![]() (Now called “ Bordo Spray” Spray the whole plant according to label directions. Mulches such as grass clippings or straw absorb the impact of raindrops and reduce the chances of soil being sprayed onto your plants.Īnother preventive measure is a fixed copper spray, often sold as Bordeaux Mix. Minimize initial infection by using a mulch around your plants and trimming the bottom leaves. Do not plant in a bed that had potatoes last year! Gather all diseased plants, leaves and fruit and potatoes and put them in the garbage, not the compost. Practice 4 year rotation, tomatoes following the cole crops in an area that was limed and manured last year. This fungus overwinters in old tomato and potato debris and some weeds. Keep tomato plants regularly watered and fed because dramatic fluctuations in temperature, soil moisture and soil fertility may cause fruit disfigurement in tomatoes. Try to keep the leaves as dry as possible by only wetting the ground around the plant. ![]() The protection you give them must allow for excellent ventilation, and you must be able to get in to prune and pick the tomatoes. ![]() Keep plants dry by placing them under an overhanging eve, on a balcony or porch, or under a structure that you create. Once you know how your plants become infected you can plan proper control measures. What you can do to minimize loss from late blight However, once one part of the plant is infected, the spores that form there are much more likely to infect other parts of the plant. Spores must fall on the fruit in order for them to become infected. Additionally, there is some feeling (although this is still being debated) that plants initially become infected in the spring by splash-up caused by raindrops falling on bare, infected soil.Ĭontrary to popular thought, late blight does not travel inside the plant to infect other areas. The dampness can come from rain, heavy dew, condensation in a greenhouse or tent or even your sprinklers. The clue to understanding how to deal with it is to know that the fungus only grows on tomato plants that are wet for over 48 hours at a time. When the spores land on either potato or tomato plants, it needs the right conditions in order to germinate. The fungus spreads itself by forming spores that are carried by the wind. This A2 type is much more aggressive and is capable of surviving for long periods on old vines and even in the soil. Scientists at Simon Fraser University recently identified a separate “A2” type which previously was only found in Mexico. If conditions are right for the fungus, the entire plant becomes diseased and dies quickly.Īlthough late blight has been around for many years, infections have become much more severe in the 1990s. The leaves develop brown spots which eventually cause the whole leaf to turn brown and drop off. Most new varieties are resistant to the common fungal diseases, but late blight (Phytopthera infestans) is dreadful here on the Coast. The Tomato Late Blight fungus really has hit Coastal gardeners hard and, from what we hear, has now even made its way into the Okanagan. "It also makes for better neighbours, if you as a home gardener don't have a whole bunch of blight in your tomato garden that affects your neighbour's tomato garden or here on Prince Edward Island, it also affects the potato industry," he said.We’ve often spoken to gardeners who just shake their heads despairingly when we mention growing tomatoes. Mellish adds the blight resistant seeds are more expensive, but he calls it a good investment compared to losing your tomato crop if it's a wet fall and the plants get blight. ![]() "A lot of home gardeners are recognizing the advantage of if you plant a blight resistant tomato it stays healthy, you don't have to worry about spraying it and you don't have to worry about it falling apart in September just as the tomatoes are ripening up." "In our store, the blight resistant tomato seeds sell really well," he says. There are now blight resistant options in beefsteak, round reds, plum and cherry tomatoes in the Veseys catalogue and on the store shelves in York. Angus Mellish at Veseys Seeds says in the last five years they've gone from having no blight resistant varieties to five or six really good ones.
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