How to Treat Blight in Tomato Plants
Tomato plants are both hungry and thirsty, so they need plenty of moisture, warmth, and nutrition. These plants are popular with gardeners around the world because of their hardy nature and versatile fruit. But tomatoes can be prone to vitamin deficiencies and rot or fungus like blight. Keep tomato plants healthy by keeping them well-watered, mulched, and supplemented. Follow a couple of easy steps to decide whether your plants need a vitamin supplement or fungicide to treat blight, and if so, which one to use. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Instructions
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Match your plant's symptoms to the problem, to decide whether you need a supplement or fungicide. A lack of nitrogen causes yellow leaves. A lack of phosphorous causes poor plant growth. A deficiency of potassium causes brown leaves and prevents fruit growth. A lack of magnesium causes mottled color on the leaves. A lack of calcium causes young leaves to turn pale and die. The symptoms of blight are brown spots with holes on the leaves.
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Remove any leaves damaged by blight. Leave the leaves that might be damaged by another deficiency, as proper fertilization might bring those back to health.
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Remove the bottom branches of your tomato plant, to keep it from having contact with the ground.
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Stake your tomato plant, or pull it up farther on the stake to keep it from having contact with the ground.
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Spread mulch around the base of your tomato plant, to keep water and soil from splashing up onto the plant and causing further blight or fungus.
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Purchase a supplement and a fungicide to treat your plant. Recommendations for supplements are seaweed liquid feed, comfrey leaf tea, leaf feeds, and mulches. Look for a fungicide that caters to tomato blight (copper or sulphur based).
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Dilute the vitamin supplement per manufacturer's directions (usually one capful of supplement per full watering can).
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Dilute the fungicide in a separate watering can, per manufacturer's instructions.
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Sprinkle both mixtures on the plants' leaves once a week. Continue watering the plants, at the base.
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Tips & Warnings
Mulch will also serve to keep your tomato plants warm in the winter and moisturized in the summer.
Keep your soil and plants healthy by rotating crops. Put tomato plants in different locations every year to take advantage of fresh soil, which should be stocked with nutrients, to prevent disease.
If your soil is thin or sandy, mix compost in before planting tomatoes to prevent malnutrition.
Harvest fruit three to four days after you've used any vitamin solution or fungicide. If you eat fruit coated with the vitamin solution, you may become sick.
