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Blight is a disease that can spread to tomatoes and other crops you might grow in your vegetable garden. It is a common problem in tomato fields and spreads quickly, so if you don’t stop it, it can quickly mean the end of your tomato-growing season.
Blight usually starts on the elder plant’s older leaves and then spreads to the younger ones and even the berries. But depending on the type of blight you have, the exact symptoms and treatment will be different.
What is tomato blight?
Tomato blight is a fungal disease that can quickly wipe out an entire crop of tomatoes if it is not stopped. How bad the problem depends on what kind of tomato blight is hurting your plants, but dark patches are a clear sign that blight may be in your yard.
Usually, older leaves are the first to be affected, but it can also affect younger, healthier leaves and the crop itself.
What are the three different types of tomato blight? The 3 Types of Blight
If you see sores that look like blight, you’ll need to know which variety you’re dealing with to treat it properly. Here are the three most types of tomato blight:
1. Early blight
Early blight, which is caused by Alternaria solani or Alternaria tomatophila, is hard to deal with, but you might still be able to save your tomato harvest. Look out for dark spots with bands of circles. They are all over your vine, even on the vegetables themselves. You should take out and throw away every piece of your plants that has these stains.
2. Late blight
If your plants look like they have mold or mildew on them, your tomatoes probably have late blight, which is caused by the Phytophthora infestans pathogen. If you see any of its ancestors, take action right away to stop any kind of disease from taking over your yard.
3. Septoria leaf spot
This is the least harmful type of blight. It is because of Septoria lycopersici. The bottom leaves of your tomato plants will have small dark and black spots. If you cut out the damaged parts, you can stop the problem from happening.
How to Fix Tomato blight in 3 Easy Steps
As soon as you see leaves that have been affected by the disease, you should take action. When you find out that your tomatoes are going bad, you can do one of the following three things:
Remove any parts of the infected plant
The most important part of treatment is getting rid of and destroying any areas of tomato plants that have been affected by blight. If you see any warning signs, take those plant parts out of your yard and throw them away. As long as the fungus is still spreading on the plant or in the soil, the seeds are likely to grow again.
Utilize fungicides
One important way to deal with your blight problem is to use a pesticide. If the infection hasn’t spread too far, you can help stop it by sprinkling a copper fungicide or fungicide on the area around the infected plants.
Do mulching
Mulch can help your soil because it adds minerals and stops germs from spreading further in the air. As a result, blight is less likely to start as a problem.
6 Ways to prevent and control Tomato Blight
Because tomato blight can sneak up on your plants, preventing it from happening in the first place is much more effective than treating signs as they appear. Here are six ways to keep plant material free of diseases:
Choose reliable tomato varieties
Before you plant tomato seeds, make sure they are strong and come from a reputable source. There are many places to buy tomato seeds that are resistant to blight and other diseases.
When you use seedlings, make sure that no part of the plant shows signs of blight. When the plant is put in the ground, it must be free of rot so it doesn’t get infected later.
Crop rotation is a smart thing to do
Rotate your plants often to keep tomato diseases from taking hold in your yard. This process helps keep your soil healthy and ready for a new set of cultivators every year, no matter if you have an elevated bed of soil, a traditional garden, or a lot of containers buried in the ground.
Repeatedly planting tomatoes on the same allotment makes it easier for blight and other diseases to spread during the next growing season.
Keep them moisture
This fungus likes damp places, so the foliage needs to stay dry. Don’t leave the stems of the tomatoes in water for a long time. Whenever you can, water the root of the plant. Because of this, it will be much harder for the blight fungi to live and spread.
One good thing about the rainy weather at the end of the year is that tomato rot doesn’t last through the winter because any germs that were hiding will die when your plants stop growing. Setting up a trickle watering system is a good way to control how much water is on the ground.
Put the sprinklers in the right way
If you use sprinklers to water your yard, set them up so they are low to the ground and turn them on in the morning. Getting tomato rot on your plants is as easy as letting soaker hoses spray more water on your yard repeatedly.
When the bottom leaves aren’t too wet, it’s harder for the virus to spread. It’s also best to let the water evaporate before nightfall.
Air circulation is nesseccary
Make sure your tomato plants have enough airflow in your backyard garden to keep the tomatoes from going bad.
Leave a lot of space around each tomato plant in your vegetable garden. Overall, this is a smart way to plant because it can keep plants from getting sick.
Use the right compost pile
As a general rule, you shouldn’t use the waste from your tomato crop as fertilizer for the next crop. If they have tomato diseases like blight, you shouldn’t recycle them.
If you do, the fungus germs could come back in a big way during the next growing season.
Grow tomatoes that resist blight
Some tomato varieties have been made resistant to blight to a certain degree. They may still get the disease, but they can still live and grow healthy fruit.
Berry tomatoes
This unusual cordon tomato makes tomato berry that looks like strawberries and tastes very good. It is resistant to some diseases and grows up quickly.
Ferline tomatoes
Use the “Feline” tomato to prevent rotting. This cordon cultivar is resistant to verticillium and fusarium wilt and can handle some diseases. Ferline produces a lot of delicious, medium-sized fruit.
Latah tomatoes
Grow the tomato ‘Latah’ Bush type, which makes big, tasty cherry tomatoes very early and keeps them from going bad. Because it spreads and has leaves that are far apart, this tree’s fruit ripens before the disease does.
Legend tomatoes
The “Legend” bush, which won the RHS Award of Garden Merit, has some resistance to rot. It is a beefsteak variety that grows big, dense crops of tasty fruit with almost no seeds.
Lizzano tomatoes
“Lizzano” is a strong cultivar with lots of tasty, round cherry flowers and a drooping habit that makes it perfect for planters and hanging arrangements. It can also deal well with illness.
Losetto tomatoes
This cultivar makes a lot of tasty, bright red cherry tomatoes that are very resistant to blight. “Losetto” is a great plant for growing in containers.
Tomato red alert
The “Red Alert” bush tomato variety makes a lot of tiny, tasty cherry tomatoes. It is often picked before it goes bad because it has few leaves and its seeds grow quickly.
Conclusion
The most important part of staying healthy is having good eyesight. If you can spot problems right away, you might be able to fix them and protect the rest of your plants. If you know that your tomatoes could get blighted, make sure to check on them every day.
