Tomato Blight

[Gary350]

Last summer I lost my tomatoes to blight and so did many other people in the whole USA.

Online information says, get an early start on blight preventions other wise it will be a lost cause. Wonder if that is true?

Potassium bicarbonate and Sodium bicarbonate both work as a fungicide according to this link. https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/bakingsoda.html

Instructions for applying potassium bicarbonate is, 4 tablespoons of potassium bicarbonate mixed with 1 gallon of water. This is enough to spray a spot 10 ft by 10 ft in your garden.

Any bicarbonate will work. 1% or 2% solution with 1% oil or soap in water.

[Duh_Vinci]

Virginia got hit pretty hard last year, much like any state up and down the East Coast! I think that the key is prevention...

In the way - I'm lucky, I'm somewhat int the interior portion, surrounded by woods, but we still have plenty of winds to carry those nasties!

Once the news hit the area about the blight, and posts here - I did use Copper spray - 4 applications total (about every 10 days). Specific - Bonide brand, powder, it is water soluble, and I did apply it as a foliar spray (instructions were in the container). The only issue with extended applications, copper can accumulate in the soil, and my understanding that it is not good.

Additionally - after the rain, I also used milk 10% as a foliar application.

Perhaps, between the two - it worked? Or maybe I simply got lucky, can't tell for sure, except that we still had fresh tomatoes on the table into December.

Regards,
D

[applestar]

I didn't get the devastating total infection -- only signs here and there on the tomatoes, very late in the season that I cut away and disposed of. (None at all on my potatoes, BTW.) I regularly sprayed during the humid summer months (mid-June on) with 10% Milk Solution since in my area, fungal problems are the norm. I also really got into AACT last year and foliar sprayed and soil drenched every 2 weeks or so.

I'm sticking with organic methods that I've always practiced, starting with the 10% Milk Solution spray (black spots are appearing roses after the 3 day rain!). With the 80º weather coming, I'm getting ready to set up my first 5-gal AACT bucket.

I prefer to INCREASE micro-organism density in my garden rather than diminish it. I'll help them along by culturing and adding to the beneficial population.

Good luck everyone! Wishing you a bountiful garden and harvest this year.

[tedln]

When I was a kid, I drove a truck, buying and hauling produce. One stop every summer was in Northern Arkansas in a place called Peach Valley. The family who owned the peach orchard had lived on the property for many generations. All of their water came from one of those old wells you lowered a bucket on a rope into. The water in the well was always very cold on hot summer days, but the bucket was covered with a brown mineral deposit. When you took a drink, it tasted like putting a penny in your mouth. The family told me the water had a high copper concentration and they had been drinking it all their lives without any problems. I've often wondered if they were affected by the copper, but just didn't know it.

Just to keep this post in the gardening context, I went to their orchard every year because they grew what they called "Indian" peaches. The peaches meat was pure white and very sweet. I've never seen this variety grown anywhere else. I did see some similar in the markets occasionally, but they were tasteless.

Ted

[84pagirl]

My garden is only 25' square. Do you mean a different row in the garden or an entire new area? maybe I'll try pots.

[rainbowgardener]

Last year my tomatoes appeared to be starting to get late blight around August, though I can't say for sure. I cut off any visibly affected parts of the plant and sprayed the rest with the milk treatment (I used 50% milk). It totally took care of the problem.

Potassium bicarbonate or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) solutions are also effective antifungal treatments.

[noodles777]

what else can blight spread to? anything or mostly certain other plants? herbs? I'm so worried I'm trying to treat my tomato blight and I've been told my area doesn't have good ventilation so I'm afraid its going to infect everyting. I had a powdery mildew massacre last season

[rainbowgardener]

Powdery mildew is a different fungal condition. That means the same treatments mentioned for blight (milk solution, baking soda solution) are effective against the mildew.

[rainbowgardener]

what else can blight spread to? anything or mostly certain other plants? herbs?

Late blight mainly only affects tomatoes and potatoes (and deadly nightshade plants; all in the same family). Secondarily can affect peppers and eggplants.

I don't think it affects anything else.

[rootsy]

I lost all of my tomatoes last year in a matter of 3 days to this blight. Amish down the road a few miles had an Whole Foods contract to supply organic tomatoes and they were hit very hard. They managed to get some copper on them and they grew out of it but I don't think the fruit yield amounted to much.

As a precaution I burnt all of my dead plants. I also plow to bury trash and disease each fall.

We'll for sure be keeping a much more keen eye on the nightshade this year.

Michigan State University Late Blight Risk Monitoring website...

https://www.lateblight.org/forecasting.php

[rainbowgardener]

Late blight does not over winter in the soil in cold climate areas.

"Causal Organism

Late blight is caused by the fungus Phytophthora infestans. Unlike most pathogenic fungi, the late blight fungus cannot survive in soil or dead plant debris. For an epidemic to begin in any one area, the fungus must survive the winter in potato tubers (culls, volunteers), be reintroduced on seed potatoes or tomato transplants, or live spores must blow in with rainstorms. Disease development is favored by cool, moist weather. Nights in the 50's and days in the 70's accompanied by rain, fog or heavy dew are ideal. Under these conditions, lesions may appear on leaves within 3-5 days of infection, followed by the white mold growth soon thereafter. Spores formed on the mold are spread readily by irrigation, rain and equipment. They are easily dislodged by wind and rain and can be blown into neighboring fields within 5-10 miles or more, thus beginning another cycle of disease."
https://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/3000/3102.html

The reason it is LATE blight is that it does not over winter and so has to get started all over again by being blown or transported in from warmer winter areas.

But I have to wonder about plowing "to bury trash and disease." There certainly are insect pests and diseases that overwinter in soil and/or garden debris. And fall plowing seems to leave your field/garden bare all winter, so losing soil to erosion.

[applestar]

Hm. I had a nagging thought too, that if you bury them, they might escape the worst of the cold/freeze that would kill them.... ? But maybe not -- frost line depth is pretty deep around here.