Wendy
Guest
Aug 06, 2008
6:26 AM
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Just wanted to get back to you about my research on the tomato leaves. I think it may be an early blight or septoria(another blight). Both tend to start after the fruit sets. They are air borne fungal diseases that require dew or rain to infect the plants. Makes sense since I noticed the brown spots and yellow leaves after we had those 3 days of heavy rain.
What you can do is to cut off affected foliage, water from bottom, not the top, mulch the base with 1-2 inches of straw and space the plants farther apart to increase air circulation. It is also recommended that you use a fungicide, which we can¢t use unless there is an organic one that I don¢t know of. Also it is better to water your tomato plants in the day not at night. It is also suggested that in the fall, you pull up and destroy any remaining vines. This fungus can over winter in the soil. You should rotate your tomato plantings every year, and plant tomatoes in the same space only once every 4 years. This one may be difficult with members switching plots each year, unless everyone charts and keeps a record of where they planted what. I tried to cut off all my yellow leaves, they start out at the bottom and then travel up. Once it starts it is very hard to control. It is almost impossible to get all the leaves off. My plants don¢t have many leaves at the bottom now. Maybe that will help with air circulation. Next year, I definitely won¢t put them so tight together. Now they are 4 in a row, maybe next time I will do 3 in a row. I knew they would grow tall, but didn¢t expect them to bush out so much.
Hope this was helpful. Since this is an airborne fungus, you may want to fwd. this to garden members so that its not spread to more plots, that haven¢t been affected yet.
Georgia
Last Edited on 6-Aug-2008 6:27 AM
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