| Last year my tomato plants had what I believe was early and late blight ... the plants started having brown leaves very early after small tomatoes had formed. What can I do this year to prevent this? |
| Blight is caused by a soil-borne fungus. Here are some steps you can take to help control this problem. The first step in combating any fungal or bacterial disease is to practice good sanitation in your garden. Promptly remove and destroy any diseased plant material, keep weeds down, and rotate crops. (When you rotate crops, rotate by family--for example, potatoes and eggplant are related to tomatoes, so don't follow your tomato crop with either of those.) Keep plants well-spaced to promote goodair circulation. And if you do any pruning, sterilize tools with rubbing alcohol between cuts. You might try some of the disease resistant varieties, those with the letters VFFA on the labels. These varieties have shown resistance to the common blight problems that tomatoes can develop. Best wishes with your tomatoes! |
