Solving tomato blight problems

Posted by Sally Odum Nov 18, 2006

Question:

We need some advice. We live in the U.S., Ohio. We had a garden that all the tomatoes died. They had blight. What can we put on the garden that will kill the bacteria so we won't have the same problem next year. This is the first time we have ever had this problem. It didn't affect the green peppers.

Thank you.

Brenda

Answer:

Brenda: Thank you very much for your email. The best approach, when you have disease problems, is to get a resistant variety next year and plant in a different location in full sun. Try to avoid water splash (to keep the dirt from splashing up on your plants.)

Plant the tomatoes next year in a completely different area. Rotation of crops is always a good idea anyway, but especially if you had problems.

If blight recurs, a common treatment to control is adding cornmeal to the normal organic soil amendments and spraying regularly with compost tea or cornmeal juice. Remove all diseased, yellow leaves and carry out of the garden. Some people solarize their garden plot by putting down plastic. There is a recipe for compost tea in one of my blogs. I hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Sally Morton