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Growing Tomatoes

Blight--do I really need to destroy all my plants???

14 years ago

This is my first garden (containers). I didn't know about pruning off all the lowest leaves. When I left for vacation for a week, I had happy green plants. While we were gone, it poured, and when I came back, all the branches were bent down, many were touching the soil, and the yellowing had started. So far, it's on all the plants, but mainly on the lowest branches. Can I prune back all the yellowed/spotted branches and start spraying or treating the rest of the plants in an attempt to save them? I already have so much fruit set, it will just about kill me to destroy these plants (I have 15).

If you think I can try to spray, what would you recommend? I'm trying to garden organically. I've seen mention of Serenade, but I've not seen that at Home Depot. Where could I buy it? I've also seen mention of a baking soda solution. Would that really work, do you think?

TIA!

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Comments (4)

raisemybeds
14 years ago
Definitely prune the bad leaves, but do not destroy the plants. With hot sunny weather they will improve. Yes, you can start a spray program now. I will let others recommend what you should use. It is not as bad as you think, though, blight is common.
digdirt2
14 years ago
"Blight" is a term folks mistakenly use for anything that puts spots on a leaf!

There are different types of blight and it is important to stipulate - if you know - which you have. Early blight is quite common and while treatment is required with a fungicide, no you do not have to destroy all your plants. Just remove the worst of the affected leaves and treat the plants with a fungicide.

It is late blight that is causing the fears and problems in the NE but it doesn't mean that is what you have. It's a very different and more serious problem and has very different and very distinct symptoms. If confirmed then yes, you may wish to remove the affected plants.

Suggest, in addition to a good fungicide spraying program, some research and picture comparisons at the site linked below before you panic. ;) It is a site that is being recommended and linked in most of the discussions here on the various forms of "blight".

There are many good fungicides on the market but if you search 'fungicide' here you'll find that Daconil and Ortho Garden Disease Control are the 2 most frequently recommended.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: TAMU - Tomato Diseases
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melissel
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you both! I did more research after I posted and it looks like it's definitely early blight, not late blight. Part of my problem was that, to my untrained eye, all the spots look the same! And there are so many pictures online that claim to be one thing but look like the picture of another on another site. I'm hoping it will get easier as I get better at all this.

So tomorrow morning I'll trim all the yellow leaves and stems I can reach, bag them up well, and get rid of them, then head off to Home Depot and pick up some Daconil or Serenade.

Thank you! I'm so glad I don't have to dump all these tomatoes. My two little tomato junkies would have been so very disappointed :-)
raisemybeds
14 years ago
I have to agree that when you are looking at internet pictures of tomato diseases it can indeed be confusing, and the pictures are never very good or clear.

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