the community garden that hasn’t been infected. I’ll report back on our progress.
Keep the faith!!
-A. |
Here is a link that might be useful: New England Gardener by Amy Sinclair
RE: Tomato blight!
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| papermkr, thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, all of my plants are already infected. I went out yesterday to cut off the bad leaves, but I soon realized that was futile as the disease has gone all the way to the main stems. Since I have no uninfected plants left, I'm going to leave them all in the ground for a little while longer and see what happens. I will definitely remove them all as they die back. Luckily I have enough room to plant the tomatoes elsewhere next season. Sigh. I was really looking forward to those tomatoes. Good luck with your battle, I hope you are able to save at least some of your plants. Do let us know how the copper spray works if you decide to use it. Even though it is pricey I might get some for a preemptive strike next year. |
RE: Tomato blight!
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I'm in new hampshire, just across the board from maine. My garden picked up what I believe is late blight. I've pulled up most of my eating tom's, left the romas cherry plants for a bit. If it's the LB, those'll get pulled soon. But the fruits will have a couple more days to ripen.
I've planted a 'hail mary' row of bush beans & will putting carrot, parsnip & kale seeds in tomorrow.
the busy time will be putting the garden to bed this fall and sterilizing everything. Also someone else suggested spraying the tom's next year as a preventative. |
RE: Tomato blight!
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| Update: After spraying the tomatoes rows with Flowable Liquid Copper Fungicide. The blight seemed to slow down considerably. |
RE: Tomato blight!
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| Thanks for the update papermkr. I decided to make a last ditch effort to save my tomatoes. Today I cut off all of the affected foliage. Some of the plants are down to a couple stems, they may not survive but at least I tried. Tomorrow I'll get some of the copper fungicide and spray the remainder of each plant. Strangely enough, my heirloom slicing tomatoes (Brandywine and Prudens Purple) are the least affected by the blight, while the one beefsteak hybrid I planted is absolutely decimated. I expected the hybrid would be the most resistant. |
RE: Tomato blight!
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| You can use regular old 3% hydrogen peroxide (yes, in the brown bottle in the medicine cabinet) as a cost effictive substitue for oxidate in the home garden. Spray it on full strength as a curative measure. Dilute 50/50 with water when applying as a preventative measure weekly or before forecasted rain. Please note that pharmacy grade hydrogen peroxide lacks buffering agents and additives present in oxidate which help to prevent phytotoxicity in young tender seedlings. Using 3% on established plants in the garden will not cause phytotoxicity in 99.9% of cases as the plants are already hardened off. Best Luck!
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