Wednesday, August 08, 2012

late blight hit my tomatoes

late blight 042 late blight 035 late blight 031 Today I found definite late blight lesions on my tomatoes. Several of them. Even on fruit. Sad.

I removed all of the lesions and bagged them in plastic. I will leave the bag out in the sun for a few days to heat kill the pathogen, then I'll dispose of it in my home trash.

I also removed all of the larger tomatoes that seemed close to ripening. I'll rinse them and let them ripen at home.

I've been spraying with copper fungicide, so today after removing infected leaves, I sprayed the plants again. I suspect the blight will expand this week and expect I will be pulling the plants early next week. Sad.

The good side is I did get a nice harvest. I had a really super Purple Calabash plant this year. And I'll have more room for my fall seedlings.

Next year, I'm doing resistant varieties.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My condolences. I am in Newton and I found a few lesions on my Green Grape plant (stem only for now), but it is in a planter away from the main tomato bed so I am crossing my fingers! Best to you and handsome Skippy.

mav

TS said...

I feel your pain! I don't have late blight (yet), but my tomatoes have been struggling throughout the season with what we think Fusarium or Verticillium wilt. It is so frustrating!! I think I will also plant resistant varieties next year... I hope the rest of your plants will survive!

kathy said...

I worked in my garden plot today and was really pleased to see that the late blight has not spread in my tomatoes. I did not find ANY lesions! I guess because the weather has been dry (very dry...).

Lots of rain is coming tonight and tomorrow, so I'll see what happens next time I come by to check.