Tomato blight? - Ask Extension
Good morning,
We replaced old soil with new this Spring and our tomato plants looked fine until a couple of weeks ago. I'm not very familiar with pl...
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Tomato blight? #346850
Asked July 26, 2016, 12:42 PM EDT
Good morning,
We replaced old soil with new this Spring and our tomato plants looked fine until a couple of weeks ago. I'm not very familiar with plant diseases and am trying to figure out what this is, it looks like blight to me but I've had 2 nurseries tell me it's too late for early blight and too early for late blight.
The leaves got black spots that started at the bottom of the plant, spread quickly from bottom to top, killing the leaves, but has not damaged either the stem or the fruit. It looks like blight to me based on photos from the internet but no one can really confirm that for me.
Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated!! Thanks so much! Kathie Burke
Washington County Oregon
Expert Response
For early blight remove all debris from the area because the fungus spoors over winter in the soil. ROTATE your crops. copy from http://plant-disease.ippc.orst.edu/ShowDisease.aspx?RecordID=1082 Cause: Alternaria tomatophilai (formerly A. solani), a fungus that also causes early blight of potato and attacks eggplant, horsenettle, nightshade, and other wild plants related to tomato. The fungus may be on or in seed, but internal infection is rare in seed produced commercially. The fungus can survive on infected plant refuse in soil or overwinter on solanaceous plants. Infection is favored by temperatures of 75 to 84°F, high mois-ture, and low soil fertility. The disease is not common in Oregon, particularly west of the Cascades. Symptoms: Small, irregular, blackish brown spots usually first appear on older leaves. Spots enlarge to 0.25 to 0.5 inch in diameter, and they commonly show ridged concentric rings in a target pattern. Leaf tissue around the spots turns yellow. If spots are numerous, the entire leaf will be yellowed. Some spotting may be on older leaves early in the season, but the greatest injury usually is as fruit begins to mature. Defoliation may be severe if environmental conditions are favorable, exposing the fruit to sun scald. Older fruit develop dark, leathery, sunken spots that may be quite large with concentric markings similar to those on diseased leaves. The dark, dry decay may extend to some depth into the fruit. Infected mature or immature fruit frequently fall from the plant. Seedlings may have circular or elongated lesions with concentric markings on the stem which will girdle the plant. This symptom is known as collar rot. Late blight is almost the same preparation for next year remove all debris. Be careful with potatoes they hare the same disease, when rotating don't put them back to back. Watering keep leaves dry with drip system or hand water. If you use a closhe avoid condensation. Fungus likes a moist warm environment so try to avoid it. Best of Luck with the cleanup