Hi Fellow Gardener:
I just had a quick question regarding the horrible and widespred Late Blight" and how I can stop it from wreaking havock with my tomatoes next year. I have 4 raised beds and when the blight hit the plants, it didn't exactly knock, it spread through my tomatoes like a wildfire making the plants turn brown and taking fruit down with them. My question is this: What measures can I take now to stop the blight from returning and make everything go rotten next year...literally? Thanks so much for helping me!
Thor
RE: Stop Late blight from next year!
the only thing I know is to bag up the plants in plastic and dispose of them... not much help to you.. sorry
Thanks for that much! I did put most of the infected plants, down to the roots, since I don't have much strength to pull those up...dang, do those roots travel (to town and back...j/k)...into one heap, using pruning shears. I sheared the trees...ermm vines, off, put them into a large heap and will be putting them into garbage bags today--once I get all of them cut down and into more manageable pieces, that is. But, does anyone know whether it will, since I believe it is a fungal infection, return on the wind as-it-were--next year--to wreak havoc yet again on Tomatoes and Potatoes alike?
I can't be the only one with this sole, burning question of the gardeners in the Northeast. I will try posting the question to that forum as well, but am open to any more replies here, thanks...blessings, ciao!
Thor
Ooops, my apologies...it was really late last night so I forgot which forum I was in, what I meant to do was to post it in this and the Garden Pests, etc. Forum. Gotta stop posting so late. (eye roll!) LOL
Thor
It needs a living host to thrive on during winter so just do a thorough clean up and let the plants die in the plastic bags. Do not compost any part of a tomato plant ever, even if it doesn't have any disease. Clean your pruners with bleach.
Ok, thank you...the soil will not harbor the disease and re-emerge onto healthy plants next spring, via air or water exposure? I know well enough not to plant tomatoes/tomatoes/peppers/eggplants in the same place where I planted them the previous year, but the spores...I'm just terrified...well, see above. :-)
Blessings,
Thor
Richard Weir, Cooperative Extension Agent for Nassau County, was on radio this morning and he's the one who said the blight/spores need a living host to make it to next year.
Growing your own tomatoes from seed is the best prevention.
Thor, I'm glad you made the mistake of posting this here! I just came in to take a break from ripping out the last of my tomatoes. Most of them had been ripped out much earlier already, but I left in my Sungolds since even though they were hit, I was still getting edible tomatoes off of them.
But anyway, I too was wondering what, if anything, I could do to help prevent this next year. I was wondering if this stuff stayed in the soil, and since I use a ton of shredded leaves in my garden I was wondering if it would linger. I'm glad to hear it needs a living host.
Of course, now I'm hesitant to grow my usual cover crop in this bed. I usually plant hairy vetch, which for the most part stays evergreen over winter. Would that be considered a living host? Hmm....
Dee
Call your Count Extension Agent. They are supposed to know these things. Some offices are much better than others.
Hmmm...Digger, if you happen to have gotten the name and where it was to contact him, could you ask this otherwise difficult question as I was thinking about planting white clover in those areas for a cover crop which I believe does the same thing as Hairy or Winter Vetc but that I could just dig under in the spring since I can't exactly till with such small beds; that is; whether they will carry the blight over the winter? I'd appreciate it and will attempt to see if I can reach someone in our UMASS extention or similar office..
I did hear one thing that I read would kill ALL DESTRUCTIVE eggs, larvae, grubs, spores and bacterium of all sorts prior to planting, similar to baking soil before to sterilize it before planting indoor plants into it. The little tip I read was to put heavy-duty plastic over each bed, except those with perennials which you wish to protect that can be dug up temporarily into a warmer environment like your garage, etc. The plastic was to be put on at the end of winter when you get the first GOOD, LONG thaw and can get through the snow-cover to allow the sun to super-heat the first few inches or more into the soil, encouraging it to kill all the above and spores. Apparently it would get even warmer in this artificial "oven" than any compost pile would, but would accomplish the same thing and even better...keep those overwintering grubs and other disgusting thing but actually leave the earthworms alone since they, apparently, overwinter deeper in the soil any way and will only go to the depth with which they were comfortable. This might be an old wive's tale, but I'd I'd really like to know if there's anything to it. This is a picture of some of my tomatoes BEFORE the blight hit...luckily, I got enough of this variety (Great White...Look at the size just before harvest, that's my big hand cradling half of one!) to safely save and ferment and give a slight bleach to some of it's seeds.
Sincere Blessings,
Thor
