Late Blight

Posted on July 29, 2009 by Robin

I found late blight on tomatoes in the greenhouse this morning.

DAMMIT!

Filed under: Farm, Garden, Greenhouse, high tunnel, hoop house, Growing Vegetables, Small Farming, agriculture, high tunnel

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10 Responses

  1. Ali, on July 30th, 2009 at 7:54 am Said:

    Oh no! Robin, I am so sorry. For me, it is a supplement, for you, it is livelihood.

    Around here, they are using flame weeders to sterilize the soil, if that helps. I also read a suggestion that you slide a plastic garbage bag over the affected plant then cut the stem to reduce shedding the spores. This may not be practical for you if you have many plants, but thought I’d share what little good advice I’ve found.

    Ali

  2. Ceecee, on July 30th, 2009 at 9:34 am Said:

    Oh my! I’m so sorry. Are they planted in the soil or in pots in your greenhouse?
    It’s just been too wet for you this year.

  3. Jj, on July 30th, 2009 at 10:07 am Said:

    Oh, Gods.. it just won’t stop for you will it. Sorry doesn’t even come close…

  4. Rural Writer, on July 31st, 2009 at 9:13 pm Said:

    Oh man. Sorry to hear that!

  5. Clare, on August 2nd, 2009 at 2:04 pm Said:

    hang in there, Robin…. hugs

  6. Ailsa Ek, on August 4th, 2009 at 10:03 am Said:

    Oh no! That stuff is getting everywhere. :(

  7. Farmgirl_dk, on August 5th, 2009 at 12:04 pm Said:

    And so….is Ali right? Is there a way to kill this scourge? Will you have to do something special and intensive to prevent it from happening next year? Or is it just the wetter/cooler weather of this year that has brought it on?
    Ugh – nasty stuff. sorry.

  8. Robin, on August 5th, 2009 at 12:08 pm Said:

    You can sterilize the soil but you can’t sterilize the air. Spores are airborne. They’re also carried by person, bird, animal, etc. I’m keeping up with it but a lot of the plants are looking naked.

  9. Farmgirl_dk, on August 5th, 2009 at 12:10 pm Said:

    So, does this mean you’ll automatically have it again next year? Carried by person, huh? That would make it crazy-difficult to control. You’ll need to hose off any visitors before they visit your farm! lol

  10. Robin, on August 5th, 2009 at 12:15 pm Said:

    There’s always late blight. I don’t remember ever not having it hit the potatoes and tomatoes. Early blight is something I’ve never dealt with. It’s not automatic. The damned box stores distributed infected plants from Maine to Ohio. I don’t have a plant on this farm that wasn’t started here by seed but I’m paying the price for someone else’s mistake.

    There’s no hosing off – no visitors allowed past the driveway. I can’t take a chance in making this worse here and losing more money this year. It’s also risky to have someone here on an infected farm because they could carry it off the farm to someone else’s plants.

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