[Diana in Wisconsin]

Tomato blight is in the SOIL, so the key to prevention and/or slowing it down, is to mulch your tomatoes well, but leave a gap around the stem for direct watering/fertilizing. Also, pruning your lower tomato plant leaves well above the soil and using a copper spray on the bottom 1/3 of your plants on a regular basis helps knock it back, too.

Humidity and dew really don’t contribute to spreading the disease; heavy rain downpours on un-mulched garden beds can splash the blight up onto the higher leaves, spreading disease. You will almost always see blight starting on the LOWER leaves and working its way UP. HOWEVER - if your tomatoes are packed in and there’s not enough air circulation around them, that also contributes to blight issues.

I know it’s too late for this year, but in the future get in the habit of buying seeds/plants that are blight resistant. Look for AAS Winners; they’re usually a winner because they don’t have the disease issues other varieties have. The AAS Winners listed here are the small and cherry-types.

https://all-americaselections.org/aas-winning-tomato-types/

Here is a listing of blight resistant tomatoes that are newer to the market:

https://www.bhg.com/gardening/gardening-trends/best-new-tomatoes-2020/

Here are some ‘old standards’ many of us have been growing for years:

https://tomatopedia.org/blight-resistant-tomato-varieties/

Disease Resistant Codes (usually listed in the catalog description; sometimes are part of the actual tomato variety name):

Disease Resistance Codes

V Verticillium Wilt
F Fusarium Wilt
FF Fusarium, races 1 and 2
FFF Fusarium, races 1, 2, and 3
N Nematodes
A Alternaria
T Tobacco Mosaic Virus
St Stemphylium (Gray Leaf Spot)
TSWV Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus

I heartily recommend ANY of the tomatoes in the ‘Chef’s Choice’ series - but leave room because the plants and the tomatoes are BIG!

https://tomatogrowers.com/collections/chefs-choice-tomatoes

[Diana in Wisconsin]

[metmom]

Thanks for the info.

I avoid hybrid plants cause I can’t save the seeds.

However, I’m going to save the tomatoes from my best plants for seeds for next year. Maybe eventually I can find some that are somewhat blight resistant.

[metmom]

When do early and late blight show up?

I can never tell which is which.

And some of my plants are definitely losing the battle. Others are holding their own.

I will be looking for something more blight resistant.

I’m leaning towards Old Brooks tomatoes. I want something OP and it says it’s more on the acidic side, which is good for canning.