Garden

[depglass]

Everyone around here seems to have it, today a friend 40 miles away said he had it too. I have a couple experienced organic gardener friends and they are mystified, too.

[JustJazzmom]

Certain varieties or cultivars of tomatoes or even some Heirloom are prone to various fungal diseases of which blight is one of them. They are wind borne and also spread through poor garden sanitation in the fall-- remove and don't compost fungal ridden leaves or plants. Just bag them up for yard waste.

[joannecha]

If you google it, you can get some scientific explanations for the problem, but from what I remember, it's a disease that gets in the soil. We had it a few years back (I live in West Michigan) & that one killed off the plant. There is a chemical treatment, but we don't do that. We were advised if we didn't want to treat that way, to lay down black plastic to attempt to sterilize the soil. We have one back this year only it's killing off (rotting) the tomato fruit before they are ripened. It's heartbreaking, as you've invested all the time, money (seeds and watering), and just want to bite into a juicy tomato. Most of mine are getting cut up & thrown on a separate compost pile so as not to infect anything else. Check with your local nursery to see what they suggest for your area.

[RedTop]

• Our plants were hit by blight in early August, and are nearly gone.   Our prolonged wet spells, followed by hot, humid, dry spells contribute towards the growth of spores that cause blight to form.   It is very important to destroy all plants hit by blight, and rotate your plants every year.  If you do container gardening like we do, use new potting soil every year.   Using copper dust thru the growing season, will help prevent blight.  

[Lilysmom]

Where I live, everyone I know lost their tomatoes last year to this blight.  I didn't plant any last year.  Tomatoes are doing well here this summer.  LM