# Tomato Blight



## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

A common problem when growing tomatoes is "Early Tomato Blight", its symptoms appear on the older growth and works its way up to newer growth until it kills the plant. The leaves will start to yellow and will form dark spots and will eventually completely die and fall off. 

The blight is caused by a fungus and damp dark conditions will promote the disease and it can spread from plant to plant until an entire stand is affected.

Their are several ways to treat the condition, but the best way is prevention.

1. Dont plant tomatoes in the same location each year. The fungus can and will survive in the ground and reinfect the plants.

2. The fungus needs moist conditions to thrive. when watering, apply the water directly to the ground and try to keep the foliage dry.

3. Low light and darkness promote the fungus, keep the tomatoes staked up, hooped or caged to allow light to get to all the plant parts.

4. When the yellowing leaves on older growth is first seen, prune the affected leaves off and discard them far away from the garden. Burn them if possible to kill the spores.

5. Keep the ground at the base of the plant clear of old dead growth, deprive the fungus of a place to "hide".

6. In severe cases when the above steps dont fix the problem, a light dusting of sulfur directly to the lower leaves of the plant can help. Dont over do it, sulfur can burn the plants and cause as much damage as the blight. "DONT" apply the sulfur to damp or wet leaves, it makes "burning" more likely.

If these steps dont fix the probblem, a commercial fungicide may help but they can be expensive.


----------



## oconnor1981 (Jul 22, 2011)

In the past I have applied copper,it is a fungicide, not overly expensive. We mixed it up in a hand pump sprayer and applied it to the plants. We made sure and cleaned the fruit prior to eating it( the ones that weren't yet ripe when we sprayed). Certainly not my first choice to go with a commercial fungicide but Ive fallen victim to this fungus before and lost a whole stand of plants. Great post!


----------



## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

oconnor1981 said:


> In the past I have applied copper


For what it's worth, copper is considered an organic fungicide.

You're right, Dav, prevention is much better than treating it after the fact! We learned that the hard way last year!

Oh, and another tip - always clean your tools after working with blight infected tomato plants. The spores can transfer, and you can infect other plants if the spores are still on your trimmer/shears.


----------



## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

I appreciate those tips and will add them to my notebook. I think that I will give that copper a try the next time the blight shows up.

Question, What type of copper do you use? I have seen copper sulfate in places but never knew what it was for. It may be a better choice than sulfur if it doesn't burn the plants.


----------

