Soil concerns after tomato blight
joel_bc
12 years ago
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oliveoyl3
12 years agoKimmsr
12 years agoRelated Discussions
Tomatoes with Blight/Septoria - are the tomatoes safe to eat?
Comments (11)I also live in Massachusetts and have been having trouble with all of my tomato plants this year. At first I blamed it on the tobacco virus. Then, doing some research on septoria, I realized that was my problem. I tried to cut off as much as it as possible from the plants, but sadly three plants didn't make it. All of my plants still [are] managed [ing] to get some tomatoes (though not all vine ripened) and were all good to eat. So, is this disease due to the crazy weather? Is the soil still good to grow DIFFERENT veggies in?...See MoreGreenhouse soil after tomato blight
Comments (3)Shax, thanks for that thread link. Interesting discussion, to be sure. I take two things from it: a) freezing temps over winter will often be enough to kill the spores. b) fungicides will do the trick. Of couse, in terms of my organic commitment gardening-wise, I much favor the first of these bits of info. I really do not want to be forced into using fungicides. Both my neighbors and I had late blight with potatoes and tomatoes. I grew my potatoes in a sizable patch in one of my garden plots. I've removed all the potatoe plants and stray tubers. I had one experimental mulch-planted row, so I also will be burning the straw mulch. With my tomatoes, they were in a greenhouse (we frequently left the ends of the greenhouse open in order to keep the g.h. from overheating during sunny days - and breezes no doubt brough the spores in). The same was true of our neighbors who had 100 plants going in their g.h. - it was open-ended in order to deal with heat build-up. Still looking for reports or personal, real-world experience. Anybody who has successfully dealt with late blight, please do post....See MoreRecommendations for ridding one's soil of blight spores
Comments (29)Here is something you might find interesting... My garden had plenty of early and late blight and septoria leaf spot. The following year I installed a hoop house over half of it and planted tomato plants inside and out (8 in/10 out). I sprayed/coated the outside plants several times (during wet periods) with a well known product used to control these diseases. The inside plants were treated only once (lower leaves only). Soil was the same inside and out (top quality and ammended-well with organic compost). The plants in the hoop made it all the way to freeze disease free! No blight at all inside. The outside plants, well, they were pretty much toast about 45 days earlier. The hoop house makes it sooooo much easier to garden. Never had to worry about pruning wet foliage (as it was often wet outside from the morning dew and rainstorms). The hoop house was not sealed off. It was about 50% open (no side or end walls). The plastic on top kept the direct rain off but there was some splashing along the sides. (I use leaf mulch to keep the soil from splashing up the stems). I can go on-an-on about the benefits of the hoop house but perhaps best is the reduction in plant disease. (but gardening during thunderstorms is pretty cool too!) My overall production was up more than 50%. And I suspect that with the dry and sunny conditions inside the hoop structure this winter (off-season), the bacteria and molds won't stand a chance (but I will still rotate anyway). One note, I trained my tomato plants to a rope attached to the top of the hoops. It grew vine-like plants vs. bushy plants you get on cages. It keeps the foliage drier and blight at bay. I am now less concerned about growing heirloom varieties. I hope I didn't get off topic....See Moreany 'after-blight' care for garden this year?
Comments (10)First, I will be planting in some of the same beds due to size limitations. Do I have to do anything to that ground to "sterilize" or remove any spores that might be lurking? Late blight doesn't over-winter in the soil, only in live tissue. It is an airborne fungus. Do I need to add anything to the soil before planting? Compost, amendments, etc. That is always a good idea each season regardless of the previous season's results. Finally, is there any sprays or chemicals that should be incorporated in a plan of action to prevent the blight from striking? Fungicides from the day of planting and sprayed on a regular basis per the instructions on the label. The previous discussion linked below is filled with relevant info and a search of the forum using 'late blight' will pull up many more if you want to browse through them. But the crucial question is was your problem truly late blight? Or perhaps something else that might require a different approach this year? Other much more common diseases are often mis-labeled "late blight" despite their less terminal symptoms and require different treatment. LB so quickly and so totally destroys plants that it is vital to know for sure what you are dealing with. Hope this helps. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: After late blight - what to do next year discussion...See Morejoel_bc
12 years agoKimmsr
12 years agojoel_bc
12 years agoKimmsr
12 years agojoel_bc
12 years agoKimmsr
12 years agojoel_bc
12 years agooliveoyl3
12 years agojoel_bc
12 years agojoel_bc
12 years agooliveoyl3
12 years agojoel_bc
12 years agooliveoyl3
12 years agoBelgianpup
12 years agooliveoyl3
12 years ago
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