What do I do about this?

[GardenToad]

My tomatos starting doing this. Several sites call it a form of blight but don't say how to address it. Any advice?

 

[Chuck]

My tomatos starting doing this. Several sites call it a form of blight but don't say how to address it. Any advice?View attachment 7891 View attachment 7892 View attachment 7893 View attachment 7894

What you have is called early blight/Alternaria. I don't know of any sure fire way of stopping it once a plant is infected. I have tried just about everything and have only been able to slow it down long enough to reach harvest. Google it. Maybe you will have better luck

 

[GardenToad]

I read somewhere that cutting off infected leaves is effective, but I don't want to do that until I hear from some of the experienced tomato growers here.

 

[Chuck]

I read somewhere that cutting off infected leaves is effective, but I don't want to do that until I hear from some of the experienced tomato growers here.

Here is how I deal with it. After transplanting the tomato plants I immediately mulch around them heavily. This helps by not allowing the soil to splash up on the plants. I start a spray regimen at this time using molasses and liquid seaweed one week and the next week I spray with compost tea with whole ground cornmeal in it. Whole ground cornmeal (horticultural cornmeal) is the favorite growing medium for a beneficial fungus named Tricoderma which attacks bad fungi like Altrenaria.. This slows down the onset of early blight. Once it starts showing up I prune off the affected limbs with shears that I keep wiped down with alcohol and remove all pruned limbs from the garden and burn them. This allows me, in my climate, to have enough time to have a crop. I have tried Captan, sulfur fungicides, copper fungicides and even in desperation nasty chemical fungicides, all a waste of money.