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kpn_kardif

Late Blight?

Kpn.Kardif
9 years ago

Please say it ain't so. I'm starting to see more and more leaves that look like this in my garden, and the closest thing that I can find that matches (at least looking at pictures) is late blight. So far it's only on leaves, nothing on stems or fruit, and I remove it when I see it.

I have tons of green fruit on these plants, and losing them now just before the point of ripening would be heartbreaking.

Comments (6)

  • edweather USDA 9a, HZ 9, Sunset 28
    9 years ago

    Doesn't look/sound like late blight to me. Have you tried spraying with a fungicide?

  • Kpn.Kardif
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I spray once every couple weeks with baking soda and neem oil, 1tbs neem, 1/2tbs baking soda in one gallon water. No actual fungicides though, trying to stay as organic as possible.

    Looking at pictures on google images, I found quite a few that said were late blight that looked a lot like what I have going on. Further research says that there's a "water-spot" associated with late blight, and it usually first presents on younger leaves. I don't see any water spots, just dried up crumbly leaves like in the picture, and it's only on lower to middle leaves. We've also had almost a month with no rain and temps in the mid 80's, today being the first rainy day all summer.

    I'm still pretty new at this, and the similarity in the google pics to some of my plants freaked me out a bit. I would expect lower leaves to yellow before they die and the plant drops them, but just flat out drying up like this?

  • 2ajsmama
    9 years ago

    Could be botrytis (gray mold). Remove the infected parts - have you seen any immature fruit or flowers affected? - make sure plenty of air flow, water from below, and spray copper. Fungicides won't cure it, but may prevent new infections.

    Pick up and destroy (trash) all diseased parts, including anything fallen on the ground, and mulch - looks like bare soil there?

  • Kpn.Kardif
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I have had a certain amount of blossom drop, but didn't attribute it to whatever this is. No fruit effected as of yet. I always water from below, keep my plants pruned for airflow as best as I can. Haven't sprayed copper though...

    Here's a picture of a plant with a few leaves starting to turn, variety is black plum. The first picture was taken on bare soil for contrast (had recently harvested some carrots), the tomato plants are all mulched with dried grass clippings.

  • 2ajsmama
    9 years ago

    Could be bacterial canker. DId you buy the plants or start from seed? Nothing much to do about that except pull the plant if it's bad but I'd say if fruit isn't affected just follow recommendations in my earlier post.

    If it's late blight you'd be seeing it on the stems and the plants would be dead within days.

    Heavy mulch is good - from the little I can see in the last pix, the clippings look pretty thin.

    Give us an update next week.

  • Stella_z6
    9 years ago

    In my Toronto, Ontario garden, I've definitely got a blight situation. My leaf edges started going dark a few weeks ago. I picked off affected stems, but the spread rate is accelerating and entire stems are going black/brown overnight. I wondered if it was a bacterial issue, but it's looking exactly like blight in its advanced stages now. Heartbreaking since I had so many green tomatoes on the the vine! I hope your garden is faring better, Kpn.Kardif.

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