Tomato Blight

The first year, I think it was early blight. It effected the tomato at the stem and made the tomato fall off before turning red. Last year it attacked the leaves. They would turn brown and I tried cutting them off to save the plant but the plants died before giving me tomatos.

I do put eggshells in the compost. Epsom salts? I'll have to get some and experiment.

I didn't plant tomatos this year, because last year tomato blight killed off the plants. I used to get decent crops but over the last few years the blight has gotten worse and worse until last year was a total disaster. Any advice on how to deal with tomato blight?

We try to use a different plot, but read a bit that some calcium, maybe egg shells, put in the transplant hole will help with Blossom Rot.

I think he was talking about a fungal blight - I use Dipel anti-fungal and keep water from splashing up onto the plant . The fungus comes from the soil so if you keep splashing down it helps a lot. You're right about the eggshells and moving the location every year . When I plant my tomatoes I put 2 tbsp of a mixture of equal parts Epsom salts ,

Plant blight-resistant varieties. e.g. mountain-magic etc, or plum regal. Expensive seed, but at least you gat tomatoes.

With standard varieties it's better if you can plant in a sheltered location where the foliage does not get wet. And obviously you never put a diseased plant in your compost heap.

we have some kind of disease that gets the tomatoes each year, but normally i can get a decent crop anyways (20 - 40lbs per plant and sometimes even more a two years ago i got 60+ lbs per plant).

what varieties have you tried to grow?

the past handfull of years we've mainly grown Big Beef and they are firm, good tasting beefsteaks which are what we like for canning.

songbird

Would a ground cover cloth- like the sheets people lay down to stop weeds, reduce the splashing spread of fungus?

It will help , but needs to fit fairly closely around the stem to work really well . I cut a pie tin sized hole in the weed barrier to plant , then use pieces of light cardboard to cover most of the dirt once the plants are well established .