Will Early Blight Return this Summer????

[Gary350]

The whole country seemed to suffer with early blight summer 2009. I am wondering if there are spores or something in the soil that will make blite return this summer???

What can be done to the soil to keep blight away?

Is there something that can be put in the hole when planting each plant this spring?

I have heard copper sulfate will work but copper is a very bad metal to have in your body. The FDA says, High cellular copper levels, along with related sulfur deficiencies, can be considered to be one of the most prominent causes of many physical and mental health problems, including Alzheimer's Disease.

???

[garden5]

The whole country seemed to suffer with early blite summer 2009. I am wondering if there are spores or something in the soil that will make blite return this summer???

What can be done to the soil to keep blite away?

Is there something that can be put in the hole when planting each plant this spring?

I have heard copper sulfate will work but copper is a very bad metal to have in your body. The FDA says, High cellular copper levels, along with related sulfur deficiencies, can be considered to be one of the most prominent causes of many physical and mental health problems, including Alzheimer's Disease.

???

I did not have any early blight problems this summer, but I did loose a lot of foliage to a similar disease: septoria.

I found that one of the best precautions to take with septoria is to throw away the plants (do not compost them, the disease can survive I believe up to three years) and rotate your planting area. That means not planting any tomatos where the infected plant were last season.

I don't know if this applies to the early blight, but it might since the early blight is similar to septoria.

Hope this helps.

[Gary350]

I just did a Google search for Septoria. It says, Septoria is a fungi that causes brown leaf spot also know as blight. It can survive in the soil and seeds for several years.

It is known copper and sulfur will control Septoria fungi. Copper can reach toxic levels in the soil and should be used with caution. Compost tea does not work on blight. Sulfur is recommended for blight.

GOOD............this is what I wanted to know!!!

[TZ -OH6]

Late blight is the disease that wiped out many plants this last year. It is killed by freezing temperatures and will only overwinter in living tissue such as potato tubers, so weather conditions in addition to an infective source, determine how bad a year will be.


Septoria and "early" blight are two different beasties, but they often show up at the same time on the same part of the plant for the same reason.... poor air circulation/ wet lower leaves. Pruning off leaves up to the first flower truss is geneally recommended as a preventative measure. The spores over-winter and can splash up from the soil, but garden cleanup of plant matter at the end of the season along with mulching reduces that threat. That being said I've had plants hit with Septoria and early blight in brand new garden plots so the spoors are out in the general environment.


I usually don't spray for Septoria and early blight because they are slow infections and don't affect my production that much (I grow more tomatoes than I can use anyway). Late blight, on the other hand, hits and kills fast. All of my plants were dead and gone six weeks before frost even though I sprayed with synthetics and slowed the disease down for a while.

[filmnet]

I got Septoria also at the end of the summer ,killed all tomato plants
[img]https://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss256/filmnet1/comeongirls.jpg[/img]

[gixxerific]

I don't know the answer, but would solarization kill this disease?