Gardening Tip #5
Blight
This is a rather unpleasant little problem that often effects gardens after one or two years. Blight causes the leaves of tomato plants to turn brown and die, and reduces the length of time a tomato plant will continue to produce tomatos into the fall.
It is caused by a fungus that lives on decaying tomato vines in the soil. When the weather gets warm and the rain hits the soil, the fungus splashes up on the lower vines and starts its destruction of the foliage.
Once it starts, there is little you can do. But mulching under young plants in the spring will prevent the fungus from splashing up on the plant. And using any common "tomato dust" might also help. It is also helpful to rotate your tomato plants to different areas of the garden each year.
But once you've got it, the only thing to do is fertilize liberally with a "Miracle Grow" or another good liquid fertilizer and hope for new growth.
5 comments:
How many years of tomato rotation do you need to do before you can come back to the original blighted spot again in safety?
It's best to just move to another town and start over.
But don't other towns have blighted tomato gardens too?
How can you win???
Skyepuppy,
You foolish, foolish girl.
The pursuit of a blightless garden is its own reward.
"Yea, He doth give blight to the blightless, lest they boast."
Hezekiah 2:4
Describes my garden this year, sadly. I've put more into it this year and end up with less favorable results. I guess there's a lesson to be learned here...
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