AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Tomato late blight cause cure9/21/2023 But most home compost piles simply never reach hot enough temperatures to kill the spores that cause blight.Īt season’s end, pull your plants and remove them from the garden. And of course, blight certainly falls in that category. Tomato plants are notorious for harboring pests and disease. And that includes any branches or stems pruned of throughout the season. (See : Why & How To Stake & Prune Tomatoes) #3 Don’t Compost Tomato Plantsįinally, although it may seem like a good idea, tomato plants should never be put into your compost pile. ![]() It also helps to keep your plants safe from toppling over due to excessive weight. Low branches that allow the foliage to touch the ground are an easy path for spores to find a home. In addition to giving the plants support, keep the base of your tomato plants pruned up as they grow. Staking or supporting plants with a cage or trellis will also help to keep foliage from sprawling on the ground and touching spores. It is certainly a win-win when it comes to preventing tomato blight and helping your plants! Mulch helps suppress competing weeds, all while helping to retain moisture in the soil. Not only does it help prevent the spread of blight, but it helps conserve moisture and keep competing weeds from taking over. Mulch has many benefits when it comes to growing healthy productive tomato plants. Not only will this help reduce the spread of blight, it also has many additional benefits for your tomatoes. Mulch the soil around plants with a thick 4 to 6″ covering of straw or shredded leaves. But by covering the soil below the plants, you greatly diminish the opportunity for spores to find a home. The spores can be carried on to plants from the wind, or by splashing on the foliage from rain or watering. If blight spores are in the soil, they find their way to plants not through the roots, but via the air. See : How To Grow Tomatoes In Buckets #2 Use Mulch To Cover The Soil – Preventing Tomato Blightīeyond crop rotation, mulching is the next best line of defense against blight. By using new soil each year, the chance of spores finding a permanent home vanish. In fact, container soil should be replaced every year, not just to fight blight and other disease, but to rejuvenate the nutrients for new plants.Ĭontainer or bucket plants can actually be a great way to eliminate blight entirely. ![]() This also applies to the soil in containers and raised beds. This not only helps control blight, but pests and other disease issues as well. Whether growing in containers, raised beds, or in the garden, tomatoes plants need to be rotated to a new spot each year. And if your plants have become infected with blight, it’s best to leave that space tomato free for at least 5 years to allow the spores to die off. To use as an effective tool against blight, tomatoes should not be planted in the same location for at least 3 years. And once established, those spores can remain alive for multiple years, simply lying in wait to infect the next crop of tomatoes planted above.īut by moving and rotating your plants from year to year, you can disrupt that process. Growing tomatoes in the same location year after year is like putting out a welcome mat for blight.īecause blight is a soil-borne disease, it relies on the soil to keep its spores alive from year to year. Without a doubt, crop rotation is the single biggest weapon against tomato blight. Even better, they couldn’t be more easy to do! 3 Simple Tips To Help Prevent Tomato Blight #1 Crop Rotation And as luck would have it, all three help in preventing both early and late season blight. And that, unfortunately, means future plants are extremely vulnerable as well.īut as deadly and defeating as the blight can be, there are three simple tips that can help keep it from finding its way to your tomato crop. Making matters worse is that once established, tomato blight can infect the soil in a given area for many years to come. ![]() Although they are slightly different in cause and effect, both bring serious harm to your plants. There are actually two types of blight, early season blight, and late season blight. ![]() So exactly what is tomato blight? Blight is a soil borne, fungal disease that attacks plants by destroying foliage and in many cases, the fruit as well. Check Out Our Podcast On How To Grow Your Best Tomato Crop Ever! What Is Tomato Blight On top of that, it can spread equally fast from plant to plant, wiping out an entire crop of tomatoes. In fact, it can quickly decimate seemingly healthy plants in just a matter of weeks. Tomato blight can be a serious issue for gardeners. With each passing garden season, it seems we get more and more emails asking for advice on how to prevent tomato blight from attacking and destroying tomato plants.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |