“Lots of tomatoes on, but with hot and humid we get early blight. Boo! So, lower leaves OFF and organic copper spray ON”
What kind of blight gets your tomatoes? I had the unfortunate task of pulling right at about 25% of my tomato plants yesterday due to a virus that first makes the leaves curl and then the whole plant yellows and dies. I know of no remedies to stop it, but really wish I did! I foliar feed them to try and boost their immunity and also add pyrethrum to kill any little pests that may spread the disease from one plant to the others. I absolutely loathe pulling the plants, especially when they’re at the 2-3’ heights they are.
It’s been a particularly difficult growing season here since we’ve only had less than 3” of rain so far this year. The summer ‘monsoons’, which normally start on the 4th of July still haven’t come and there’s still no rain in the forecast. I’ve had a few gophers that managed to dig under the buried hardware cloth around the perimeter, and every on of them made straight lines for the tomato rows. The past few nights one has repeatedly chewed into the same drip line to get a drink. I can only imagine it’s reaction to having the resulting blast of water hitting him in the face! One thing I learned this morning was just how fast acting the strychnine laced gopher bait works. Last night, around midnight (yep, I’m out there at midnight working so as to avoid the 104 degree daytime temps and the intense sun) I placed a spoonful of the bait in a new tunnel. So, this morning, after the foliar feeding, I went to inspect that gopher run. I saw a newly dug opening, so I went and retrieved my .22 with a bird/snake shot load, and sat there with the barrel aimed at the new opening waiting for him to come and back fill his tunnel. After waiting for a while, and it was clear he wasn’t going to surface, I resorted to plan B which was to dig up the new tunnel and put more bait in there. Well low and behold, as I was digging I came across the SOB’s dead carcass! That poison he ate last night had killed him in just a matter of hours! I pass this info on for all to read because what I learned was that if I put out gopher bait and then there is new gopher activity, it means there are either more gophers or they didn’t eat the bait. I had no idea the poisoned bait worked so fast! I just wish there was as good solution to combat the tomato virus too.
A lot of people are having trouble with wilt this season.
It is awful.
My tomatoes are inflicted with our every-year early blight. It’s a soil-borne disease and all you can do is preventative things: keep the plants evenly moist. Mulch well. Take off the dead leaves on the bottom as soon as you see them, and spray with a copper spray (organic) or any other fungicide of your choice.
With leaf curl, that’s a BUG issue - Whiteflies carry the disease. You have to be vigilant for that and spray insecticide earlier in the season if it’s a problem in your area.
Sorry for your loss. :(
But you’ll know what t do NEXT season. Hope Springs Eternal! :)