Organic remedy to tomatoe blight ?

Peter Richards

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Oct 10, 2003, 4:11:06 AM10/10/03

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Hi,

Our new tomato plants are showing signs of dark brown and light purple
patches on the leaves, obviously blight. We prefer an organic solution
to the problem. Can someone recommend something please.

Peter

Peter Richards
peter_j_...@nospamplease.com
(but use hotmail to email)

Denise Bachman

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Sep 1, 2004, 10:46:54 PM9/1/04

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The only sure cure I know of is a roof or cover of some kind - the blight is
caused by water/damp resting on the leaf surface. As soon as I made a
plastic roof over my tomato bed -- no more blight!

Denise Bachman
zone 8a Salt Spring Island BC Canada
"Peter Richards" <jeho...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:MOD$031009...@rec.gardens.ecosystems...

HEAVEN...@webtv.net

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Sep 15, 2004, 12:58:54 PM9/15/04

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I grew heirloom tomatoes and they all got tomato blight. I'm going to
build a plastic see through roof over my tomatoes next spring and see
how things turn out.

Ann

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Sep 15, 2004, 4:46:32 PM9/15/04

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HEAVEN...@webtv.net expounded:

>
>I grew heirloom tomatoes and they all got tomato blight. I'm going to
>build a plastic see through roof over my tomatoes next spring and see
>how things turn out.
>

Mine blight, too, but I always get good tomatoes before the plants
succumb.

--
Ann
ann...@thecia.net

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Sep 16, 2004, 7:23:58 AM9/16/04

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This is the first year I grew heirloom tomatoes and all of them got all
kinds of diseases but I got fantastic tasting tomatoes out of the
plants. I planted my regular hybrid tomatoes on the other side of the
yard and those plants are still green and producing tomatoes,, my
heirloom tomato plants look like they are ready for the compost heap,
heirloom tomatoes don't produce many tomatoes but the ones you get from
them taste heavenly. Ed

Ann

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Sep 16, 2004, 4:04:58 PM9/16/04

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HEAVEN...@webtv.net expounded:

Ah, but don't compost them! If they're diseased, get rid of them but
don't put them in your compost, you'll be spreading diseased material
next year.

--
Ann
ann...@thecia.net

Claire Petersky

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Sep 16, 2004, 5:11:20 PM9/16/04

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<HEAVEN...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:MOD$040915...@rec.gardens.ecosystems...

>
> I grew heirloom tomatoes and they all got tomato blight. I'm going to
> build a plastic see through roof over my tomatoes next spring and see
> how things turn out.

I live in the Pacific NW, and because it's a damp climate, tomato blight can
be a problem. Here's what I recommend:

Clean up thoroughly from your blighted tomatoes. Do not put any blighted
materials in your compost box.

The next year, plant your tomatoes in a different location.

Plant your tomatoes with sufficient space between them. I seem forget every
year, when I'm putting in the seedlings in late April or early May, how big
the plants will be in August.

Don't be afraid to prune the tomatoes to give sufficent air circulation.
Even if you cut off a part of a vine with flowers -- it's okay, better to
lose those potential fruits, then lose many more from blight.

Careful with your watering. A little bit of sprinkling every day from the
top isn't as good as a good occasional soaking from the ground.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
please substitute yahoo for mousepotato to reply
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
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Sep 18, 2004, 4:59:59 AM9/18/04

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I forgot to mention I grow all my tomato plants in large containers and
use fresh potting soil every year. My compost pile gets mixed into my
flower beds. This year I grew 60 dahlia plants, Dinnerplate dahlia's,
decorative dahlia's and semi cactus dahlia's. I found that adding a huge
amount of compost to the dahlia beds in the fall will increase the
height of the dahlia's by as much 3X for the following spring. One year
in the spring time I mixed in a ton of compost in my flower beds and
planted my dahlia tubers and most of my dahlia's died. I dug the
dahlia's up to see why they died and found that the worm population was
in the millions and the worms had eaten away the tubers so now I add the
compost in the fall instead of the spring. Ed

ROCKHU...@webtv.net

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Sep 18, 2004, 8:07:51 AM9/18/04

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"60" Dahlia plants???

Greg Brown

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Sep 20, 2004, 3:26:33 PM9/20/04

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Earthworms do not eat any living plant tissue.It has to die first.The
cause of the bulbs dying is not earthworms.

Greg Brown

http://community-2.webtv.net/Yardworms/VermiGardens/

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Sep 22, 2004, 2:29:44 PM9/22/04

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Earth worms ate my dahlia tubers.

Ann

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Sep 27, 2004, 4:23:35 PM9/27/04

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HEAVEN...@webtv.net expounded:

>
>Earth worms ate my dahlia tubers.
>

No, they didn't, really. Something else killed them and then the
earthworms did what they're supposed to do, eat dead organic matter
and help it along back into the soil.
--
Ann
ann...@thecia.net

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Oct 11, 2004, 11:23:35 AM10/11/04

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If you take clippings off of a dahlia plant will they root? I've done
clippings and cloning on other plants but never attempted rooting
clippings from a dahlia plant.