Sunday, August 9, 2009

Tomato Blight



See this leaf? This is what started showing up on my tomato plants nearly a month ago. It's Blight. It's spreads. It kills everything green on your tomato.

Ever since I've been growing tomatoes I've dealt with Blight. By cutting off every branch close to the ground, cutting off every leaf with even one spot on it and spraying Daconil I can keep it under control until the frost. But usually it doesn't come until much later so that I've had a good crop of tomatoes and I'm usually just saving the end of the harvest. But when it starts this soon -I think there are just some plants that are going to be done once the tomatoes on there are ripe. I just can't get any new growth.

I'm not the only one. There's an editorial about how bad it is in today's New York Times.
You Say Tomato, I say Agricultural Disaster


Apparently there was a bad batch of plants that went out to some big name stores. And I did buy a few plants from Home Depot and I think those are the ones that are bad. So far the plants I started by seed are under control. That'll teach me to buy plants. Next year - only seeds I start myself.


I don't like to eat raw tomatoes. I grow all paste tomatoes and can the sauce. That takes a lot of tomatoes. I don't think I'm going to have enough this year.

But the wonderful thing about gardening? There's always next year!

5 comments:

  1. Oh that explains things. I have only one tomato plant, in one of those upside down hanging things. There are only two tomatoes on it, and some of the spotted leaves. Of course, we've had thick clouds all summer, so that could be part of the problem.

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  2. I do like raw tomatoes, so you can send them to me :).

    But I like paste too, and I am in awe of anyone who cans. wow! I aspire to that.

    I'm reading Michael Pollan now, and I'm tempted to see the bad plants as part of a food industry Plot.

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  3. Hmm...you may be on to something there...

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  4. I believe if you plant marigolds (tagetes) between your tomato plants it helps. Or is that with bugs? Not sure....

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  5. Oh I have marigolds and parsely and all that stuff they say you should have. It's very pretty. But nothing stops Blight.

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