Tomato Blight?

My tomato plants have not done well this year at all. I'm wondering if the die-off is tomato blight or something else. I admit that I wasn't very good about trimming the suckers back in the beginning--I just broke them off and probably made a bigger wound than I should have--but I read an interesting article today in the NY Times about a huge outbreak of tomato blight, and that got me wondering. Anyone else seen more trouble than usual? Did that really hot weather at the beginning of the summer contribute to the damage?

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Permalink Reply by K Mueller on August 11, 2009 at 11:48pm

The good news is you very likely do NOT have the blight (late blight) they are getting in the east coast.

Conditions here are really not right for it this year.

What you probably have is septoria leaf spot or another fungal disease called early blight.

They are very common here,

Yes pruning lower branches would have helped some.

both of these need water to thrive (even the overnight dew) so keeping plants dry as possible helps. anything you can do to help them stay dry helps. Space plants farther apart, orient rows to take advanatge fo morning sun or predominate winds. Keep plants off the ground. Use mulch to prevent the splashing up of infected soil.

Sprays help IF used preventatively.before the infections start.

As we get drier and hotter the disease should subside but you cant reverse what has happened.