How to Prevent the Tomato Blight

Juicy, red tomatoes sliced thinly with some onion on a toasted slice of bread.  That is my goal when growing tomatoes.  I love  the time of year when the first tomatoes are beginning to redden and I know soon I will be enjoying when of my favorite things.  Tomato growers all want to have a great crop of tomatoes.  However, in 2009 the tomato blight
came on early and hit hard in the northeastern United States and elsewhere. It literally spread within days leaving many tomato lovers lamenting the total loss of their tomato crops. A strain of this fungus was responsible for the Irish potato blight that was responsible for deaths during the “Potato Famine”.

More and more gardeners are attempting to grow their own vegetables in recent years and with tomatoes being one of the more costly vegetables to purchase, the number of tomato growers has increased. Many who attempted to grow tomatoes last year were disappointed in their attempt. I asked my mother recently if she was planning on planting tomatoes this year and she is a bit hesitant – most likely she will scale back the amount of tomato plants she plants.

For those of you who love your tomatoes and do not love the hard, bland, colorless tomatoes you buy in the supermarket, I have looked into methods of preventing or avoiding the tomato blight. Treating tomato blight once it has occurred is extremely difficult, therefore steps need to be taken to prevent the disease from occurring.

There are many methods of treatment
both organic and non-organic to treating the blight which is caused by a fungus. There are also different variations of tomato blight. Therefore, I cannot guarantee that these methods will be totally successful, but if you love tomatoes as much as I do, it is worth the try.

Step 1 – purchase only healthy looking plants – checking the leaves carefully for any unhealthy appearance. Know the source of the plants you are purchasing. It is advantageous to purchase plants that were started in your local area greenhouses, versus buying from large chain stores that transport plants from all over the country and may have been partly responsible for the early onset of the 2009 tomato blight. If you are starting your own tomatoes, do not use soil from last years devastated crop.

Step 2 – plant or purchase several different types of tomatoes, some varieties may be more resistant to the blight, you are less likely to have a total crop failure. Look for varieties that are bred to be disease resistant (the capital letter F, N or V will follow the name of the variety on the package).

Step 3 – Remove all plant debris from your garden and burn it (if allowed in your area), if you cannot burn it, then place it in a plastic bag and seal well for disposal. Do not compost diseased plant material. Rotate your crops (this is always a good idea). Plant your tomatoes ideally at least 20 feet from where they were planted the year before. At the end of the season be sure to clear your garden of all plant debris and burn (where allowed by law) or have it removed.

Step 4 – when planting tomatoes do not crowd the plants and do not over-water your plants. Be sure to place stakes so that the plants can be tied up and kept off the ground. Proper air circulation helps to prevent fungus.

Step 5 – Ensure the soil is well cultivated and weeds are removed. Remove suckers from tomato plants.

Remove any blighted leaves immediately.

Step 6 – Apply fungicide (such as chlorothalonil – a non-organic fungicide)to the tomato plants according to the directions. You will want to apply fungicides before the appearance of tomato blight. Once blight occurs there is no cure and your plants will need to be removed or the blight will spread to other tomato plants in your garden as well as others. The spores are airborne. Avoid applying fungicide directly on red tomatoes. There are few organic remedies that are highly effective against the blight.

Step 7 – Although you may have done all you can to prevent the blight, some plants may still show signs of the disease. If you see the signs, such as white, powdery spores and large olive green or brown spots on the leaves and stems, remove the plant immediately and seal it in a plastic bag and throw it away. Do not compost infected plants. Watch your other plants closely for signs.

Step 8 – Tomato blight can jump to potatoes and vice versa. The blight is highly contagious. One infected plant can produce hundreds of thousands of spores that can be spread by wind up to 40 miles.

Step 9 – The tomato blight fungus is almost always present, but the pathogen needs special conditions to really take hold. Cold, damp weather helps to spread the fungus very fast. Hot, sunny weather acts to slow the spread of the fungus. Since the weather is out of our control, gardeners and farmers need to look at prevention because there is no cure.
Some plants may begin to show the signs of tomato blight by the end of the summer when the weather cools and time has allowed the fungus to take hold on plants. Remove the tomatoes and remove the plant waste from the garden and burn or seal in a bag and throw it away. There are many plants that are related to potatoes, so it is a good idea to remove all plant debris and burn or throw away at the end of the growing season.

Photo by tooony http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License