Late Blight

[Terry]

I just heard on the news about late blight and ran outside to look at my tomato and green pepper plant and my tomato plants are affected. The tomatoes are still green and looking healthy but the leaves are starting to show the brown spots but not the stems yet. Any gardeners out there? Should I pick the tomatoes now and toss the plant? What about my green peppers they still need a few weeks of growth before harvesting.

My poor tomato plants!

 

[Bootneck]

I just heard on the news about late blight and ran outside to look at my tomato and green pepper plant and my tomato plants are affected. The tomatoes are still green and looking healthy but the leaves are starting to show the brown spots but not the stems yet. Any gardeners out there? Should I pick the tomatoes now and toss the plant? What about my green peppers they still need a few weeks of growth before harvesting.

My poor tomato plants!

There are fungicidal sprays you can use that will help if used at the very first sign of blight. Dithane is effective. It won't cure the problem, but it slows it down.
Tomatoes that are ripe on the plant can be used but the rest will probably rot without treatment.

Tomato blight is potato blight. They're both the same family. Not sure about peppers. I don't think they are.

 

[strollingbones]

the is the potato type blight that hit ireland....hubby says it is most likely not blight...it shows on the stems real quick...check for beetles...

 

[strollingbones]

hubby says...if its late blight there will be nickel size spots on stem and plants will be dead in 12 hours

 

[asgardshill]

I just heard on the news about late blight and ran outside to look at my tomato and green pepper plant and my tomato plants are affected. The tomatoes are still green and looking healthy but the leaves are starting to show the brown spots but not the stems yet. Any gardeners out there? Should I pick the tomatoes now and toss the plant? What about my green peppers they still need a few weeks of growth before harvesting.

My poor tomato plants!

First, you should make sure that what you're seeing is late blight and not something else. Here's a link to some great information about it.

What is Late Blight?

On potato plants :Late blight lesions can occur on both leaves and stems. The first appearance of lesions commonly occurs after periods of wet weather. Black lesions appear within 3-7 days of infection of leaves. Under humid conditions, delicate, whitish fungal spore producing structures are produced at the edge of the lesion, particularly on the underside of the leaf. Lesions turn brown when they dry up,and are often surrounded by a halo of gray-green tissue. Once lesions dry up, the white spore masses will not be visible. To help identify late blight if outdoor conditions are not humid enough for spores to be produced, you can place suspect leaves or stems in a closed container with a damp paper towel. Check the leaves after about 12 hours to see if the delicate, white fungal material is growing from the tissue at the edge of the lesion. On stems, late blight causes brown, greasy looking lesions that frequently appear first at the junction between the stem and leaf, or at the cluster of leaves at the top of the stem.

On tomatoes : Symptoms on tomato leaves and stems are similar to those on potato. On tomato fruit, late blight causes a firm, dark, greasy looking lesion from which the fungal spore producing structures emerge under humid conditions.

If you're still unsure, snip a sample of the spots and take it to the extension office in your county.

If it is late blight, then you can treat with a fungicide if the infection is not too far gone (no more than 10-15 percent of your crop). If its more than that, then you'll want to burn or disk under the crop or treat it with a fast-acting herbicide, to prevent the infection from spreading to surrounding land.

Your tomatoes should be safe to eat as long as the fruit doesn't develop the brown spots. Give them several days to ripen after you pick them to make sure.

Again, I would confirm with your county extension office if this is actually late blight or not. I hope for your sake it's not. Good luck!

 

[Terry]

Ok this is an image of what my leaves look like: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Symptom_potato_late_blight.jpg


Here in virginia there is an outbreak. Tomato/potato disease warning: late blight is here! - wtop.com

I have some spray and will try that. I just need about a week or so before they are actually ready to be picked. I have holes on the leaves of the Green Peppers, and I've been spraying them the past few days.

 

[Terry]

I noticed and this is strange that my dogwood tree that is near these tomatoe plants leaves look like the picture in the link I posted below this post. I didn't know those trees could be infected too. I read green pepper and something else but man!