Early leaf blight weakens the plant and reduces the size and the quality of fruit. It just greedily moves up the plant to claim more foliage, and even attacks the stems and eventually fruit (if you let it get that far).

Unfortunately the disease doesn’t die with it. As the foliar disease progresses, the affected leaves then take on a leathery-shriveled appearance and begin to wither and die. The areas surrounding the blotches usually start to turn yellow. If you look closely at the center of the spots on your plant, you may see a concentric pattern, like a bulls eye. As you can see in the above pic, it starts off kind of small and inconspicuous, but will quickly grow into a bigger problem (featured pic). Rotate your crops!!! Don’t plant the same crops, or susceptible crops in the same area each season.īanner Image: Dwight Sipler from Stow, MA, USA – Early blight on tomato leavesUploaded by Jacopo Werther, CC BY 2.Brownish/black splotches start to appear on the leaves closest to the soil.Destroy all infected plants and dropped leaves by bagging and disposing in rubbish, or burning.Low Environmental Impact fungicides are available, but success is limited and control can be difficult.It also strengthens the cell walls making it more difficult for the invading fungi. Seaweed sprayed onto the leaves changes the pH of the leaf surface making it less attractive to the fungal spores.You must use it weekly for it to be most effective. And that’s not all – the oils in fish emulsion will help to suffocate pests like mites/aphids/scale. It also contains beneficial bacteria that have antifungal properties. The Fish emulsion is very useful because it helps to make it stick. Give it a good mix and spray it on weekly. To four litres of water, add 3 level teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda and a couple of good splashes of fish emulsion.Milk-and-water solution coats the leaves and leads to the growth of an invisible fungus that frightens off black spot! Spray the solution directly onto the clean leaves of your tomatoes. Mix fat-free milk with water in a 1:1 ratio and apply it using a spray bottle.You’ll know you’ve met me when: Your tomatoes lack serious vigour, older leaves are seriously ugly with spots, and some fruit shows damage (at the stalk end). I really don’t like gardeners who monitor their plants all year round! I love really crowded gardens where there is no air movement.ĭislikes: Sun, well mulched garden beds, when you clean up fallen leaves, hate well prepared soil with heaps of organic matter, home made spray remedies (like milk sprays and bi-carb mixes), store bought good sprays. Likes: Oh, I love to get busy when the weather is over 15⁰C and there is lots of moisture around… it really gets my spores flying and my lesions growing! Love humidity, when you over fertilise your tomatoes (oh yeah baby, I love that), shade and water lying around on leaves. If I have to have a young plant, I would definitely go for the base of the stem… I’m partial to a bit of collar rot! I’m movin’ on up baby… I start on your older leaves and work my way to the top of the plant, causing defoliation as I go. Hobbies: I adore the older leaves of tomato plants, but don’t mind a stem, or entering the fruit through growth cracks or the fruit stalk. Describe yourself: I’m a saucy little fungal disease with a real thing for the leaves of tomato plants! People say I’m common, but I reckon I’m an angel, a brown spot with a gorgeous yellow halo.

Blight on tomatoes treatment organic