Image by Dwight Sipler
Ask most vegetable growers what their worst, most dreaded plant problem is, and they snap ‘blight’ right back at you. Late tomato blight is one of those very miserable diseases that sneaks right up at you, often as your fruits are swelling on the plant, and ruins everything.
This is a snap of what blight looks like when it hits a tomato plant. You’ll see blackened patches on the stems, followed by brown splodges on the tops of the leaves, and white furry splodges on their underside.
There’s nothing you can do once your plants have got blight, save acting fast to save the fruits. Cut them off as soon as the symptoms appear, and take them indoors. You can either use them to make delicious green tomato chutney, or ripen them in a warm place.
As for those blight-infected plants, you need to bin them or burn them. Don’t put them on the compost heap as there is a chance the spores may overwinter and revisit the misery on next year’s crop.
To prevent blight, space your plants well so that air circulates around the plant. Remove the lower leaves as the season draws on, and never, ever water the leaves as these sort of damp, humid conditions are blight’s favourite breeding ground.
